Maureen Hingert has died at the age of 88. According to her daughter, the Hollywood actress died on Sunday of liver failure at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena. The star, who was born in Sri Lanka, was featured in Hollywood films such as The King and I, Gun Fever, and Gunmen From Laredo. Her daughter said: "It was a beautiful and peaceful passing." The Miss Universe runner-up was widely known for her work in Walter Lang's 1956 film, The King and I, which was a critical and commercial success and was nominated for nine Oscars.

The film won five Academy Awards and featured stars Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner, and Rita Moreno. Maureen was also credited for being in Western flicks like 1958's Gun Fever and 1959's Gunmen From Laredo. Away from acting, she also found fame as a pageant contestant when she finished second runner-up at the Miss Universe competition in 1955.

Born in January 1937, she originally entered the competition as Miss Ceylon and was only 18 years old at the time. Maureen was the first from her country to ever reach the contest's finals.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Maureen's contest appearance was credited for helping put her South Asian island country "on the map."

She also performed regularly as a dancer, and her photoshoot from the film Gun Fever appeared in Playboy Magazine in September 1957.

One person paid tribute to Maureen on X, typing: "Rest in peace, Ms Maureen Hingert. Thank you for bringing much glory to the 'pearl in the Indian Ocean' - Sri Lanka."

Another post online read, "Maureen Hingert, Sri Lanka's First Miss Universe Finalist & Hollywood Star, Passes Away. A true pioneer and icon remembered."

She married Mario Armond Zamparelli in 1958 and welcomed three children together before their divorce in 1970.

Her daughters, Gina Zamparelli and Andrea Zamparelli, died in 2018 and 2009. Gina was a concert promoter who died from a brain tumour aged 59. Andrea died at the age of 42 in 2009.

Maureen first met Mario when she was modelling for a TWA mural. She also starred in films such as Fort Bowie and episodes of Death Valley Days and Captain David Grief.