First ever Miss South Africa dies at age 90
Norma Foster (néé Vorster) helped launch the South African pageant as it is known today.
Norma Foster was born in East London on 15 September 1935.
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As a little girl, she probably would have never guessed that she would not only be crowned the first Official Miss South Africa, but would then also go on to represent South Africa in Miss Universe.
Ian Glenn, a researcher at the University of the Free State, wrote in his article 'Norma Foster and 'wildlife in crisis'': "Norma Foster became a singer and dancer at the age of twelve and throughout her school days, she studied acting, creative design and stage craft. She became an ice skating champion at sixteen, a champion ballroom dancer of Latin American dances at seventeen and Miss South Africa at eighteen. Her devotion to the stage was only equalled by her love for nature's wildlife, which surrounded her throughout her youth."
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Before being crowned Miss SA, she was working as a model in Durban.
Up until 1956, there had been various versions of the Miss South Africa we know today, but that year, the official competition was founded, and Foster became the first Miss SA.
She was also the first South African representative to ever compete in Miss Universe.
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Originally Vorster, she changed her name to Foster and went on to star in multiple British films (A Study in Terror (1965), Murder Ahoy (1964) and The Spy with a Cold Nose (1966)).
She eventually moved to the United States, where she joined the Screen Actors Guild, became an assistant professor at the University of California's theatre department, and founded her own production companies, Norma Foster Enterprises and Normavor Productions.
According to Netwerk24, Foster passed away on Saturday, 22 November, at the age of 90.
There are no further details of her death at time of publishing, but tributes have already begun pouring in from pageant followers and fans:
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