
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 16, 1990                   TAG: 9004160320
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Short

HELL'S BELLE WINS MISS UNIVERSE TITLE

Miss Norway, a beautiful woman from a town called Hell, won the Miss Universe crown Sunday night in this capital of glitz. Miss USA and Miss Colombia took runner-up honors.

Mona Grudt, affectionately nicknamed the "beauty queen from Hell" for the name of her Norwegian hometown, took the top spot over 70 other contestants in the 1990 pageant at the Shubert Theater in Century City.

Judges chose Carole Gist, a 20-year-old student from Detroit representing the United States, as first runner-up and Liseth Mahecha of Colombia second runner-up.

The global glamour parade featured a first-ever entry from the Soviet Union and a prize package to the winner worth $220,000.

Last year's event was staged in Cancun, Mexico, where Miss Holland, Angela Visser, became Miss Universe 1989.

Two non-finalists in this year's pageant hail from the same town in the Soviet Union. Miss USSR, Evia Stalbovska, and Miss Israel, Yvonna Krugliak, are from the city of Liepaja on the Baltic Sea.

by CNB