Norma Cappagli biography: 13 things about Miss World 1960

Norma Gladys Cappagli was an Argentine model and beauty queen born and raised in Parque Patricios, Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is the first Miss World from Argentina and the first Argentine woman to win a grand slam international beauty pageant.

Before becoming a beauty queen, Cappagli studied to be an accountant. With her brother Aldo Cappagli as her manager, she was one of the world’s most sought-after models in the 1960s.

Norma was 5’7″ tall. Here are 13 more things about her:

1. On October 24, 1960, she competed against 19 other Miss Sweater Argentina 1960 candidates at the Lassalle Theater in Buenos Aires. She won the title and was crowned by actor Iris Marga.
2. On November 2, 1960, she arrived alone in London, England, United Kingdom.
3. On November 8, 1960, she represented Argentina at Miss World 1960 and competed against 38 other candidates at the Lyceum Ballroom in London. She won the title and was crowned by racing driver Stirling Moss, who was one of the judges.
4. In December 1960, she went home to Buenos Aires for the first time since winning Miss World 1960. When she went back to Europe, she was offered to start an acting career alongside Moss, which she declined.
5. In February 1961, she visited Italian fashion designer Emilio Schuberth‘s atelier in Rome, Italy.
6. On March 13, 1961, she was in London with Schuberth and Sonia Rudel. On November 9, 1961, her successor Miss World 1961 Rosemarie Frankland was crowned at the Lyceum Ballroom in London by actor Bob Hope.
7. In 1962, she starred in Giuseppe Russo‘s film “Sexy” and released a song titled “Sexy World” with Italian violinist Armando Sciascia. After that, she was offered more film roles, which she all declined. She later gave up her modelling career and pursued a career in advertising. She married an Italian businessman and they moved to Milan, Italy where she worked as a magazine editor and produced television programs. After she and her husband divorced, she moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
8. In 1989, she left Brazil and went back to Argentina.
9. In 1997, she appeared on television during a tribute made by TV host Susana Giménez.
10. On September 20, 2020, she turned 81. She was living in an apartment in Recoleta, Buenos Aires.
11. In November 2020, in an interview with Infobae, she talked about her decision to have a private life over the glitz and glamour of show business.
12. At around 3:00 p.m. on December 17, 2020, she was run over in Buenos Aires by a bus driven by a man, then 28.
13. At 4:30 p.m. on December 22, 2020, she died at the Hospital Fernández in Buenos Aires.