Miss Universe 1959

Contestants from thirty-four countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant.

This edition saw the debuts of Bolivia, Burma, and Luxembourg, and the returns of Austria, Costa Rica, Iceland, Thailand, and Turkey. Thailand last competed in 1954, while Austria, Costa Rica, Iceland, and Turkey last competed in 1957. Australia, the British Guiana, Chile, Paraguay, Singapore, Suriname, Venezuela, and the West Indies withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate.^[3] Alaska withdrew due to the former Territory of Alaska becoming a state of the United States and was thus demoted from a Miss Universe national pageant to a Miss USA state pageant.

Christine Matias of the Philippines was set to compete at Miss Universe, but was barred by her university, the Philippine Women's University, as they do not allow their students to wear a swimsuit in front of the public.^[4][5] Aida Kadamani was supposed to represent the United Arab Republic at Miss Universe, but withdrew after refusing to wear a swimsuit in front of the judges.^[6] She was then replaced by Nawal Ramli, but she also did not push through with the competition as the pageant organizers failed to answer her queries whether she could substitute Kadamani.^[6] Indonesia was supposed to compete for the first time, but was not able to send a candidate due to protests in Jakarta against the creation of Miss Indonesia.^[7] Other countries who would not sanction their people to appear in swimsuits according to Oscar Reinhardt, then-executive producer of Miss Universe Inc., include Ireland, Portugal, and Spain.^[5] Spain and Portugal would send their first representatives in the following year.

Same with 1955, fifteen semi-finalists were chosen at the preliminary competition that consists of the swimsuit and evening gown competition. Each of the fifteen semi-finalists gave a short speech during the final telecast using their native languages. Afterwards, the fifteen semi-finalists paraded again in their swimsuits and evening gowns, and the five finalists were eventually chosen.^[11]

• Maxwell Arnow – American director
• Claude Berr – French director, writer, producer, actor and film distributor^[12]
• Ghislaine R. de Amador – Ecuadorian judge^[12]
• Vion Papamichalis - film producer
• Joseph Ruttemberg - Ukrainian-American photojournalist and cinematographer
• Vincent Trotta – American artist^[11]
• Paul Wellmann - American journalist

Thirty-four contestants competed for the title.^[13]

Country/Territory	Contestant	Age[a]	Hometown
Argentina	Liana Cortijo[14]	20	Buenos Aires
Austria	Christine Spatzier[15]	19	Vienna
Belgium	Hélène Savigny[16]	24	Brussels
Bolivia	Corina Taborga[17]	19	La Paz
Brazil	Vera Ribeiro[18]	19	Rio de Janeiro
Burma	Than Than Aye[19]	19	Rangoon
Canada	Eileen Butter[20]	25	Ancaster
Colombia	Olga Pumarejo[21]	20	Barranquilla
Costa Rica	Zianne Monturiol[22]	20	Heredia
Cuba	Irma Buesa[23]	19	Havana
Denmark	Lisa Stolberg[24]	18	Copenhagen
Ecuador	Carlota Ayala	19	Guayaquil
England	Pamela Searle	21	Surrey
France	Françoise Saint-Laurent	18	Neuilly-Plaisance
Greece	Zoitsa Kouroukli[25]	18	Athens
Guatemala	Rogelia Cruz[26]	18	Guatemala City
Hawaii	Patricia Visser[27]	21	Honolulu
Holland	Peggy Erwich[28]	22	Rotterdam
Iceland	Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir[29]	18	Reykjavík
Israel	Rina Issacov[30]	19	Tel Aviv
Italy	Maria Buccella[31]	18	Trento
Japan	Akiko Kojima[32]	22	Tokyo
Luxembourg	Josée Pundel[33]	19	Grevenmacher
Mexico	Mirna García Dávila	18	Mexico City
Norway	Jorunn Kristjansen[24]	18	Moss
Peru	Guadalupe Hawkins[34]	18	Callao
Poland	Zuzanna Cembrowska[35]	19	Warsaw
South Korea	Hyun-joo Oh[36]	19	Seoul
Sweden	Marie Ekström[37]	20	Sundsvall
Thailand	Sodsai Vanijvadhana[38]	22	Phra Nakhon
Turkey	Ezel Olcay[39]	19	Istanbul
United States	Terry Huntingdon[40]	19	Mount Shasta
Uruguay	Claudia Bernat[41]	20	Montevideo
West Germany	Carmela Künzel[42]	19	Berlin