Miss America 1944, Lady of Firsts

Venus Ramey was the first red haired Miss America, winning in 1944 as the representative from the District of Columbia, and at 82 she's still proving redheads are fiesty: Venus Ramey, 82, shoots tire, stops intruders.

(Image of vintage color poster via Princeton Antiques.)

The first Miss America to be photographed in color, she went on to perform in vaudeville, on Broadway in "School for Brides" and in the movie "My Girl Tisa" but she quickly left Hollywood for the farm.

Back home, she married and began raising her two sons. Passionate about Kentucky educational issues and a "burning desire to see the word 'illegitimate' eradicated from the birth certificates of innocent children" Venus ran for a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives -- making her the first Miss America to run for public office.

One impressive broad with a history worthy of taking the 'bimbo' out of the image of the woman whose picture was on the "Flying Fortress," a B-17 that flew 68 missions over Nazi Germany in World War II without ever losing a man.



"I'm trying to live a quiet, peaceful life and stay out of trouble, and all it is, is one thing after another," she said.