Maureen Hingert and the Howard Hughes connection
Howard Hughes
Since the passing in Los Angeles, California on June 29, 2025 of Maureen Neliya Hingert, many have been moved to pay tribute to the Ceylonese woman who, as an 18-year-old, placed third (second runner-up) in the 1955 Miss Universe beauty pageant.
Some of the material written about Maureen over the years, and repeated recently, is mythical; some of it is matter-of-factual. But what most people probably don’t know is that Maureen Hingert’s subsequent career as a movie starlet, brief and unremarkable though it was, came about through her marriage to an influential man on the contemporary Hollywood scene, and his relationship as an advisor and confidant to one of the world’s best-known but reclusive, eccentric, and entrepreneurial billionaires then and now.
In 1958, twenty-one-year-old Maureen Hingert was wedded to Mario Armond Zamparelli, a handsome artist, interior designer, ‘marketing genius’, and popular man-about-town amongst the Los Angeles jet set – even before there was such a thing as a ‘jet set’.
Zamparelli’s painting of Maureen done for the TWA Jetstreams Mural Lounge. Illustration reproduced from Airways Magazine
The beauty from Ceylon
More importantly, Zamparelli was one of the few people trusted by the enigmatic Howard Hughes, the aviation engineer and adventurous aviator who was as celebrated in his day for his aeronautical accomplishments as were Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart.
In 1940 Hughes bought a 78% controlling interest in Trans World Airlines (TWA), effectively making him the owner of what became one of the USA’s, and the world’s, most iconic international airline companies of the 20th century.
Aviation aside, Howard Hughes was equally ‘big’ in the entertainment industry, starting out as owner of the RKO radio and movie theatre network. In time, he became one of Hollywood’s legendary film producers and ‘starmakers’.
Those two facets of Howard Hughes and his business empire, coupled with his close friendship with Mario Zamparelli, are almost certainly what brought Maureen Hingert to Hughes’ notice, either before or after her marriage to Zamparelli.
It is not unreasonable to suppose that Zamparelli used his influence with Hughes to secure those small cameo roles and bit parts for Maureen in a few Hollywood movies, in which she was sometimes credited as ‘Jana Davi’.
Maureen Hingert and Mario Zamparelli on their wedding day, August 4, 1958
But there is no doubt that Mario Zamparelli had the blessing of Howard Hughes when Maureen’s image was featured on a picture inside one of TWA’s airplanes. Zamparelli was commissioned to paint a series of murals to decorate the on-board lounges of the airline’s fleet of Lockheed 1649A Starliners, marketed as ‘Jetstreams’ (the ultimate development of the Lockheed Constellation and Super Constellation family of airliners), each painting representative of people and scenes from one of the many countries served by TWA’s then famous round-the-world route.
One such destination was Colombo, Ceylon, so Zamparelli used his saree-clad wife (or then girlfriend/fiancée) Maureen Hingert as the model for his interpretation of a typically Ceylonese setting. Fittingly for the young woman from Colombo 4, the TWA ‘Jetstream’ bearing her likeness would have visited the land of her birth numerous times over the next few years during its
stopovers at Ratmalana Airport, a mere 11 km from Maureen’s first, modest home in Lorens Road, Bambalapitiya.
The TWA ‘Jetstream’ Starliner that took the image of the beautiful Maureen Hingert to far-flung corners of the world has long since ended its days at an airplane scrapyard. Now Maureen has ‘flown away’ too. But, unlike that airliner, she will never be forgotten, not only by those who still remember Maureen Hingert in her glittering heyday, but by future generations too, thanks to the agency and wonders of modern technology.
Maureen Hingert, may you Rest in Peace. (January 9, 1937 – June 29, 2025)
Maureen representing Ceylon at the Miss Universe contest in 1955 in Long Beach, California
Searching for an ideal partner? Find your soul mate on Hitad.lk, Sri Lanka's favourite marriage proposals page. With Hitad.lk matrimonial advertisements you have access to thousands of ads from potential suitors who are looking for someone just like you.