Miss America 1944 was surely a glamour girl, right? Beautiful, a much-needed celebrity for our tense times in World War II, and a young woman headed for an urbane life spent in materialistic entitlement and doting fandom, you might think.
Venus Ramey in later years at speaking event (Photo by Mark Taff, Wikimedia Commons)
Well, it didn’t quite happen that way.
Venus Ramey, a Kentucky native born in Ashland, may have been in the glamour lane during her reign as the country’s darling beauty, but she lived most of her years in a wholly different fashion, and that was just fine with her. She told Courier-Journal reporter Byron Crawford, published in his book, Kentucky Footnotes, that going to Hollywood after her Miss American incumbency to chase movie stardom didn’t suit her fancy after going there.
“It wasn’t because I didn’t have opportunities,” Ramey said. “I met the right people, but I didn’t like them. Hollywood, for years has been the red-light district of the United States, and that’s putting it mildly.”
In a few months, Venus put Hollywood in her rearview mirror and headed back to her native area of Kentucky (and for a while, Cincinnati), a place where she had spent much of her time working actively on a farm.
Here are more tidbits from Venus Ramey’s full and colorful life:
• Moved to Cincinnati with her mother early in life after her parents divorced.
• As a youth, was a page for the Kentucky House of Representatives.
• Spent time as a showgirl at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky.
• Won the Miss Northern Kentucky beauty contest before going to Washington, D.C. and winning another, which catapulted her into the Miss America contest, for which she, at age 19, was crowned on September 10, 1944.
• Was the first redhead to win the Miss America award. Her talent was dancing to the tune of Xavier Cugat’s “Take It Easy.”
• Reported to be the first Miss America to be politically active, advocating for voting rights in Washington, D.C. and selling $5 million in WWII war bonds.
• Loved by the U.S. military establishment, her face was painted on the nose of the 301st Bombardment Group’s B-17 bomber.
• Married Joseph Henry Murphy in 1948, had two children. Later divorced and moved with children to Mexico, where she worked as a freelance dress designer.
• Lost a Democratic primary bid for the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1951.
• Moved to California, doing voice-overs and commercials.
• Came back to Cincinnati, where she lived in a run-down house in the Over-the-Rhine district and advocated for its preservation. Reportedly, she also operated a Christmas tree farm. In 1979, she ran for Cincinnati City Council as an independent and lost.
By 1990, Venus was ready to leave and embrace rural life and her family’s farm in Eubank, Kentucky, in southern Lincoln County. Being the dynamic person she’d always been, it seemed like she was just getting started in making a mark. She would lead a group that sued the federal government for its anti-tobacco policies, though it was unsuccessful.
Notably, she took up smoking as a protest against the government. She also announced that she was a write-in candidate for the 2000 presidential election. And, oh yes, it was reported that on her farm, she had, at various times, twelve dogs, fifteen cats, and four pigeons.
Tribute sign in Eubank, near where her family farm located. (Photo by Steven Dowell, Wikimedia Commons)
Ironically, she later gained national attention at her Lincoln County farm for actions she took in 2007 against a burglar (or burglars, depending on what source you believe). Venus, 82 at the time, shot out a tire (or tires) of the car trespassing on her property, then flagged down a car driving by to request that they call law enforcement authorities while she held the intruder (or intruders).
Her weapon was a snub-nosed .38-calber handgun, and she performed the feat while balancing on her walker. According to the Associated Press, she said: “I didn’t think twice. I just went and did it. If they’d even dared come close to me, they’d be six feet under by now.”
While living with a son in Agoura Hills, California, she died in in 2017 at the age of 92 from pneumonia complications. Her funeral took place at the Morris & Hislope Funeral Home in Science Hill, Kentucky. Visit www.legacy.com for more details and to see pictures of her days as a beauty queen.
