
21st July 1980: Miss USA, Shawn Weatherly, gives a victory wave after she was crowned ‘Miss Universe 1980’ at the Seoul Cultural Centre, South Korea. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Portrait of Miss Universe, American winner Shawn Weatherly, wearing her crown and a fur coat, during a visit to London, December 5th 1980. (Photo by Gary Stone/Central Press/Getty Images)
This time, let’s give the spotlight to the winner herself – the 29th Miss Universe Shawn Weatherly – who was able to build a breakout – albeit less notable for the remainder – career on US Television and the movies after her reign. In the very first season, she starred as Jill Riley opposite David Hasselhoff in the hugely successful “Baywatch” and was also able to land a role as Cadet Karen Adams in the film Police Academy 3: Back in Training. She also guested on The Dukes of Hazzard and had a recurring role on Chicago Hope before retiring from acting completely.

BAYWATCH — Pictured: (l-r) David Hasselhoff as Lt. Mitch Buchannon, Shawn Weatherly as Jill Riley — Photo by: Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank
The video below is a clip from the Baywatch episode when her character was killed by a shark. It went appropriately “viral” at the time (although viral is a word that wasn’t popularly used back then). One season of the show was enough for Miss Universe 1980.

Shawn Weatherly at 60