Lizalotta Valesca

Lizalotta Valesca was born as Ragnhild Nyholm on October 2, 1902 in Finland, and is best known in her country of birth for being crowned the first ever Miss Finland, either in 1930 or 1931, the date varies depending on the source. With the onset of WWII she relocated to California, where she worked as a model and uncredited TV and film extra, some sources also names her as TV producer. She married and had two children. Her only known speaking film role was in This Island Earth (1955), where she played a Finnish scientist with a curiously American name. Her only line was "Mozartti on oikein kaunista", Finnish for "The music of Mozart is very beautiful". Valesca relocated to New York in 1955, where she worked odd jobs in the fashion and entertainment industry, and performed on stage. In 1961 she published a book on health and beauty, as well as sexuality and reproduction. The book, called More Than Beauty... was well received, and Valesca became a popular lecturer, appearing on several TV programs, where she discussed beauty, aging, health and sex. Valesca belonged to the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland, and thus often gave interviews for Finnish media in English, rather than Finnish, in her later years.