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Jayne Mansfield 1933 - 1967

Jayne Mansfield was born on April 19, 1933 in Bryn Mawr, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania United States to Eugene J Hermann. She married Paul Mansfield on January 28, 1950 and they later divorced on January 8, 1958. They had a child Jayne Marie Mansfield. She also married Mickey Hargitay on January 13, 1958 and they later divorced on August 26, 1964. They had children Mickey Hargitay Jr, Zoltan Hargitay, and Mariska Magdolna Hargitay. She and Matt Cimber married on September 24, 1964 and they later divorced on July 20, 1966. They had a child Tony Cimber. Jayne Mansfield died at age 34 years old on June 29, 1967 at New Orleans, LA. in New Orleans, LA, and was buried in Pen Argyl, Northampton County, PA.

Jayne Mansfield

Vera Jayne Palmer - at birth.

April 19, 1933

Bryn Mawr, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States

June 29, 1967

New Orleans, LA. in New Orleans, LA

Female

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Jayne Mansfield Jayne Mansfield (1933 - 1967)

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Jayne Mansfield's History: 1933 - 1967

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Introduction

Jayne Mansfield was a very talented comedienne and character actress.
04/19

1933

Birthday

April 19, 1933

Birthdate

Bryn Mawr, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania United States

Birthplace

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Nationality & Locations

She spent most of her childhood in Phillipsburg New Jersey. It is part of Lehigh Valley with lakes, resorts, the Poconos, and lots of activities nearby. It is an hour from New York City. It has mild winters and gorgeous spring and autumn foliage. I live 10 minutes from Phillipsburg.
Early Life & Education

She had an I.Q. of 163 and was an excellent student. Education: Southern Methodist University University of Texas at Austin.
Professional Career

Jayne Mansfield Born Vera Jayne Palmer April 19, 1933, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S. Died June 29, 1967 (aged 34) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. Cause of death Brain trauma sustained in an automobile crash Resting place Fairview Cemetery, Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania Education Southern Methodist University University of Texas at Austin Occupations Character Actress, Comedienne, and Singer Years active 1954–1967 Spouses: Paul Mansfield (m. 1950; div. 1958) Mickey Hargitay (m. 1958; div. 1964) Matt Cimber (m. 1964; div. 1966) Partner Enrico Bomba (1962–1964) Children 5 Awards Theatre World Award for Promising Personality (1956) Golden Globe for New Star Of The Year – Actress (1957) Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American character actress, comedian, singer, and nightclub entertainer. Jayne Mansfield was known for her well-publicized personal life and publicity stunts. Her film career was short-lived, but she had several box-office successes and won a Theatre World Award and a Golden Globe Award. Mansfield enjoyed success in the role of fictional actress Rita Marlowe in the Broadway play Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1955–1956), which she reprised in the film adaptation of the same name (1957). Her other film roles include the musical comedy The Girl Can't Help It (1956), the drama The Wayward Bus (1957), the neo-noir Too Hot to Handle (1960), and the sexy comedy Promises! Promises! (1963) Mansfield took her professional name from her first husband, public relations professional Paul Mansfield. She married three times, each marriage ending in divorce, and had five children. On June 29, 1967, she died in an automobile crash in New Orleans at the age of 34. Early life Jayne Mansfield was born Vera Jayne Palmer on April 19, 1933, at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. She was the only child of Herbert William Palmer, of English and German ancestry, and Vera Jeffrey (née Palmer) Palmer, of English and Cornish descent. Jayne spent her early childhood in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, where her father was an attorney practicing with future New Jersey governor Robert B. Meyner. In 1936, her father died of a heart attack. In 1939, Palmer's mother married sales engineer Harry Lawrence Peers and the family moved to Dallas, Texas, where she was known as Vera Jayne Peers. As a child, she wanted to be a Hollywood star like Shirley Temple. At age 12, Palmer took ballroom dance lessons. She graduated from Highland Park High School in 1950. While in high school, Palmer took violin, piano, and viola lessons. She also studied Spanish and German. Jayne received high grades. At age 17, she married Paul Mansfield on May 6, 1950. Their daughter, Jayne Marie Mansfield, was born six months later, on November 8, 1950. Jayne and her husband enrolled at Southern Methodist University to study acting. In 1951, Jayne moved to Los Angeles and attended a summer semester at UCLA. She entered the Miss California contest but Paul found out and forced her to withdraw from the competition. She then moved to Austin, Texas with her husband, and studied dramatics at the University of Texas at Austin. There, Mansfield worked as an art model, sold books door-to-door, and worked as a receptionist at a dance studio. She also joined the Curtain Club, a campus theatrical society that included lyricist Tom Jones, composer Harvey Schmidt, and actors Rip Torn and Pat Hingle among its members. (I met all of them and gave them tributes.) Mansfield then spent a year at Camp Gordon, Georgia (a US Army training facility), where Paul Mansfield served in the United States Army Reserve in the Korean War. In 1953, she moved back to Dallas and studied acting for several months under Baruch Lumet, the father of director Sidney Lumet and founder of the Dallas Institute of Performing Arts. Lumet gave Jayne Mansfield private lessons and called Mansfield and Rip Torn his "kids." Eventually, Lumet helped Jayne get her first screen test at Paramount in April 1954. Paul, Jayne, and Jayne Marie moved to Los Angeles in 1954. Jayne worked at various odd jobs including selling popcorn at the Stanley Warner Theatre, teaching dance, selling candy at a movie theater, modeling part-time at the Blue Book Model Agency, and working as a photographer at Esther Williams' Trails Restaurant. Career While attending the University of Texas at Austin, Mansfield won several beauty contests, including Miss Photoflash, Miss Magnesium Lamp, and Miss Fire Prevention Week. By her own account, the only title she refused was Miss Roquefort Cheese, because she believed it "just didn't sound right." Jayne later also rejected "Miss Prime Rib" in 1957. In 1952, while in Dallas, she and Paul Mansfield participated in small local-theater productions of The Slaves of Demon Rum and Ten Nights in a Barroom, and Anything Goes in Camp Gordon, Georgia. After he left for military service, she made her first significant stage appearance in a production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman on October 22, 1953, with the players of the Knox Street Theater, headed by Lumet. While at UCLA, she entered the Miss California contest (hiding her marital status), and won the local round before withdrawing. In 1954, she auditioned at both Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. At Paramount, Jayne performed a sketch she had worked out with Lumet from Joan of Arc for casting director Milton Lewis. Lewis informed her that she was wasting her "obvious talents" and had her return a week later to perform the piano scene from The Seven Year Itch. Jayne failed to impress but learned she would have to go blonde. She then performed the piano scene for Warner Brothers, but, again, failed to impress. She landed her first acting assignment in Lux Video Theatre, a series on CBS in the episode "An Angel Went AWOL," aired on October 21, 1954. In it, she sat at a piano and delivered a few lines of dialogue for $300 In December 1953, Hugh Hefner began publishing Playboy. The magazine became a success, in part, because of early appearances from Mansfield, Marilyn Monroe, Bettie Page, and Anita Ekberg. In February 1955, Mansfield was the Playboy Playmate of the Month and appeared in the magazine several times. Her February appearance increased the magazine's circulation and helped boost Mansfield's career. Shortly afterward, she posed for the Playboy calendar, covering her breasts with her hands. Playboy featured Mansfield each February from 1955 to 1958, and again in 1960. Film Mansfield's first film part was a supporting role in Female Jungle, a low-budget drama completed in ten days. Her part was filmed over a few days, and she was paid $150 ($2,000 in 2021 dollars). It was released unofficially in early 1955. In February 1955, James Byron, her manager, and publicist negotiated a seven-year contract with Warner Brothers, who were intrigued by her publicity antics. The contract initially paid her $250 a week ($3,000 in 2021 dollars) and landed her two films – one with an insignificant role and another unreleased for two years. She filed for separation from Paul Mansfield in January. Mansfield was given bit parts in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955), starring Jack Webb, and Hell on Frisco Bay (1955), starring Alan Ladd. She acted in one more movie for Warner Brothers – another small but significant role opposite Edward G. Robinson in the courtroom drama Illegal (1955). Mansfield's agent, William Shiffrin, signed her to play fictional film star Rita Marlowe in the Broadway play Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? with Orson Bean and Walter Matthau. She accepted the part while working in producer Louis W. Kellman's The Burglar (1957), director Paul Wendkos's film adaptation of David Goodis' novel, made in film noir style. Mansfield appeared alongside Dan Duryea and Martha Vickers. It was released two years later when Mansfield's fame peaked. She was successful in this straight-dramatic role, though most of her subsequent film appearances were comedic or capitalized on her sex appeal. It was Kellman's first major venture, and he claimed to have "discovered" Mansfield. She was announced for Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? in mid-July 1955 and was dropped by Warner Brothers on July 31. Twentieth Century-Fox signed Mansfield to a six-year contract on May 3, 1956, in its New York office to mold her as a successor to the increasingly difficult Marilyn Monroe, their resident blonde sex symbol, who had just completed the very difficult Bus Stop. Mansfield was still under contract to Broadway and continued playing Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? on stage until September 15, 1956. She undertook her first starring film role as Jerri Jordan in Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It (1956). Originally titled Do-Re-Mi, it featured a high-profile cast of contemporary rock and roll and R&B artists including Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Fats Domino, The Platters, and Little Richard. Released in December 1956, The Girl Can't Help It became one of the year's biggest successes, both critically and financially, earning more than Gentlemen Prefer Blondes had three years before. Soon afterward, Fox started promoting Mansfield as "Marilyn Monroe king-sized," attempting to coerce Monroe to return to the studio and complete her contract. Mansfield next played a dramatic role in The Wayward Bus (1957), an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel of the same name. With this film, she attempted to escape her "blonde bombshell" image and establish herself as a serious actress. The film enjoyed moderate box-office success, and Mansfield won a Golden Globe in 1957 for New Star of the Year, beating Carroll Baker and Natalie Wood for her performance as a "wistful derelict". It was "generally conceded to have been her best acting", according to The New York Times, in a fitful career hampered by her flamboyant image, distinctive voice ("a soft-voiced coo punctuated with squeals"), voluptuous figure, and limited acting range. Tashlin cast Mansfield in the film version of the Broadway show Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, released in 1957, reprising her role of Rita Marlowe alongside costars Tony Randall and Joan Blondell. Fox launched its new blonde bombshell with a North American tour and a 40-day, 16-country tour of Europe. She attended the premiere of the film (released as Oh! For a Man in the UK) in London and met Queen Elizabeth. In The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw Mansfield's fourth starring role in a Hollywood film was in Kiss Them for Me (also 1957), for which she received prominent billing alongside Cary Grant. However, in the film itself, she is little more than comic relief; Grant's character relates to a redhead played by fashion model Suzy Parker. The film, described as "vapid" and "ill-advised," was a critical and box-office flop, and marked one of the last attempts by 20th Century Fox to publicize Mansfield. The continuing publicity surrounding Mansfield's physical appearance failed to sustain her career. Fox gave her a leading role opposite Kenneth More in The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958), a western comedy filmed on location in Spain. In the film, Mansfield's three songs were dubbed by singer Connie Francis. Fox released the film in the United States in 1959, and it was Mansfield's last mainstream film success. Columbia Pictures offered her a part opposite James Stewart and Jack Lemmon in the romantic comedy Bell, Book and Candle (1958), but she turned it down because she was pregnant.[69][70] Fox then attempted to cast Mansfield opposite Paul Newman in Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958), his ill-fated first attempt at comedy. Mansfield in Too Hot to Handle (1960) With a decreased demand for big-breasted, blonde bombshells and an increasing negative backlash against her excessive publicity, Mansfield became a box-office has-been by the early 1960s. Yet, she remained a celebrity, still able to attract large crowds outside the United States through lucrative and successful nightclub acts. Mansfield gained no major star role in film roles after 1959. She was unable to fulfill a third of her contract with Fox due to her reported "repeated pregnancies". Fox stopped viewing her as a major Hollywood star and started loaning her and her likeness out to foreign productions in England and Italy, respectively, until the end of her contract in 1962. Many of her English/Italian films are regarded obscure and some considered lost. In 1959, Fox cast her in two independent gangster films shot in the United Kingdom: The Challenge and Too Hot to Handle, both released the following year. Both films were low-budget, and their American releases were delayed. Too Hot to Handle was not released in the United States until 1961 as Playgirl After Dark. The Challenge was released in 1963 as It Takes a Thief. In the United States, censors objected to a scene in Too Hot to Handle in which Mansfield, wearing silver netting with sequins painted over her nipples, appears nearly nude. Nude in Promises! Promises! (1963) When Mansfield returned to Hollywood in mid-1960, 20th Century Fox cast her in It Happened in Athens (1962) with Trax Colton, a handsome newcomer Fox was trying to mold into a heartthrob. She received first billing above the title but appeared in only a supporting role. The Olympic Games-based film was shot in Greece in the fall of 1960 but was not released until June 1962. It was a box-office failure, and 20th Century Fox dropped Mansfield's contract. In 1961, Mansfield signed on for a minor role but above-the-title billing in The George Raft Story, released the following year. Starring Ray Danton as Raft, the film showcased Mansfield in a small part as a glamorous film star. Soon after the film's release, she returned to European films, appearing in low-budget foreign films such as Heimweh nach St. Pauli (1963, Germany), L'Amore Primitivo (1964, Italy), Panic Button (1964, Italy) and Einer frisst den anderen (1964, Germany). Tommy Noonan persuaded Mansfield to become the first mainstream American actress to appear nude in a starring role, in the film Promises! Promises! (1963). Playboy published nude photographs of Mansfield on the set in its June 1963 issue, resulting in obscenity charges against Hugh Hefner in a Chicago court.[76] Promises! Promises! was banned in Cleveland, Ohio, but enjoyed box-office success elsewhere. As a result of the film's success, Mansfield landed on the Top 10 list of box-office attractions for that year.[77] Soon after her success in Promises! Promises!, Mansfield was chosen from many other actresses to replace the recently deceased Marilyn Monroe in Kiss Me, Stupid (1964), a romantic comedy also starring Dean Martin. She turned down the role because of her pregnancy with daughter Mariska Hargitay, and was replaced by Kim Novak. That same year, Mansfield appeared in a pinup book called Jayne Mansfield for President: the White House or Bust, which was promoted on billboards; David Attie, a commercial and fine art photographer, took the photographs.[78] In 1966, Mansfield was cast in Single Room Furnished, directed by husband Matt Cimber. The film required Mansfield to portray three different characters, and was her first starring, dramatic role in several years. It was released briefly in 1966, but did not enjoy a full release until 1968, almost a year after her death. After Single Room Furnished wrapped, Mansfield was cast opposite Mamie Van Doren and Ferlin Husky in The Las Vegas Hillbillys (1966), a low-budget comedy from Woolner Brothers. It was her first country and western film, and she promoted it through a 29-day tour of major U.S. cities, accompanied by Husky, Don Bowman and other country musicians. Before filming began, Mansfield said she would not "share any screen time with the drive-in's answer to Marilyn Monroe", meaning Van Doren. Though their characters did share one scene, Mansfield and Van Doren filmed their parts at different times to be edited together later.[79] Mansfield's wardrobe relied on the shapeless styles of the 1960s to hide her weight gain after the birth of her fifth child.[80] Despite career setbacks, she remained a highly visible celebrity during the early 1960s through her publicity antics and stage performances. In early 1967, Mansfield filmed her last role, a cameo in A Guide for the Married Man, a comedy starring Walter Matthau, Robert Morse and Inger Stevens. The opening credits listed Mansfield as one of the technical advisers, along with other star names.[81]
Personal Life & Family

Jayne Mansfield Born April 19, 1933, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, USA Died June 29, 1967, in Slidell, Louisiana, USA (road accident) Birth Name Vera Jayne Palmer Nicknames Jaynie Broadway's Smartest Dumb Blonde The Blonde Bombshell Height 5' 6¼" (1.68 m) Mini Bio (1) One of the leading sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s, film actress Jayne Mansfield was born Vera Jayne Palmer on April 19, 1933, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, the only child of Vera J. (nee Palmer; later Peers) and Herbert W. Palmer. Her parents were well-to-do, with her father a successful attorney in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, where she spent most of her childhood. Her parents were both born with the same surname, and her ancestry was seven-eighths English and Cornish and one-eighth German. She was reportedly a talented pianist and played the violin when she was young. Tragedy struck when Jayne was three when her father suddenly died of a heart attack. Three years later, her mother remarried and she and her mother moved to Dallas, Texas, buying a small home where she had violin concerts in the driveway of their home. Her IQ was reportedly 163, and she attended the University of Dallas and participated in little-theater productions. In 1949, at the age of 16, she married a man five years her senior named Paul Mansfield. In November 1950, when Jayne was seventeen, their daughter, Jayne Marie Mansfield was born. The union ended in divorce but she kept the surname Mansfield as a good surname for an actress. After some productions there and elsewhere, Jayne decided to go to Hollywood. Her first film was a bit role as a cigarette girl in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955). Although the roles, in the beginning, were not much, she successfully gained those roles because of her ample physical attributes which placed her in two other films that year, Hell on Frisco Bay (1955) and Illegal (1955). Her breakout role came the next year with a featured part in The Burglar (1957). By the time she portrayed Rita Marlowe in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) and Playgirl After Dark (1960), Jayne was now known as the poor man's Marilyn Monroe. She did not get the plum roles that Marilyn got in her productions. Instead, her films were more of a showcase for her body than anything else. She did have a real talent for acting, but the movie executives insisted she remain in her dumb blonde stereotype roles. By the 1960s, her career had options that grew lower. She made somewhat embarrassing guest appearances like on the popular game show What's My Line? (1950), she appeared on the show four times in 1956, 1957, 1964, and 1966 and many other 1950s and 1960s game shows. By 1962, she was dropped from 20th Century Fox and the rest of her career had smaller options like being in B movies and low-budget movies or performing at food stores or small nightclubs. While traveling from a nightclub in Biloxi, Mississippi, and 30 miles from New Orleans to where she was to be on television the following day, she was killed instantly on Highway 90 in Slidell, Louisiana in a car crash in the early hours of June 29, 1967, when the car in which she was riding slammed into the back of a semi-tractor trailer truck that had stopped due to a truck in front of the tractor-trailer that was spraying for bugs. Her car went under the truck at nearly 80 miles per hour. Her boyfriend Samuel Brody and their driver Ronnie Harrison were also killed. The damage to the car was so bad that the engine was twisted sideways. She was not, however, decapitated, as had long been misreported. She was 34 years old. Mansfield's funeral was on July 3, 1967, and hundreds of people lined the main street of Pen Argyl for Mansfield's funeral, a small private ceremony at Fairview Cemetery in Plainfield (outside Pen Argyl), Pennsylvania (where her father was also buried), attended by her family. The only ex-husband to attend was Mickey Hargitay. Her final film, Single Room Furnished (1966), was released the following year. In 2000, Mansfield's 97-year-old mother, Mrs. Vera Peers, was interred alongside Mansfield. After Mansfield's death, Mansfield's mother, as well as her ex-husband Mickey Hargitay, William Pigue (legal guardian for her daughter, Jayne Marie), Charles Goldring (Mansfield's business manager), and Bernard B. Cohen and Jerome Webber (both administrators of the estate) all filed unsuccessful suits to gain control of her estate, which was initially estimated at $600,000 ($3,712,000 in 2018 dollars), including the Pink Palace (estimated at $100,000 ($619,000 in 2018 dollars)), a sports car sold for $7,000 ($43,000 in 2018 dollars), her jewelry, and Sam Brody's $185,000 estate left to her in his last will ($1,145,000 in 2018 dollars). In 1971, Beverly Brody sued the Mansfield estate for $325,000 ($2,011,000 in 2018 dollars) worth of presents and jewelry given to Mansfield by Sam Brody; the suit was settled out of court. In 1977, Mansfield's four eldest children (Jayne Marie, Mickey, Zoltan, and Mariska) went to court to discover that some $500,000 in debt which Mansfield had incurred ($3,093,000 in 2018 dollars), and litigation had left the estate insolvent. Family (3) Spouse Matt Cimber (24 September 1964 - 20 July 1966) (separated) (1 child) Mickey Hargitay (13 January 1958 - 26 August 1964) (divorced) (3 children) Paul Mansfield (28 January 1950 - 8 January 1958) (divorced) (1 child) Children Tony Cimber Mickey Hargitay Jr. Zoltan Hargitay Jayne Marie Mansfield Mariska Hargitay Parents Vera J. Palmer Herbert W. Palmer Trade Mark (4) Platinum blonde hair Her enormous breasts High-pitched squeal Lisp, breathless voice Trivia (43) The Playboy Playmate of the Month for February 1955, Mansfield's daughter, Jayne Marie Mansfield, followed in her mother's footsteps by appearing in Playboy in 1976. Producer Louis W. Kellman always said that he "discovered" Jayne Mansfield. He gave the then little-known actress her first starring role (Gladden, Dan Duryea's sexy-but-shy gun moll kid sister) in The Burglar (1957) after seeing the normally jaded and unflappable film crew's "overheated" reaction to her on the set of Pete Kelly's Blues (1955) in which she had a small role. Had five children: Jayne Marie Mansfield (born November 8, 1950), Mickey Hargitay Jr. (born December 21, 1958), Zoltan Hargitay (born August 1, 1960), Mariska Hargitay (born January 24, 1964) and Tony Cimber (born October 18, 1965). Turned down the role of Ginger Grant on Gilligan's Island (1964), which went to Tina Louise. Initally divorced Mickey Hargitay on May 1, 1963; she divorced him again in Juarez, Mexico. On August 26, 1964, the California Superior Court recognized the Mexican divorce pronouncement. Son Zoltan Hargitay was critically injured by a supposedly tame lion while visiting the Jungleland Zoo in Thousand Oaks, California, but made a full recovery. [December 1966] Her goal, as quoted in the book, "Jayne Mansfield and the American Fifties": is "To feel satisfied with me; to know that I have arrived. To be liked. To be a big personality. The real stars are not actors or actresses. They're personalities. The quality of making everyone stop in their tracks is what I work at.". Contrary to popular belief, she was not decapitated in the car crash that killed her. Her death certificate, issued in New Orleans, Louisiana, lists "crushed skull with avulsion of cranium and brain" as the immediate cause of death; her other injuries included "closed fracture of right humerus" and "multiple lacerations of hands and lower extremities". Following her untimely death, she was interred at Fairview Cemetery in Plainfield (Outside of Pen Argyl), Pennsylvania. The late model Buick that Jayne was killed in was locked in a garage for decades, in the same shape it was in after the crash. The owner, who was a huge fan, displayed it at various shows over the years, and it was sometimes billed as Jayne Mansfield's death car. The car was sold at auction in 1999 for $8000. Reportedly, the car still has the blood stains on the seats. After her death, an extension was added to the rear bumper of semi-trailers to keep autos from driving under the truck. They were colloquially called Mansfield bars. Her death is the subject of the Siouxsie and the Banshees song "Kiss Them for Me", the title of which is taken from her 1957 film. The German punk-rock-band The Bates dedicated the song "The Lips of Jayne Mansfield" (from the album "Shake!") to her. The only child of Vera (nee Palmer) and Herbert Palmer, Mansfield's ancestry was English and Cornish, and one-eighth German. The Japanese garage rock band The 5.6.7.8's play a song called "I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield". Los Angeles heavy metal band L.A. Guns had a top-40 hit in the early 1990s with a song called "The Ballad of Jayne", which was based on her. Was the first American actress to appear nude in a mainstream American film (Promises..... Promises! (1963)). Was with 20th Century Fox from 1956-1962. Mansfield's nightclub act was enormously successful, reportedly earning her $8,000-$17,000 weekly. She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6328 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960. Her estate was valued at approximately $2,000,000 at the time of her death, a significant sum by 1967 standards. She was named the second (out of 100) top Playboy Playmates of all time according to Playboy magazine. California license plate on her 1957 Lincoln Premiere convertible: NBB 851. This Lincoln was nearly identical to the one from The Girl Can't Help It (1956); the movie car did not have a Continental kit and hers did. She was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in March 2008 in Austin, Texas. Her daughter Mariska Hargitay accepted the award. Mother-in-law of Peter Hermann and former mother-in-law of Dana Hargitay. Grandmother of August Miklos Friedrich Hermann, Andrew Nicolas Hargitay Hermann, and Amaya Josephine Hermann (Mariska's children). Grandmother of Jianni Cimber (Tony's daughter), Brandon, and Zoltan Jr. Hargitay. Her daughter Mariska Hargitay has a zig-zag scar on the side of her head from the car accident that killed her mother. Mariska has no memory of the accident since she was only three years old at the time. She was Miss Photoflash 1952, the first in a series of beauty awards she would win. Biographer Martha Saxton about Mansfield and sex: "If Jayne was a product of the fifties, then she was a casualty of the sixties. In the fifties, Jayne and American men had conspired to keep it a secret. By the sixties the secret was out.". Gave birth to her first child at age 17, a daughter, Jayne Marie Mansfield, on November 8th, 1950. The child's father is her 1st ex-husband, Paul Mansfield. Gave birth to her second child at age 25, a son, Mickey Hargitay Jr. on December 21st, 1958. The child's father is her 2nd ex-husband, Mickey Hargitay. Gave birth to her third child at age 27, a son, Zoltan Hargitay, on August 1st, 1960. The child's father is her 2nd ex-husband, Mickey Hargitay. Gave birth to her fourth child at age 30, a daughter, Mariska Hargitay, on January 23rd, 1964. The child's father is her 2nd ex husband, Mickey Hargitay. Gave birth to her fifth child at age 32, a son, Tony Cimber, on October 18th, 1965. Child's father is her 3rd husband Matt Cimber. Even though she divorced her first husband, Paul Mansfield, she kept the last name Mansfield because it sounded "Hollywood" to her. She felt that it would help gain her stardom. Her daughter Mariska Hargitay received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame right next to hers. She appeared in one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957). At the zenith of her popularity, a peculiar promotional merchandising venture was launched...The Jayne Mansfield Hot Water Bottle. This was a 22" plastic novelty item molded in a modestly risqué likeness of the actress. Many thousands were sold, and today they are something of an oddball collector's item commanding as much as $300 in the original box. Mentioned in the film Murder She Said (1961) by Alexander in the hopes of having a maid with the figure of Jayne Mansfield. Signed by 20th Century-Fox in 1954, Mansfield was meant to be a rival (or, in the vernacular of gossip magazines of the time, a "threat") to up-and-coming Fox starlet Marilyn Monroe, but Mansfield never achieved the same level of popularity or success as Marilyn, and was widely regarded as a pale imitation of blonde bombshell Monroe. At one point marketed Jane Mansfield hot water bottle,. She cut the ribbon to open the Chiswick flyover in London,. Personal Quotes (31) To establish yourself as an actress, you have to become well known. A girl just starting out, I would tell her to concentrate on acting, but she doesn't have to go around wearing blankets. Stars were made to suffer, and I am a star. I don't want to get involved in the racial situation at the expense of losing fans. I wouldn't say anything too strong, but I do know that God created us equal and we're not living up to it. Carrying a baby is the most rewarding experience a woman can enjoy. I will never be satisfied. Life is one constant search for betterment for me. I don't particularly enjoy publicity, it seems to just follow me around. I like being a pin-up girl, there's nothing wrong with it. A lot of happiness can be brought to the mentally distraught by a little understanding. We eat a lot of lean meat and fresh vegetables. You are what you eat, you know. When I'm 100, I'll still be doing pin-ups. War is a foolish, childish, animalistic, unthinking, unintelligent way of trying to accomplish a purpose. I want to earn my own way, I like having nice things, but I've never accepted anything I haven't earned. I'd like ten more babies and ten more chihuahuas and a few Academy Awards. Meanwhile, I enjoy being a sex symbol and making people happy. No one wants to see or read about a dull subject. I don't consider myself a dull subject. I've got the strangest build. It's big in the hips, small in the waist and I've got these enormous... shoulders. Looks don't regulate a girl's body temperature, at least not this girl's body temperature. Intelligence in a man is the keynote and no girl in her right mind will go shopping for a man who's handsome and husky alone. To function as an actress, I have to be in love. I have to have that incentive to work. I didn't come to Hollywood to be the girl next door. I came to be a movie star. My father was the only man I ever knew who really loved me unselfishly, who never used me for personal gain. Once you were a starlet. Then you're a star. Can you be a starlet again? If you want the best things in life, you have to earn them for yourself. I like the California style of living. [Upon learning that 20th Century-Fox had lied to her about being considered for the lead in a film about the life of Jean Harlow] I have thousands of letters here, from people all over the world, saying I am the perfect Harlow... even naturally have her mannerisms of caressing my body and arms in that way. But no, they can't see me playing the dramatic side of Harlow's life. I guess many people think that a girl who shows her bosom and wears tight dresses can't be close to God. God has always been close to me. Only He knew what was in my heart. I have always considered my career self and my personal self as two different and separate people. There's a Jayne Mansfield at home, a wife and devoted mother, and there's Jayne the sex symbol, which is my career. I have always kept them completely apart and separate. Sex appeal is a wonderful, warm, womanly, healthy feeling. If you're a woman it's womanly, if you're not it's manly... it comes only from inside... it's an effervescent desire to enjoy life. You know which title I like best? I like to be called mother. Men are those creatures with two legs and eight hands. If you're going to do something wrong, do it big, because the punishment is the same either way. The real stars are not good actors or actresses. They're personalities. I love sex... It should be animalistic, it should be sadistic, it should at times be masochistic... There are few rules and moral conventions. Nothing risque, nothing gained. Salary (7) Lux Video Theatre (1950) $300 Female Jungle (1955) $150 The Girl Can't Help It (1956) $2,500 .00 per week The Burglar (1957) $5,000 Gli amori di Ercole (1960) $75,000 Promises..... Promises! (1963) $150,000 + % of profits A Guide for the Married Man (1967) $10,000 See also
06/29

1967

Death

June 29, 1967

Death date

Car Accident in a fog created by mosquito spraying.

Cause of death

New Orleans, LA. in New Orleans, LA
Death location

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Gravesite & Burial

mm/dd/yyyy
Funeral date
Pen Argyl, Northampton County, Pennsylvania 18072, United States
Burial location
Obituary

Blonde bombshell and celebrated actress Jayne Mansfield is killed instantly on June 29, 1967, when the car in which she was riding struck the rear of a trailer truck on U.S. Route 90 east of New Orleans, Louisiana. Mansfield had been on her way to New Orleans from Biloxi, Mississippi, where she had been performing a standing engagement at a local nightclub; she had a television appearance scheduled the following day. Ronald B. Harrison, a driver for the Gus Stevens Dinner Club, was driving Mansfield and her lawyer and companion, Samuel S. Brody, along with three of Mansfield’s children with her ex-husband Mickey Hargitay, in Stevens’ 1966 Buick Electra. On a dark stretch of road, just as the truck was approaching a machine emitting a thick white fog used to spray mosquitoes (which may have obscured it from Harrison’s view), the Electra hit the trailer truck from behind. Mansfield, Harrison, and Brody were all killed in the accident. Eight-year-old Mickey, six-year-old Zoltan, and three-year-old Marie, or Mariska, had apparently been sleeping on the rear seat; they were injured but survived. Born Vera Jayne Palmer in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Mansfield arrived in Hollywood as a young wife and mother (to daughter Jayne Marie) in 1954, determined to become an actress. From the beginning, she wasn’t afraid to make the most of her assets, particularly her curvaceous figure, flowing platinum blonde hair, and dazzling smile. She was cast in the Broadway comedy "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" and Jayne turned heads as a voluptuous, dumb blonde movie star. In one famous scene, she appeared in nothing but a white towel. She also starred in the 1963 comedy Promises! Promises!, and stills from the set appeared in Playboy magazine, but her best performance was generally believed to have been in 1957’s The Wayward Bus, based on the John Steinbeck novel and costarring Joan Collins. While her screen career amounted to about a dozen memorable films, off-screen she played the movie star role to perfection and became one of the most visible glamour girls of the era.

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Did you know?

Jayne Mansfield lived 39 years shorter than the average family member when died at the age of 34.

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