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Jayne Mansfield
File:Jayne Mansfield.jpgMansfield in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)
Born	Vera Jayne Palmer (1933-04-19)April 19, 1933 Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States
Died	June 29, 1967(1967-06-29) (aged 34) Slidell, Louisiana, United States
Cause of death	Traffic accident
Resting place	Fairview Cemetery, Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania 40°52.08′N 75°15.20′W / 40.86800°N 75.25333°W / 40.86800; -75.25333
Other names	Vera Jayne Peers, Vera Palmer
Occupation	Actress/Pin-up Model
Years active	1954–1967
Notable work	The Girl Can't Help It, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, Too Hot to Handle, The Wayward Bus, Promises! Promises!
Television	The Red Skelton Hour, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Ed Sullivan Show
Spouse(s)	Paul Mansfield ​(m. 1950⁠–⁠1958)​ Miklós Hargitay ​ ​(m. 1958⁠–⁠1964)​ Matt Cimber ​(m. 1964⁠–⁠1966)​
Children	Jayne Marie Mansfield (b. 1950) Miklós "Mickey" Hargitay, Jr. (b. 1958) Zoltán Hargitay (b. 1960) Mariska Hargitay (b. 1964) Antonio "Tony" Cimber (b. 1965)
Parent(s)	Herbert William Palmer (1904–1936) Vera Jeffrey Palmer/Peers (1903–2000)
Awards	Theatre World Award (1956); Golden Globe for New Star Of The Year – Actress (1957); Golden Laurel for Top Female Musical Performance (1959)
Website	http://www.jaynemansfield.com/
Signature

Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress who worked in Hollywood and on Broadway. One of the leading blonde sex symbols of the late-1950s, Mansfield starred in several popular Hollywood films that emphasized her platinum-blonde hair, hourglass figure, and cleavage-revealing costumes. 20th Century Fox signed a six-year contact with Mansfield to replace Marilyn Monroe as their resident blonde sex symbol. Throughout her career, she was compared by the media to Monroe and the other top sex symbol Mamie Van Doren. Mansfield was a Playboy Playmate of the Month and appeared in the magazine on several occasions.

While Mansfield's film career was short-lived, she had several box office successes and won the Theatre World Award, a Golden Globe, and a Golden Laurel. In 1955, she enjoyed a successful Broadway run acting in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and later the film of the same name in 1957. She is remembered for both this film and a starring role in the comedy film The Girl Can't Help It (1956), which was also produced by 20th Century Fox. Of her rare on-screen dramatic roles, her performance in The Wayward Bus (1957) is regarded as the best. She also sang for studio recordings including the album Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky & Me and the singles Suey and As The Clouds Drift By done together with rock legend Jimi Hendrix. Mansfield's notable television work included The Red Skelton Show (1959–1963) and The Ed Sullivan Show (1957).

As the demand for blonde bombshells declined in the 1960s, Mansfield remained a popular celebrity, continuing to attract large crowds outside the U.S. and in lucrative and successful nightclub tours. Her film career continued with lower budget melodramas and comedies, many filmed in the United Kingdom and Europe, including Heimweh nach St. Pauli and L'Amore Primitivo. In the independent film Promises! Promises! (1963), she became the first major American actress to have a nude starring role in a Hollywood motion-picture.

In her personal life she was successively married to her childhood lover Paul Mansfield (1950–1958), actor-bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay (1958–1963) and film director Matt Cimber (1964–1966). She was the mother of playmate Jayne Marie Mansfield (born 1950), Miklós Jeffrey Palmer Hargitay (born 1958), Zoltán Anthony Hargitay (born 1960), actress Mariska Magdolna Hargitay (born 1964) and Antonio "Tony" Cimber (born 1965). Mansfield died in an automobile accident at age 34.

Early life

Jayne Mansfield, a natural brunette, was born on April 19, 1933 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania as Vera Jayne Palmer. She was the only child of Herbert William (1904–1936), of German ancestry, and Vera Jeffrey Palmer (1903–2000), of English descent. Vera Jeffrey's father, Elmer Palmer, was largely Cornish area of Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania where he was into the slate industry. Jayne spent her early childhood in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, where her father was a lawyer who was in practice with future New Jersey governor Robert B. Meyner. Herbert William died of a heart attack while driving a car with his wife and daughter in 1936, when Jayne was three years old. After his death, her mother worked as a school teacher. In 1939, Vera Palmer married sales engineer Harry Lawrence Peers and the family moved to Dallas, Texas, where Jayne was known by the name Vera Jayne Peers.

She attended the University of Texas at Austin and studied dramatics at the University of Dallas, having only attended Highland Park High School until her junior year. In Dallas, she became a student of actor Baruch Lumet, father of director Sidney Lumet and founder of the Dallas Institute of the Performing Arts. On October 22, 1953, she first appeared on stage in a production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Frequent references have been made to Mansfield's very high IQ, which she advertised as 163. She spoke five languages and was a classically trained pianist and violinist. She would later complain that the public did not care about her brains. "They're more interested in 40-21-35", she said. In 1950, she married Paul Mansfield in May and had her first child Jayne Marie Mansfield in November. The couple moved to Austin, Texas. They stayed there until Paul was called to United States Army Reserve for the Korean War. After spending a year at Camp Gordon, Georgia, they moved to Los Angeles in 1954. There she studied dramatics at UCLA. Between a variety of odd jobs, including a stint as a candy vendor at a movie theatre, she attended UCLA during the summer, and then went back to Texas for fall quarter at Southern Methodist University.

While attending the University of Texas, she won several beauty contests, with titles that included "Miss Photoflash", "Miss Magnesium Lamp", and "Miss Fire Prevention Week". The only title she ever turned down was "Miss Roquefort Cheese", because she believed it "just didn't sound right". While studying at Dallas, she acted in small theater productions of Anything Goes, Death of a Salesman, The Slaves of Demon Rum, and Ten Nights in a Barroom in 1951. While at UCLA, she entered the Miss California contest, hiding her marital status, and won in the local round before withdrawing. Early in her career, the prominence of her breasts was considered problematic, leading her to be cut from her first professional assignment, an advertising campaign for General Electric, which depicted several young women in bathing suits relaxing around a pool. In 1954, she auditioned at both Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. for a part in The Seven Year Itch, failing to impress. That year, she landed her first acting assignment in Lux Video Theatre (episode: An Angel Went AWOL; broadcast date: October 21, 1954), a series on CBS. She posed nude for the February 1955 issue of Playboy, an event that helped to launch Mansfield's career and to push circulation of the magazine that started publishing from publisher-editor Hugh Hefner's kitchen the year before. In 1964, Playboy reran that pictorial.

Film career

Career beginnings (mid-1950s)

Mansfield's first movie role was as the supporting role of Candy Price in Female Jungle (1955), a low-budget drama filmed in just ten days. Mansfield's part was filmed in a few days and she received $150 for her performance ($1,706 in 2024 dollars). Female Jungle was released in January 1955 by producer Burt Kaiser. That year Paul Wendkos offered her the dramatic role of Gladden in The Burglar (1957), his film adaptation of David Goodis' novel. The film was done in film noir style, and Mansfield appeared alongside Dan Duryea and Martha Vickers. The Burglar was released two years later, when Mansfield's fame was at its peak. She was successful in this straight dramatic role, though most of her subsequent film appearances would be either comedic in nature or capitalize on her sex appeal.

On February 8, 1955, Mansfield was signed by Warner Bros. to a six month contract after one of its talent scouts discovered her in a production at the Pasadena Playhouse. She filed for divorce from her first husband, Paul Mansfield, the same day. Warner wanted Mansfield as their version of the widely popular and lucrative Marilyn Monroe of 20th Century Fox. Mansfield was given a bit part in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955), which starred and was directed by Jack Webb. She made one more movie with Warner Bros., which gave her another small, but important role as Angela O'Hara, opposite Edward G. Robinson, in Illegal (1955). The film offered another rare serious performance by Mansfield. After leaving Warner Bros., Mansfield made an uncredited cameo appearance in Hell on Frisco Bay (1955), starring Alan Ladd.

Film stardom (late 1950s)

In 1955, she enjoyed a successful Broadway run acting in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. This wild comedy starred Mansfield as Rita Marlowe, a wild blonde Hollywood actress. The play also starred Orson Bean and Walter Matthau. Returning to Hollywood on May 3, 1956, Mansfield signed a six-year contract with 20th Century Fox. Fox wanted Mansfield to replace Marilyn Monroe, their resident blonde sex symbol, and promoted her as "Marilyn Monroe King Sized". She was then given her first starring role as Jerri Jordan in the film production of Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It (1956). The film, originally titled Do-Re-Mi, featured a high-profile cast of contemporary Rock n Roll and R&B artists including Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Fats Domino, The Platters and Little Richard.

Mansfield then played a dramatic role in The Wayward Bus in 1957. In this film, she attempted to move away from her "dumb blonde" image and establish herself as a serious actress. This film was adapted from John Steinbeck's novel, and the cast included Dan Dailey and Joan Collins. The film enjoyed reasonable success at the box office. She won a Golden Globe in 1957 for New Star Of The Year – Actress, beating Carroll Baker and Natalie Wood, for her performance as a "wistful derelict" in The Wayward Bus. 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. Mansfield reprised her role of Rita Marlowe in the 1957 movie version of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, co-starring Tony Randall and Joan Blondell. The Girl Can't Help It and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? were popular successes in their day and are considered classics. Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is known as Mansfield's "signature film", because she starred in both the play and film version.

Mansfield's fourth starring role in a Hollywood film was in Kiss Them for Me (1957) in which she received prominent billing alongside Cary Grant. However, in the film itself, she is little more than comedy relief while Grant's character shows a preference for a sleek, demure redhead portrayed by fashion model Suzy Parker. Kiss Them for Me, one of Mansfield's last starring roles, was a box office disappointment. The movie was described as "vapid" and "ill-advised". It also marked one of the last attempts by 20th Century Fox to publicize her. The continuing publicity around her physical presence failed to sustain her career. Mansfield was then offered a part opposite James Stewart and Jack Lemmon in Bell, Book and Candle (1958), but had to turn it down because of her pregnancy. Afterward, Mansfield got word that her rival Kim Novak would replace her in the film.

In 1958, Fox gave Mansfield the lead role as Kate opposite Kenneth More in the western spoof The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw. Despite being filmed in 1958, The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw was not released in the United States until 1959. The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw required Mansfield to sing three songs; she was not a trained singer, so the studio dubbed Mansfield's voice with singer/actress Connie Francis. When released in the United States, The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw became her last mainstream film success.

Following The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw, Fox tried to cast Mansfield opposite Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward as Angela, the alluring neighbor, in Newman's ill-fated first attempt at comedy, in a film called Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!. However, after some misunderstandings, Mansfield's Wayward Bus co-star Joan Collins stepped in as her replacement.

Career decline (1960s)

Despite the publicity and her public popularity, good film roles dried up for Mansfield after 1959. She kept busy in a series of low-budget films, mostly made in Europe. Most of these films are largely unknown to later generations, and some are considered lost.

In 1959, Fox lent her to appear in two independent gangster thrillers in England: The Challenge, co-starring Anthony Quayle, and Too Hot to Handle, co-starring Christopher Lee. Both films were low-budgeted, and their American releases were delayed. Too Hot to Handle was not released in the U.S. until 1961 as Playgirl After Dark, while The Challenge would not be seen by American audiences until 1963, under the title It Takes a Thief.

When she returned to Hollywood in mid-1960, 20th Century-Fox cast her in It Happened in Athens (1962). She received first billing above the title, but only appears in a supporting role. It Happened in Athens starred a handsome newcomer, Trax Colton, an "unknown" whom Fox was trying to mold into a major heartthrob. This 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 flop, and Mansfield's 20th Century-Fox contract was dropped.

In 1961, Mansfield signed on to play Lisa Lang in The George Raft Story, starring Ray Danton as the actor. She accepted the part mainly for the money and because the film was going to be filmed in Hollywood, rather in Europe. Soon after the release of The George Raft Story, Mansfield returned to European films to find work. Over the next few years, Mansfield mainly appeared in low-budgeted foreign films, such as Panic Button, Heimweh nach St. Pauli, Einer frisst den anderen, and, L'Amore Primitivo.

In 1963, Tommy Noonan persuaded Mansfield to become the first mainstream American actress to appear nude with a starring role, in the film Promises! Promises!. Photographs of a naked Mansfield on the set were published in the June 1963 issue of Playboy, which resulted in obscenity charges being filed against Hugh Hefner in Chicago municipal court. Promises! Promises! was banned in Cleveland, 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. The autobiographical book, Jayne Mansfield's Wild, Wild World, which she co-authored with her husband at the time, Mickey Hargitay, was published right after Promises! Promises!, containing 32 pages of black-and-white photographs from the film printed on glossy paper.

In 1966, Mansfield was cast in Single Room Furnished, directed by her then husband Matt Cimber. The film required Mansfield to portray three different characters and was Mansfield's first starring dramatic role in several years. It was briefly released in 1966, but was not officially released until 1968, almost a year after her death.

After the filming of Single Room Furnished was wrapped, Mansfield was cast opposite Mamie Van Doren and Ferlin Husky in The Las Vegas Hillbillys, a low-budget comedy released by Woolner Brothers. Despite her career setbacks, Mansfield remained a highly visible personality through the early 1960s through her publicity antics and stage performances. In early 1967, Mansfield filmed her last film role: playing a cameo role in A Guide for the Married Man, a comedy starring Walter Matthau, Robert Morse and Inger Stevens. Mansfield received seventh billing as "Girl with Harold".

Career outside film

Stage

Mansfield acted on stage as well as in film. In 1955, she went to New York and appeared in a prominent role in the Broadway production of George Axelrod's comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times described the "commendable abandon" of her scantily clad rendition of Rita Marlowe in the play as "a platinum-pated movie siren with the wavy contours of Marilyn Monroe". In October 1957, Mansfield went on a 16-country tour of Europe for 20th Century Fox. She also appeared in stage productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Bus Stop, which were well reviewed and co-starred Hargitay.

Dissatisfied with her film roles, Mansfield and Hargitay headlined at the Dunes in Las Vegas in an act called The House of Love, for which the actress earned $35,000 a week ($398,087 in 2024 dollars). It proved to be such a hit that she extended her stay, and 20th Century Fox Records subsequently recorded the show for an album called Jayne Mansfield Busts Up Las Vegas, in 1962. With her film career floundering, she still commanded a salary of $8,000–25,000 per week for her nightclub act ($81,000–252,000 in 2024 dollars). She traveled all over the world with it. In 1967, the year she died, Mansfield's time was split between nightclub performances and the production of her last film, A Guide for the Married Man, a high-budget production directed by Gene Kelly.

Music

Jayne Mansfield sang in English and German for a number of her films including The Las Vegas Hillbillys, Too Hot to Handle, Homesick for St. Pauli and Promises! Promises!, though in the film The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw her character lip synced to Connie Francis singing In The valley Of Love, Strolling Down The Lane With Billy, and If The San Francisco Hills Could Only Talk. She also had classical training in piano and violin. She played violin with a six person back-up at The Ed Sullivan Show.

In 1964, Mansfield released a novelty album called Jayne Mansfield: Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky & Me, in which she recited Shakespeare's sonnets and poems by Marlowe, Browning, Wordsworth, and others against a background of Tchaikovsky's music. The album cover depicted a bouffant-coiffed Mansfield with lips pursed and breasts barely covered by a fur stole, posing between busts of Tchaikovsky and Shakespeare. The New York Times described the album a reading of "30-odd poems in a husky, urban, baby voice". The paper's reviewer went on to remark that "Miss Mansfield is a lady with apparent charms, but reading poetry is not one of them." Jimi Hendrix played bass and lead guitar for Mansfield in 1965 in two songs, "As The Clouds Drift By" and "Suey", released together on two sides of the 45 rpm singles. According to Hendrix historian Steven Roby (Black Gold: The Lost Archives Of Jimi Hendrix, Billboard Books), this collaboration happened because they shared the same manager.

Television

Mansfield appeared in numerous television programs, including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Jack Benny Program (for which she played the violin), The Steve Allen Show, Down You Go, The Match Game (one rare episode exists with her as a team captain) and The Jackie Gleason Show (in the mid-1960s when the show was the second highest rated in the U.S.). Mansfield's television roles included those in Burke's Law and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. On returning from New York to Hollywood in 1957, she made several television appearances, including several spots as a featured guest star on game shows such as Down You Go, The Match Game, and What's My Line?.

Though her acting roles were becoming marginalized, in 1964 Mansfield turned down the role of Ginger Grant on the up-and-coming television sitcom Gilligan's Island, claiming that the role, which eventually was given to Tina Louise, epitomized the stereotype of which she wished to rid herself. In 1962, Mansfield appeared with Brian Keith on ABC's Follow the Sun dramatic series in an acclaimed episode entitled "The Dumbest Blonde" in which her character "Scottie" is a beautiful blonde who feels insecure in the high society of her older boyfriend, played by Keith. The plot was based on the film of Born Yesterday. She also toured with Bob Hope for the USO in 1957.

Recognition

• In February 1955, Mansfield was the Playmate of the Month in Playboy, in which she subsequently appeared over 30 times.
• Although Mansfield was reluctant to appear in the play, she received the Theatre World Award of 1956 for her performance in the Broadway production of George Axelrod's comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?.
• Mansfield won a Golden Globe in 1957 for New Star Of The Year – Actress.
• Mansfield won a Golden Laurel in 1959 for Top Female Musical Performance for her role in The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw, a western spoof directed by Raoul Walsh. although the songs were performed by Connie Francis.
• In 1963, Mansfield was voted one of the Top 10 Box Office Attractions by an organization of American theater owners for her performance in Promises! Promises!, a film banned in areas around the U.S.
• Mansfield has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6328 Hollywood Boulevard.

Personal life

Mansfield was married three times, divorced twice, and had five children. Reportedly she also had affairs and sexual encounters with numerous individuals, including Claude Terrail (the owner of the Paris restaurant La Tour d'Argent), Robert F. Kennedy, John F Kennedy, the Brazilian billionaire Jorge Guinle, and Anton LaVey. She had a brief affair with Jan Cremer, a young Dutch writer who dedicated his 1965 autobiographical novel, I, Jan Cremer, to her. She also had a well-publicized relationship in 1963 with the singer Nelson Sardelli, whom she said she planned to marry once her divorce from Hargitay was finalized. At the time of her death, Mansfield was accompanied by Sam Brody, her married divorce lawyer and lover at the time.

First marriage

In May 10, 1950, a pregnant 17-year old Jayne married 21-year old Paul Mansfield, who she met at a party on the Christmas Eve of 1949, at Fort Worth, Texas. One biographer, Raymond Strait, wrote that she married Paul publicly in May 6, had an earlier "secret" marriage in January 28, and her first child was conceived after the secret marriage. Some sources cite Paul as the father of the child, while others cite it to be a result of date rape. The marriage certificate of Jayne and Paul lists their date of marriage as May 6, 1950. On November 8, 1950, she gave birth to a daughter, Jayne Marie Mansfield. Paul hoped the birth of their child would discourage her interest in acting. When it did not, he agreed to move to Los Angeles in late 1954 to help further her career. She juggled motherhood and classes at the University of Texas, then spent a year at Camp Gordon, Georgia, while Paul Mansfield served in the United States Armed Forces. They were divorced on January 8, 1958. Two weeks before her mother's death in 1967, Jayne Marie, then 16, accused her mother's boyfriend at that time, Sam Brody, of beating her. The girl's statement to officers of the Los Angeles Police Department the following morning implicated her mother in encouraging the abuse, and days later, a juvenile court judge awarded temporary custody of Jayne Marie to William W. Pigue, an uncle of Paul, who was stated to be the natural father of Jayne Marie.

Second marriage

Mansfield met her second husband Mickey Hargitay, an actor and bodybuilder who had won the Mr. Universe competition in 1955, for the first time at The Mae West Show at New York City's Latin Quarter nightclub, telling the waiter asking for her order, "I'll have a steak and that tall man on the left." In November 1957, shortly before her marriage to Hargitay, Mansfield bought a 40-room Mediterranean-style mansion formerly owned by Rudy Vallee at 10100 Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Mansfield had the house painted pink, with cupids surrounded by pink fluorescent lights, pink furs in the bathrooms, a pink heart-shaped bathtub, and a fountain spurting pink champagne, and then dubbed it the Pink Palace. Hargitay, a plumber and carpenter before getting into bodybuilding, built a pink heart-shaped swimming pool. Mansfield decorated the Pink Palace by writing to furniture and building suppliers requesting free samples. She received over $150,000 ($1,627,251 in 2024 dollars) worth of free merchandise while paying only $76,000 ($824,474 in 2024 dollars) for the mansion itself, a large sum nonetheless when the average house cost was under $7,500 ($813,626 in 2024 dollars) at the time.

On January 13, 1958, days after her divorce was finalized from Paul, Mansfield and Hargitay married at the Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The unique glass chapel made public and press viewing of the wedding much easier. Mansfield wore a transparent wedding gown, adding to the occasion's publicity aspect. Mansfield and her husband toured widely for stage shows, where her leopard-spot bikini became a topic of discussion and newspaper coverage. During this marriage she had two children, Miklós Jeffrey Palmer Hargitay (born December 21, 1958) and Zoltán Anthony Hargitay (born August 1, 1960). The couple divorced in Juarez, Mexico, in May 1963. After the divorce, Mansfield discovered she was pregnant. Since being an unwed mother would have killed her career, Mansfield and Hargitay announced they were still married. Mariska Magdolna Hargitay was born January 23, 1964, after the actual divorce but before California ruled it valid. Mariska also became an actress, best known for her role as Olivia Benson in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. After her birth, Mansfield sued for the Juarez divorce to be declared legal and won. The divorce was recognized in the United States on August 26, 1964. She had previously filed for divorce on May 4, 1962, but told reporters, "I'm sure we will make it up." Their acrimonious divorce had the actress accusing Hargitay of kidnapping one of her children to force a more favorable financial settlement.

Third marriage

Mansfield married Matt Cimber (a.k.a. Matteo Ottaviano, né Thomas Vitale Ottaviano) an Italian-born film director on September 24, 1964. The couple separated on July 11, 1965, and filed for divorce on July 20, 1966. Cimber was a director with whom the actress had become involved when he directed her in a widely praised stage production of Bus Stop in Yonkers, New York, which costarred Hargitay. Cimber took over managing her career during their marriage. With him she had one son, Antonio Raphael Ottaviano (a.k.a. Tony Cimber, born October 18, 1965). Work on Mansfield's film, Single Room Furnished (in 1966), was suspended as her marriage to Cimber began to collapse in the wake of Mansfield's alcohol abuse, open infidelities, and her claim to Cimber that she had only ever been happy with her former lover, Nelson Sardelli.

Publicity stunts

Mansfield appeared in about 2,500 newspaper photographs between September 1956 and May 1957, and had about 122,000 lines of newspaper copy written about her during this time. Because of the successful media blitz, Mansfield was a household name. Throughout her career, Mansfield was compared by the media to the reigning sex symbol of the period, Marilyn Monroe. Of this comparison, she said, "I don't know why you people like to compare me to Marilyn or that girl, what's her name, Kim Novak. Cleavage, of course, helped me a lot to get where I am. I don't know how they got there." Even with her film roles drying up she was widely considered to be Monroe's primary rival in a crowded field of contenders that included Mamie Van Doren (whom Mansfield considered her professional nemesis), Diana Dors, Cleo Moore, Barbara Nichols, Beverly Michaels, Greta Thyssen, Joi Lansing and Sheree North.

In January 1955, Mansfield appeared at a Silver Springs, Florida press junket promoting the film Underwater!, starring Jane Russell, purposely wearing a red bikini too small for her lent by her photographer friend Peter Gowland. When she dived into the pool for photographers her top came off which led to burst of media attention. The ensuing publicity led to Warner Bros. and Playboy approaching her with offers.

In April 1957, her bosom was the feature of a notorious publicity stunt intended to deflect media attention from Sophia Loren during a dinner party in the Italian star's honor. Photographs of the encounter were published around the world. The most famous image showed Loren's gaze falling upon the cleavage of the American actress who, sitting between Loren and her dinner companion, Clifton Webb, had leaned over the table, allowing her breasts to spill over her low neckline and exposing one nipple. The image was one of several taken in the same minutes as the image visible right. A similar incident, resulting in the full exposure of both breasts, occurred during a film festival in West Berlin, when Mansfield was wearing a low-cut dress and her second husband, Mickey Hargitay, picked her up so she could bite a bunch of grapes hanging overhead at a party; the movement caused her breasts to erupt out of the dress. The photograph of that episode was a UPI sensation, appearing in newspapers and magazines with the word "censored" hiding the actress's exposed bosom.

The world's media were quick to condemn Mansfield's stunts, and one editorial columnist wrote, "We are amused when Miss Mansfield strains to pull in her stomach to fill out her bikini better. But we get angry when career-seeking women, shady ladies, and certain starlets and actresses ... use every opportunity to display their anatomy unasked." By the late 1950s, Mansfield began to generate a great deal of negative publicity because of her repeated successful attempts to expose her breasts in carefully staged public "accidents". Richard Blackwell, her fashion stylist who also designed for Jane Russell, Dorothy Lamour, Peggy Lee and Nancy Reagan, dropped her from his client list because of those accidents.

In 1966, she visited Church of Satan along with Sam Brody, her lawyer and boyfriend, to meet Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church, while in San Francisco for the San Francisco International Film Festival. LaVey awarded Mansfield a medallion and the title "High Priestess of San Francisco's Church of Satan", and put a death curse on Brody because he "desecrated" the Church. The Church of Satan proclaimed Jayne to be a pledged member, and she displayed a framed membership certification in her pink bedroom. The media enthusiastically covered the meeting and the events around the meeting identifying her as a Satanist and romantically related to LaVey.

Mansfield's most celebrated physical attributes would fluctuate in size as a result of her pregnancies and breast feeding five children. Her smallest measurement was 40D (102 cm) (which she was throughout the 1950s), and largest at 46DD (117 cm), when measured by the press in 1967. According to Playboy, her measurement was 40D-21-36 (102-53-91 cm) and her height was 5'6" (1.68 m). According to her autopsy report, she was 5'8" (1.73 m). Her bosom was so much a part of her public persona that talk-show host Jack Paar once welcomed the actress to The Tonight Show by saying, "Here they are, Jayne Mansfield", a line that was written for Paar by Dick Cavett, later becoming the title of her biography by Raymond Strait.

Death

While in Biloxi, Mississippi, for an engagement at the Gus Stevens Supper Club, Mansfield stayed at the Cabana Courtyard Apartments near the supper club. After an evening engagement on June 28, 1967, Mansfield, her lover Sam Brody, and their driver, Ronnie Harrison, along with the actress's children Miklós, Zoltán and Mariska, set out in Stevens' 1966 Buick Electra 225 for New Orleans, where Mansfield was to appear in an early morning television interview. Before leaving Biloxi, the party made a stop at the home of Rupert and Edna O'Neal, a family that lived nearby. After a late dinner with the O'Neals, during which the last photographs of Mansfield were taken, the party set out for New Orleans. On June 29, at approximately 2:25 a.m., on U.S. Highway 90 east of the Rigolets Bridge, the car crashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer that had slowed because of a truck spraying mosquito fogger. The automobile struck the rear of the trailer and went under it. Riding in the front seat, the three adults were killed instantly. The children in the rear survived with minor injuries.

Rumors that Mansfield was decapitated are untrue, though she did suffer severe head trauma. This urban legend was spawned by the appearance in police photographs of a crashed automobile with its top virtually sheared off, and what resembles a blonde-haired head tangled in the car's smashed windshield. This was likely either a wig Mansfield was wearing or was her actual hair and scalp. The death certificate stated the immediate cause of Mansfield's death was a "crushed skull with avulsion of cranium and brain". Following her death, the NHTSA began requiring an underride guard, a strong bar made of steel tubing, to be installed on all tractor-trailers. This bar is also known as a Mansfield bar, and on occasions as a DOT bar.

Mansfield's funeral was held on July 3, in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. The ceremony was conducted by a Methodist minister, though Mansfield, who long tried to convert to Catholicism, had become interested in Judaism at the end of her life through her relationship with Sam Brody. She is interred in Fairview Cemetery, southeast of Pen Argyl. Her gravestone was shaped as a heart and reads "We Live to Love You More Each Day". A memorial cenotaph, showing an incorrect birth year, was erected in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California. The cenotaph was placed by The Jayne Mansfield Fan Club and has the incorrect birth year because Mansfield herself tended to provide incorrect information about her age.

Legacy

Dennis Russel, in an article on her in the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (1999), said that "Although many people have never seen her movies, Jayne Mansfield remains, long after her death, one of the most recognizable icons of 1950s celebrity culture." In the 2004 novel Child of My Heart by Alice McDermott, a National Book Award winning writer, the 1950s is referred to as "in those Marilyn Monroe/Jayne Mansfield days". R. L. Rutsky and Bill Osgerby has claimed that it was Mansfield along with Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot who made the bikini popular. M. Thomas Inge describes Mansfield, Monroe and Jane Russell as personification of the bad girl in popular culture, as opposed to Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds, Natalie Wood personifying the good girl. Mansfield, Monroe and Barbara Windsor has been described as representations of a historical juncture of sexuality in comedy and popular culture. Evangelist Billy Graham once said, "This country knows more about Jayne Mansfield's statistics than the Second Commandment." As late as the mid-1980s she remained one of the biggest TV draws.

Shortly after Mansfield's funeral, Mickey Hargitay sued his former wife's estate for more than $275,000 ($2.51 million in 2024 dollars) to support the children, whom he and his third and last wife, Ellen Siano, would raise. Mansfield's youngest child, Tony, was raised by his father, Matt Cimber, whose divorce from the actress was pending when she was killed. In 1968, wrongful-death lawsuits were filed on behalf of Jayne Marie Mansfield and Matt Cimber, the former for $4.8 million ($52.1 million in 2024 dollars) and the latter for $2.7 million ($29.3 million in 2024 dollars). The Pink Palace was sold and its subsequent owners have included Ringo Starr, Cass Elliot and Engelbert Humperdinck. In 2002, Humperdinck sold it to developers, and the house was demolished in November of that year. Much of her estate is managed by CMG Worldwide, an intellectual property management company.

Numerous show biz people were dubbed as Jayne Mansfield over the time, including Italian actress Marisa Allasio and professional wrestler Missy Hyatt. In 1980, The Jayne Mansfield Story aired on CBS starring Loni Anderson in the title role and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mickey Hargitay. It was nominated for three Emmy Awards. In 1991, British band Siouxsie and the Banshees scored a U.S. top 20 hit-single with "Kiss Them For Me", a song which is an ode to Mansfield. Lyrics include the actress' catchword "divoon", referring to her heart-shaped swimming pool and her love of champagne and parties, and to the grisly automobile accident.

Film appearances

Documentary appearances

Television work

Fiction

• After Hours, ABC Weekend Television, Season 2, Episode 13 (December 1959)
• Kraft Mystery Theater, Season 1, Episode 12 ("The House of Rue Riviera", August 1961)
• Follow the Sun, 20th Century Fox Television, Season 1, Episode 21 ("The Dumbest Blonde", February 1962)
• Monte Carlo, 20th Century Fox Television (August 1961)
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Season 1, Episode 12 ("Hangover", December 1962)
• The Red Skelton Hour, CBS, Season 11, Episode 1 ("Will Success Spoil Clem Kadiddlehopper"?, September 1961)
• The Red Skelton Hour, CBS, Season 12, Episode 21 ("Advice to the Loveworn", February 1963)
• Amos Burke, Secret Agent, Four Star Television, Season 1, Episode 26 ("Who Killed Molly"?, March 1964)

Game shows and variety shows

Documentary

• Reflets de Cannes (1956)
• Cinépanorama (1964)

Discography

Albums

Singles

Theater performances

• Death of a Salesman (1953)
• Bus Stop (1965)
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1966)
• Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1955–1956)
• Rabbit Habit (1965)

Books

• Jayne Mansfield's Wild, Wild World (Holloway House; 1963; co-author: Mickey Hargitay)

See also

• List of people in Playboy 1953–1959
• List of people in Playboy 1960–1969

References

• Strait, Raymond (1992). Here They Are Jayne Mansfield. New York: S.P.I. Books. ISBN ISBN 978-1-56171-146-8. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• Saxton, Martha (1976). Jayne Mansfield and the American Fifties. New York: Bantam. ISBN 978-0-553-02556-9.
• Luijters, Guus (1988). Sexbomb: The Life and Death of Jayne Mansfield. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel. ISBN 978-0-8065-1049-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Faris, Jocelyn (1994). Jayne Mansfield: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-28544-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• "Jayne Mansfield: Blonde Ambition", a documentary broadcast on the A&E Network in 2004.
• "Jayne Mansfield Biography", biography.com

Citation

1. Obituary Variety, July 5, 1967, p. 63.
2. "Heroes and Icons: Marilyn Monroe", Time; Retrieved: September 21, 2007.
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5. Raymond Strait, Here They Are Jayne Mansfield, p. 10, SP Books, 1992, ISBN 978-1-56171-146-8.
6. Alan M. Kent, Cousin Jack's mouth-organ:travels in Cornish America, 2004
7. "Jayne Mansfield, Mickey Pause in Dallas for Party", Star-News, page 4, 1958-15-01
8. "Jayne Mansfield Is Killed In Early Morning Smash up On Narrow Louisiana Road", St. Petersburg Times, June 30, 1967. Retrieved March 14, 2011. "Born Vera Jayne Palmer in Bryn Mawr, Pa., April 19, 1933, Miss Mansfield grew up in Phillipsburg, N.J."
9. "Vera Peers buried in Pen Argyl near daughter Jayne Mansfield". Los Angeles Times. November 19, 2000.
10. Jayne Mansfield Junior Yearbook, Antiqbook
11. "Names in Yearbook", Dallas Public Library, City of Dallas
12. "Jayne Mansfield:Biography ". MSN. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
13. Jessica Hope Jordan, The Sex Goddess In American Film 1930–1965: Jean Harlow, Mae West, Lana Turner and Jayne Mansfield, p. 221 (Cambria Press, 2009). ISBN 978-1-60497-663-2.
14. ^ Official Jayne Mansfield website, sanctioned by CMG Worldwide, official representatives of Mansfield's estate. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
15. Raymond Strait, Here They Are Jayne Mansfield, p. 217, SP Books, 1992, ISBN 978-1-56171-146-8.
16. Jayne Mansfield indexed, Salon.
17. ^ Jocelyn Faris, Jayne Mansfield: a bio-bibliography, p. 3, ABC-CLIO, 1994, ISBN 978-0-313-28544-8.
18. James Robert Parish, The Hollywood Book of Extravagance, p. 44, John Wiley and Sons, 2007, ISBN 978-0-470-05205-1.
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24. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
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29. "Jayne Mansfield Dies in New Orleans Car Crash", The New York Times, June 30, 1967, p. 33.
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31. David Shipman, The great movie stars, the international years, p. 349, Angus and Robertson, 1980.
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33. Black, Gregory D. (January 26, 1996). Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies (Cambridge Studies in the History of Mass Communication). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-56592-9.
34. Karl Klockars (April 10, 2009). "Friday Flashback: Hef's Obscenity Battle". Chicagoist.com. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
35. ^ Jayne Mansfield: A Bio-bibliography by Jocelyn Faris, p. 10.
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37. Julie Burchill, Desperately seeking attention, April 12, 2003.
38. Atkinson, Brooks. "Theatre: Axelrod's Second Comedy", The New York Times, October 14, 1955, p. 22.
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40. Welcome to Raymondo's Dance-o-rama. triad.rr.com Retrieved December 13, 2006.
41. Lask, Thomas, "Poetry: Revised Editions", The New York Times, August 30, 1964, p. X21.
42. "Episode 46 – The Girl Can't Help It"; Retrieved: December 11, 2007.
43. "Jimi Hendrix And Jayne Mansfield: The Untold Story"; Retrieved December 11, 2007.
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49. The Playboy Index – M
50. Awards, Theatre World Awards Website; Retrieved January 25, 2008.
51. Jayne Mansfield page at Golden Globe site
52. Thomas O'Neil; Movie Awards: The Ultimate, Unofficial Guide to the Oscars, Golden Globes, Critics, Guild and Indie Honor; p. 839; Penguin USA; ISBN 978-0-399-52922-1.
53. Thomas O'Neil; Movie Awards: The Ultimate, Unofficial Guide to the Oscars, Golden Globes, Critics, Guild and Indie Honor; p. 817; Penguin USA; ISBN 978-0-399-52922-1.
54. Hollywood Walk of Fame
55. Raymond Strait, Here They Are Jayne Mansfield, page 198, SP Books, 1992, ISBN 9781561711468.
56. (Strait 1992, pp. 153–157, 177–190) harv error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFStrait1992 (help)
57. Jerome A Kroth, Conspiracy in Camelot, page 263, Algora Publishing, 2003, ISBN 9780875862460.
58. Raymond Strait, Here They Are Jayne Mansfield, page 156, SP Books, 1992, ISBN 9781561711468.
59. Hugh B. Urban, Magia sexualis: sex, magic, and liberation in modern Western esotericism, p. 214, University of California Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-520-24776-5.
60. "Books of the Times", The New York Times, November 1, 1965, p. 39.
61. (Strait 1992, pp. 167–168, 170, 173–174, 195, 197, 202, 203, 207, 208, 224–225) harv error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFStrait1992 (help)
62. John Austin, Tales of Hollywood the bizarre, p. 185, SP Books, 1992, ISBN 978-1-56171-142-0.
63. Jessica Hope Jordan, The sex goddess in American film, 1930–1965, p. 222, Cambria Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-60497-663-2.
64. ^ Jocelyn Faris, Jayne Mansfield: a bio-bibliography, page 3, ABC-CLIO, 1994, ISBN 0313285446
65. ^ Martha Saxton, Jayne Mansfield and the American fifties, page 29,Houghton Mifflin, 1975, ISBN 0395202892
66. James Robert Parish, The Hollywood Book of Breakups, page XX, John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN 9780471752684
67. ^ May Mann, Jayne Mansfield: a biography, pages 10-12, Drake Publishers, 1973, ISBN 0877494150
68. Tom Pendergast, "St. James encyclopedia of popular culture" (Volume 3), page 260, St. James Press, 2000, ISBN 9781558624030
69. Strait, Raymond (1992). Here They Are Jayne Mansfield. SPI Books. p. 304. ISBN 1561711462. "Paul and Jayne were married on January 28, 1950 in Fort Worth, Texas. ... In view of their January marriage, the wedding was arranged for May 10, 1950."
70. Jessica Hope Jordan, The Sex Goddess in American Film, 1930-1965, page 221, Cambria Press, 2009, ISBN 9781604976632
71. "Jayne Mansfield (Vera Jayne Peers) Marriage Certificate". Archives.com. Houston: Texas State Department of Health Services. 1950. ARCHIVES.COM| Archives.com. Retrieved March 9, 2012. (subscription required)
72. "Jayne Mansfield Dies in New Orleans Car Crash", The New York Times, June 30, 1967, p. 33.
73. (Strait 1992, pp. 288–289) harv error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFStrait1992 (help)
74. May Mann, Jayne Mansfield: a biography, page 236, Abelard-Schuman, 1974, ISBN 9780200721387
75. Gene Mozee (February 2007). "Mickey Hargitay(In Memoriam)". Ironman Magazine. Retrieved April 10, 2011.
76. The Pink Palace
77. Census of Housing, U.S. Census Bureau.
78. Staff Correspondent, "The bare facts at last, all those hours at the gym will pay off with spring's slightly skimpy fashions", Miami Herald, p. D1, March 12, 1986.
79. Dorothy Kilgallen, "Jayne's Touring Strawhats in Bikinis", The Washington Post, p. B11, July 22, 1964.
80. "Miss Mansfield Asks Divorce", The New York Times, May 4, 1962, p. 25.
81. (Strait 1992, p. 224) harv error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFStrait1992 (help)
82. "Jayne Mansfield Asks Divorce", The New York Times, July 21, 1966, p. 20.
83. David Wallace, Ann Miller; Hollywoodland; St. Martin's Press; 2003.
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86. (Strait 1992, p. ??) harv error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFStrait1992 (help)
87. Alan Betrock, Jayne Mansfield vs. Mamie Van Doren: battle of the blondes, pp. 1-127, Shake Books, 1993, ISBN 978-0-9626833-4-3.
88. Tom Lisanti, Glamour girls of sixties Hollywood: seventy-five profiles, pp. 12, 41, 62, 88, 103, 109, 111, 112, 173, 203, 205, 228, 236, McFarland, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7864-3172-4.
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102. Findadeath.com Mansfield death certificate
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107. R. L. Rutsky; High Techne: Art and Technology from the Machine Aesthetic to the Posthuman; page 19; University of Minnesota Press; 1999
108. Bill Osgerby; Playboys in Paradise: Masculinity, Youth and Leisure-Style in Modern America; page 109; Berg Publishers; 2001
109. M. Thomas Inge; Handbook of American Popular Culture; page 1432; Greenwood Pub Group; 1989
110. Stephen Wagg; Because I Tell a Joke Or Two: Comedy, Politics, and Social Difference; page 73; Routledge; 1998
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113. Web bio from fansite.
114. List of Clients, CMG Worldwide
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External links

• 2 at Playboy Online
• Jayne Mansfield at IMDb
• Jayne Mansfield at the Internet Broadway Database

Online biographies

• Biographical timeline at Philadelphia Weekly
• JM's Biography at the Biography Channel
• JM's Biography at Dreamtime
• JM's Biography at Find Articles (from St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture)
• JM's bio and other facts at Bombshells

Template:Persondata

• 1933 births
• 1967 deaths
• American film actors
• American people of Cornish descent
• American people of English descent
• American people of German descent
• American stage actors
• American television actors
• New Star of the Year (Actress) Golden Globe winners
• People from Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania
• People from Phillipsburg, New Jersey
• Playboy Playmates (1953–1959)
• Road accident deaths in Louisiana
• University of Dallas alumni
• University of Texas at Austin alumni