I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield

Before Anna Nicole Smith, there was Jayne Mansfield; American actress and sexual icon of the 1950s and 1960s!

 Left: Anna Nicole Smith.
(November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007)
Right: Jayne Mansfield.
(April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967)

"If you're going to do something wrong, do it big, because the punishment is the same either way."

Fact sheet About Jayne:
1. Born as Vera Jayne Palmer.
2. She wore a blonde wig; naturally a brunette.
3. Height: 5' 6¼".
4. Measurements: 46D-18-36, after having kids!
5. She had four children, Jayne Marie Mansfield, Mickey Jr Hargitay, Zoltan Hargitay, and Mariska Hargitay.
6. One of her daughters, Mariska Hargitay, plays Detective Olivia Benson on "Law & Order: SVU".
7. She had a very high IQ.
8. She attended the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Dallas, UCLA, and Southern Methodist University.
9. She spoke five languages, and was a classically trained pianist and violinist.

Jayne Mansfield at the pink gates

of her house, which had her intials J M.

10. She was obsessed with the color pink. Jayne lived in a house located at 10100 Sunset Boulevard, in Beverly Hills. It was painted pink and became known as the Pink Palace.
11. She had a heart shaped swimming pool. It used to have "I love you Jaynie" in mosaic on the floor of it built by her husband at the time, Mickey Hargitay.
12. She turned down the role of Ginger on Gilligan’s Island.

Jayne Mansfield with Marilyn Monroe.

13. She actually admired Marilyn Monroe, even though, throughout her career she was compared by the media to Monroe and the other top sex symbol Mamie Van Doren.

14. 20th Century Fox signed a six-year contract with Mansfield to replace Marilyn Monroe as their resident blonde sex symbol.

15. Jayne starred in several popular Hollywood films that emphasized her platinum-blonde hair, hourglass figure and cleavage revealing costumes.

16. Jayne notoriously pulled publicity stunts by exposing her cleavage and fully exposing her boobs in "accidents".
17. She was a Playboy Playmate of the Month and appeared in the magazine several additional times.

18. She had a role in the film "Promises! Promises!", which is the first Hollywood motion picture with sound to feature a mainstream star in the nude.

On Location

She died in a gruesome car-truck accident at the age of 34. Some say she was beheaded upon impact. Others think the impact scalped her, or that it was her wig knocked off by the impact shown in photos after the accident. The car she was in at the time was a 1966 Buick Electra. All three people in the front seat including Jayne died instantly. The three children she had with Hargitay were also in the backseat at the time with four Chihuahuas. Miraculously, the children survived. One dog did die. Jayne's casket was completely covered in pink roses. The Jayne Mansfield accident resulted in the Hollywood Screen Actors Guild and the Louisiana State Police successfully lobbying Congress for the "Block Bar" a.k.a. "the Mansfield Bar", which was legislated in 1967 to be installed on all semi trailers and trucks to prevent cars from running up under the back of them. What a tragic ending.. like most Hollywood tales.