Jersey History: Jayne Mansfield
She came out of Phillipsburg in Warren County, found fame as a Hollywood bombshell, recorded a few albums as a singer, married a famous bodybuilder, and was the mother of Mariska Hargitay of NBC-TV’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (whose documentary, My Mom Jayne, aired on HBO.) Fulfilling the dictates of the “dumb blonde” for cinematic purposes, she actually was quite genius, fluent in French, Spanish, German and Italian. On The Ed Sullivan Show in 1957, she performed a Vivaldi concerto on violin. She was also a highly-skilled classical pianist and played the viola. When her movie career fizzled in the ‘60s, she became a sought-after nightclub entertainer singing and, with her natural flair for comedy, doing stand-up.
Born Vera Jayne Palmer on April 19, 1933, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, she was in the car with her father at three years old when he suffered a fatal heart attack. Her mother remarried and they moved to Dallas. As a student at the University of Texas, she married early, divorced early, and moved to Hollywood as a single mom. She bleached her hair platinum blonde at the advice of her agent and a role in Female Jungle resulted in her being signed to a Warner Brothers contract.
Broadway came a’calling and her role in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter made her a star, and landed her on the cover of Life magazine at 22. Her role in a rock’n’roll movie, The Girl Can’t Help It, made her a superstar. It also made her the butt of jokes, a walking punchline of sorts. Still, she continued to perfect the ditzy blonde character that Groucho Marx saw right through when he told her, “this whole façade of yours isn’t based on who you are. It’s an act.” He was right.
She was the first actress to ever appear nude in a major film (Promises Promises). It was banned in Cleveland. She posed nude for Playboy magazine. Yet she became an “influencer” 50 years before the term was even coined. She constantly was beseeched for supermarket openings, sponsored appearances and sight gags. She said yes every time, headlined Las Vegas and numerous military tours with Bob Hope. She lived in a pink Beverly Hills mansion with a heart-shaped pool.
In June of 1967, she perished in an automobile accident on the way to appear at an Air Force base in Mississippi. Her Hollywood career in shambles, her reputation scarred for life, her depression and anxiety deepening, still, she ultimately was a pioneer of another sort. As a direct result of her death on the road, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed new safety features that passed Congress. To this day, the extensions on semi-trailers are called Mansfield Bars.