Jayne Mansfield was born Vera Jayne Palmer on April 19, 1933 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Her parents were well to do, with Mr. Palmer a successful attorney in Phillipburg, New Jersey, where Jayne was beginning her girlhood. Tragedy struck when Jayne was three when her father suddenly died of a heart attack. Three years later, her mother remarried and the family moved south to Dallas, Texas. Up until the move, Jayne had no aspirations of being a star, but with maturity and the fact that she devoured the fan magazines of the day convinced her to try acting. Jayne's plans had to be put on hold when she became pregnant by Paul Mansfield who she married in May of 1950. Her daughter was born in November. After graduation and the birth of her daughter, Jayne enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin to try her hand at thespian work. 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. Although the roles in the beginning weren't much, she was successful in gaining those roles because of her ample physical attributes which placed her in two other films that year, Hell on Frisco Bay and Illegal. Her breakout role came the next year with a featured part in The Burglar. By the time she portrayed Rita Marlowe in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and Playgirl After Dark, Jayne was now known as the poor man's Marilyn Monroe. She didn't get the plum roles that Marilyn got in her productions. Instead Jayne got roles that was more of a showcase for her body more than anything else. Jayne did have a real talent for acting, but the movie executives insisted she stay in her dumb blonde stereotype roles. For the balance of her career, Jayne never received any standout performances although she was more than capable of doing them. On June 29, 1967, Jayne was killed when the car in which she was riding crashed into the back of a semi on the road near Slidell, Louisiana. Her lawyer Sam Brody also perished in the accident. The beautiful woman who starred in only 25 films, the woman who fought so hard for respectability, the woman who, in her own right, was a very good actress was dead at the age of 34. Her final film, Single Room Furnished was released the following year.



A Guide for the Married Man (1967): $10,000
Promises! Promises! (1963): $150,000 + % of profits
Gli amori di Ercole (1960): $75,000
The Burglar (1957): $5,000
The Girl Can't Help It (1956): $2,500.00 per week

Mother of Jayne Marie Mansfield, who appeared in Playboy 1976, following in her mother's footsteps. 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 part. Had four children: Jayne Marie Mansfield (b. 8 November 1950), Miklos Hargitay, Jr. a.k.a. Mickey Hargitay Jr. (b. 21 December 1958), Zoltan Hargitay (b. 1 August 1960), Mariska Hargitay (b. 24 January 1964), & Antonio Raphael Ottaviano Cimber a.k.a. Tony Cimber (b. 18 October 1965). Spoke five languages. Made Mr. Blackwell's Worst-Dressed List in 1961 with Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren and Shirley MacLaine. She also made the List in 1964. Was arrested for indecent exposure during her nightclub act in Burlington, Vermont in 1963. 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). 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". Measurements: 39 1/2-23-36 1/2 (smallest ever measured), 46D-18-36 (largest ever measured), 44D-18-36 (self-described), 46D-23-37 (after having children), 40D-21-35 1/2 (standard for the majority of her career), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine). 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. Was of German and English descent. She had a serious drinking problem most of her adult life. 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. Is portrayed by Loni Anderson in The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980) (TV). Was with 20th Century-Fox from 1956-1962. Was born with brunette hair. Her estate was valued at approximately $2,000,000 at the time of her death, a significant sum by 1967 standards. California license plate on her 1956 Lincoln Premiere convertible: NBB 851.