Jayne Mansfield

Jayne Mansfield

At Jockeys' Ball in Los Angeles, Calif., 1957
Born Vera Jayne Palmer
April 19, 1933(1933-04-19)
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States
Died June 29, 1967(1967-06-29) (aged 34)
U.S. Highway 90 near Slidell, Louisiana, United States
Occupation Actress, singer, model
Years active 1954–1967
Spouse Paul Mansfield (m. 1950–1958) «start: (1950)–end+1: (1959)»"Marriage: Paul Mansfield to Jayne Mansfield" Location: (linkback:http://localhost../../../../articles/j/a/y/Jayne_Mansfield_fc8b.html)
Miklós Hargitay (m. 1958–1964) «start: (1958)–end+1: (1965)»"Marriage: Miklós Hargitay to Jayne Mansfield" Location: (linkback:http://localhost../../../../articles/j/a/y/Jayne_Mansfield_fc8b.html)
Matt Cimber (m. 1964–1966) «start: (1964)–end+1: (1967)»"Marriage: Matt Cimber to Jayne Mansfield" Location: (linkback:http://localhost../../../../articles/j/a/y/Jayne_Mansfield_fc8b.html)

Jayne Mansfield (April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress working both on Broadway and in Hollywood. One of the leading blonde sex symbols of the 1950s,[1] Mansfield starred in several popular Hollywood films that emphasized her platinum-blonde hair, hourglass figure and cleavage-revealing costumes.

While Mansfield's film career was short-lived, she had several box office successes. She won the Theatre World Award, a Golden Globe and a Golden Laurel. As the demand for blonde bombshells declined in the 1960s, Mansfield was relegated to low-budget film melodramas and comedies, but remained a popular celebrity.

In her later career she continued to attract large crowds in foreign countries and in lucrative and successful nightclub tours. Mansfield had been a Playboy Playmate of the Month and appeared in the magazine several additional times. She died in an automobile accident at age 34.

Contents

Early life

Mansfield, of German and English ancestry, was the only child of Herbert William and Vera (née Jeffrey) Palmer. Her birthname was Vera Jayne Palmer.[2] A natural brunette, she was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, but spent her early childhood in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. When she was three years old, her father, a lawyer who was in practice with future New Jersey governor Robert B. Meyner, died of a heart attack while driving a car with his wife and daughter. After his death, her mother worked as a school teacher. In 1939, when Vera Palmer remarried, the family moved to Dallas, Texas. Mansfield's desire to become an actress developed at an early age. In 1950, Vera Jayne Palmer married Paul Mansfield, thus becoming Jayne Mansfield, and the couple moved to Austin, Texas. She studied dramatics at the University of Dallas and the University of Texas at Austin. 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 that it "just didn't sound right." In 1954, they moved to Los Angeles and she studied dramatics at UCLA.

Mansfield's acting aspirations were temporarily put on hold with the birth of her first child, Jayne Marie Mansfield, on November 8, 1950, when Mansfield was 17. She juggled motherhood and classes at the University of Texas at Austin, then spent a year at Camp Gordon, Georgia, during her husband's service in the United States Army. She attended UCLA during the summer of 1953 then went back to Texas for fall quarter at Southern Methodist University. 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.[3] Mansfield admitted her public didn't care about her brains. "They're more interested in 40-21-35," she said.[4]

Early career

Jayne Mansfield
Playboy centerfold appearance
February 1955
Preceded by Bettie Page
Succeeded by Marilyn Waltz
Personal details
Measurements Bust: 40 in (100 cm)[5]
Waist: 21 in (53 cm)[5]
Hips: 32 in (81 cm)[5]
Height 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) (5ft 8in according to her autopsy)
In The Girl Can't Help It (1956)

Mansfield's husband at the time, Paul Mansfield, 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.[6] Between a variety of odd jobs, including a stint as a candy vendor at a movie theatre, Mansfield studied drama at UCLA. 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.[7] Her movie career began with bit parts at Warner Brothers. She was signed by the studio after one of its talent scouts discovered her in a production at the Pasadena Playhouse. Mansfield had small roles in Female Jungle (1954), and in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955) which starred Jack Webb.

In 1955, Paul Wendkos offered her the dramatic role of Gladden in The Burglar, 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. She made two more movies with Warner Brothers, one of which gave her a minor role as Angel O'Hara, opposite Edward G. Robinson, in Illegal (1955).

In 1955, she enjoyed a successful Broadway run acting in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. Returning to Hollywood she starred in the film production of Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It (1956). This was Mansfield's first starring role and she portrayed an outrageously voluptuous but apparently tone-deaf girlfriend of a retired racketeer. The film features some early performances from Fats Domino, The Platters and Little Richard.[8]

Film career

In Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)

On May 3, 1956, Mansfield signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. She then played a straight dramatic role in The Wayward Bus in 1957. With her role 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"),[9] 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. 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 was a box office disappointment and would prove to be her final starring role in a mainstream Hollywood studio film. The movie was described as "vapid" and "ill-advised".[10] It was also one of the last attempts of 20th Century Fox to publicize her.[11] The continuing publicity around her physical presence failed to sustain her career.[12] Mansfield was offered a part opposite Jack Lemmon in Bell, Book and Candle, but had to turn it down due to pregnancy.

In Promises! Promises!, the first Hollywood motion picture with sound to feature a mainstream star in the nude.[13]

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. Fox tried to cast Mansfield opposite Paul Newman in his ill-fated first attempt at comedy, Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!, but Mansfield's Wayward Bus co-star Joan Collins was selected for the role. In 1960 Fox lent her to appear in two independent gangster thrillers in England. These were Too Hot to Handle, which was directed by Terence Young and co-starred Karlheinz Böhm, and The Challenge, co-starring Anthony Quayle. Fox also lined up It Happened in Athens. This Olympic-themed movie was filmed in Greece and would not be released until 1962. Despite receiving top billing in It Happened in Athens, Mansfield was relegated to a colorful, scantily-clad supporting role.

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 Playboy. In one notorious set of images, Mansfield stares at one of her breasts, as does her male secretary and a hair stylist, then grasps it in one hand and lifts it high. The sold-out issue resulted in an obscenity charge for Hugh Hefner, which was later dropped. Promises! Promises! was banned in Cleveland, but it 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.[14] The autobiographical book, Jayne Mansfield's Wild, Wild World, she wrote together with Mickey Hargitay, was published right after Promises! Promises! and contains 32 pages of black-and-white photographs from the film printed on glossy paper.[15]

By 1962 Mansfield still commanded high prices as a live performer, though she openly yearned to establish a more sophisticated image. She announced that she wanted to study acting in New York, in apparent emulation of Marilyn Monroe's stint with the Actors' Studio. But her reliance on the racy publicity that had set her path to fame would also prove to be her downfall. Fox did not renew its contract with her in 1962.

In 1963 Mansfield appeared in the low-budget West German movie Homesick for St. Pauli with Austrian-born schlager singer Freddy Quinn. She played Evelyne, a sexy American singer who is traveling to Hamburg by ship. She is followed by an Elvis-like American pop star played by Quinn. Mansfield sang two German songs in the movie, though her speaking voice was dubbed. Despite her film career setbacks Mansfield remained a highly visible personality through the early 1960s through her publicity antics and stage performances. For her last film Single Room Furnished, Mansfield acted without make up and had worn a black wig to break out of the stereotype.[16]

Career outside film

Stage work

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?. The New York Times described the "commendable abandon" of her scantily clad rendition of Rita Marlowe in the play, "a platinum-pated movie siren with the wavy contours of Marilyn Monroe.[17] 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. 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. 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, Single Room Furnished, a low-budget production directed by then-husband Matt Cimber.

Recordings

In addition to singing in English and German in a number of films, in 1964, Mansfield released a novelty album called Jayne Mansfield: Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky & Me, on 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 the Russian composer and the Bard of Avon.[18] The New York Times described the album as the actress reading "30-odd poems in a husky, urban, baby voice". The paper's reviewer went on to state that "Miss Mansfield is a lady with apparent charms, but reading poetry is not one of them."[19]

Jimi Hendrix played bass and lead guitar for Mansfield in 1965 on two songs, "As The Clouds Drift By" and "Suey", released together on two sides. 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.[20][21]

The three musical numbers in this movie - "In the valley of love", "Strolling down the lane with Billy", and "If the San Francisco Hills could only talk" - were only lip-synced by Jayne Mansfield; the singing voice was provided by Connie Francis. Of these three, only "In the valley of love" was released on record, albeit only in the United Kingdom and Japan.

Television

Though her acting roles were becoming marginalized, in 1964 Mansfield turned down the role of Ginger Grant in Gilligan's Island, claiming that the role, which eventually was given to Tina Louise, epitomized the stereotype she wished to rid herself of.[22]

Mansfield toured with Bob Hope for the USO and appeared on numerous television programs, including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Jack Benny Program (where 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. Mansfield's television roles included appearances in Burke's Law and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

On returning from New York to Hollywood, she made several television appearances, including several spots as a featured guest star on game shows. In 1962, Mansfield appeared with Brian Keith in 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.[23]

Recognition

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,[31] John F Kennedy[32] 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.[33]. Jan Cremer wrote a large part of his book I, Jan Cremer - III about their relationship.[34] 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.[35] At the time of her death, Mansfield was accompanied by Sam Brody, her married divorce lawyer and lover at the time.

She secretly married Paul Mansfield on January 28, 1950. The couple had a public wedding on May 10, 1950 and were divorced on January 8, 1958. During this marriage they had one child, Jayne Marie Mansfield. Two weeks before her mother's death, Jayne Marie, then 16, accused her mother's boyfriend, Sam Brody, of beating her.[36] The girl's statement to officers of the West 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 a great-uncle, W.W. Pigue.[37]

Mansfield married Miklós Hargitay, an actor and bodybuilder, (publicly known as Mickey Hargitay, who won the Mr. Universe title in 1955) on January 13, 1958 at The Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The unique glass chapel made public and press viewing of the wedding much easier. Jayne herself wore a transparent wedding gown, adding to the occasion's publicity aspect. The couple divorced in Juarez, Mexico in May 1963. The Mexican divorce was initially declared invalid in California, and the two reconciled in October 1963. After the birth of their third child, 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."[38] Their acrimonious divorce had the actress accusing Hargitay of kidnapping one of her children to force a more favorable financial settlement.[39] During this marriage she had three children — Miklós Jeffrey Palmer Hargitay (born December 21, 1958), Zoltán Anthony Hargitay (born August 1, 1960), and Mariska Magdolina Hargitay (born January 23, 1964), an actress best known for her role as Olivia Benson in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Gate and partial view of Mansfield's former mansion, the Pink Palace (1997)

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 worth of free merchandise while paying only $76,000 for the mansion itself[40] (a large sum nonetheless when the average house cost under $7,500 at the time[41]).

Mansfield married Matt Cimber (alias 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.[42] 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 (alias Tony Cimber, born October 17, 1965). Work on her last film, Single Room Furnished, 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.[43]

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.[44] 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.[45] Of this comparison, she said, "I don't know why you people [the press] 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."[46] 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, Joi Lansing, and Sheree North.

Sophia Loren (left) and Jayne Mansfield (right), at Romanoff's in Beverly Hills[47]

In April 1957, her bosom was the feature of a notorious publicity stunt intended to deflect 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 raising an eyebrow at 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.[48] 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 media was 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."[7] By the late 1950s, Mansfield began to generate a great deal of negative publicity due to her repeated successful attempts to expose her breasts in carefully staged public "accidents".

Mansfield's most celebrated physical attributes would fluctuate in size due to her pregnancies and breast feeding five children. Her smallest measurement was 40D (which she was throughout the 1950s), and largest at 46DD, when measured by the press in 1967. According to Playboy, her measurement was 40D-21-36 and her height was 5'6". According to her autopsy report, she was 5'8". 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 and became the title of her biography by Raymond Strait.[49]

Death

Gravestone, picture taken in 2007

While in Biloxi, Mississippi, for an engagement at the Gus Stevens Supper Club, Mansfield stayed at the Cabana Courtyard Apartments, which were near the supper club. After a June 28, 1967 evening engagement, Mansfield, Brody, and their driver, Ronnie Harrison, along with the actress' 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. Prior to 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 Ms. Mansfield were taken, the party set out for New Orleans. On June 29 at approximately 2:25 a.m., on U.S. Highway 90, 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 semi tractor and went under it. Riding in the front seat, the adults were killed instantly. The children in the rear survived with minor injuries.[50]

The cenotaph at Hollywood Forever, with incorrect birth year

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. It is believed that this was either a wig that Mansfield was wearing or was her actual hair and scalp.[51] The death certificate stated that the immediate cause of Mansfield's death was a "crushed skull with avulsion of cranium and brain."[52] 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.[53][54]

Mansfield's funeral was held on July 3, in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. The ceremony was officiated 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.[55] She is interred in Fairview Cemetery, southeast of Pen Argyl. Her gravestone 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

Shortly after Mansfield's funeral, Mickey Hargitay sued his former wife's estate for more than $275,000 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 and the latter for $2.7 million.[56] The Pink Palace was sold and its subsequent owners have included Ringo Starr, Cass Elliot, and Engelbert Humperdinck.[57] 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.[58]

Filmography

Year Movie Title Role Co-actors Director Producer Note
1955 Hell on Frisco Bay Mario's Dance Partner at Nightclub Frank Tuttle Jaguar Productions Uncredited
1955 Female Jungle Candy Price Burt Kaiser, Kathleen Crowley Bruno VeSota Burt Kaiser, Kathleen Crowley Alternative title: The Hangover
1955 Pete Kelly's Blues Cigarette Girl Jack Webb, Janet Leigh, Edmond O'Brien, Peggy Lee Jack Webb Jack Webb
1955 Illegal Angel O'Hara Edward G. Robinson, Nina Foch, Hugh Marlowe Lewis Allen Warner Bros.
1956 The Girl Can't Help It Jerri Jordan Tom Ewell, Edmond O'Brien, Julie London, Ray Anthony Frank Tashlin 20th Century Fox
1957 The Burglar Gladden Dan Duryea, Martha Vickers, Peter Capell, Mickey Shaughnessy Paul Wendkos Columbia Pictures
1957 The Wayward Bus Camille Oakes Joan Collins, Dan Dailey Victor Vicas 20th Century Fox
1957 Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Rita Marlowe Tony Randall, Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell, John Williams, Henry Jones Frank Tashlin 20th Century Fox Alternative title: Oh! For a Man! (UK)
1957 Kiss Them for Me Alice Kratzner Cary Grant, Leif Erickson, Suzy Parker Stanley Donen Sol C. Siegel
1958 The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw Kate Kenneth More, Henry Hull, Bruce Cabot Raoul Walsh Angel Productions
1960 The Challenge Billy Anthony Quayle, Carl Möhner, Peter Reynolds John Gilling Alexandra Alternative title: It Takes a Thief (US)
1960 Too Hot to Handle Midnight Franklin Leo Genn, Karlheinz Böhm, Christopher Lee Terence Young Wigmore Productions Alternative title: Playgirl After Dark (US)
1960 The Loves of Hercules Queen Dianira/ Hippolyta Mickey Hargitay, Massimo Serato Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia Contact Organisation Alternative titles Gli Amori di Ercole (Italy), Les Amours d'Hercule (France), Hercules vs. the Hydra (TV title)
1961 The George Raft Story Lisa Lang Ray Danton, Julie London, Barrie Chase Joseph M. Newman Allied Artists Pictures Alternative title: Spin of a Coin (UK)
1962 Lykke og krone Documentary
1962 It Happened In Athens Eleni Costa Trax Colton, Nico Minardos, Bob Mathias Andrew Marton 20th Century Fox
1963 Heimweh nach St. Pauli Evelyne Freddy Quinn, Josef Albrecht, Ullrich Haupt Werner Jacobs Rapid Film Alternative title: Homesick for St. Pauli (US)
1963 Promises! Promises! Sandy Brooks Marie McDonald, Tommy Noonan, Mickey Hargitay King Donovan Tommy Noonan-Donald F. Taylor
1964 L'Amore Primitivo Dr. Jane Franco Franchi, Ciccio Ingrassia, Mickey Hargitay Luigi Scattini G.L.M. Alternative title: Primitive Love (US)
1964 Panic Button Angela Maurice Chevalier, Eleanor Parker, Mike Connors George Sherman, Giuliano Carnimeo Gordon Films Alternative title: Let's Go Bust (US)
1964 Dog Eat Dog Darlene/ Mrs. Smithopolis Cameron Mitchell, Dodie Heath, Ivor Salter Richard E. Cunha, Gustav Gavrin Dubrava Film Alternative titles: When Strangers Meet (UK), Einer frißt den anderen (West Germany), La morte vestita di dollari (Italy)
1965 The Loved One Scenes deleted
1966 The Las Vegas Hillbillys Tawny Ferlin Husky, Mamie Van Doren Arthur C. Pierce Woolner Brothers Alternative title: Country Music (US)
1966 The Fat Spy Junior Wellington Phyllis Diller, Jack E. Leonard, Brian Donlevy Joseph Cates Phillip Productions
1967 A Guide for the Married Man Technical Adviser (Girl with Harold) Gene Kelly Walter Matthau, Inger Stevens 20th Century Fox
1967 Spree Documentary
1967 Mondo Hollywood Documentary
1968 The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield Documentary
1968 Single Room Furnished Johnnie/ Mae/ Eileen Dorothy Keller, Fabian Dean, Billy M. Greene Matt Cimber Empire Film Studios Posthumous release

Television work

As an actor

As herself

Discography

Albums

Singles

Theater performances

Books

See also

References

Citation

  1. ↑ Heroes and Icons: Marilyn Monroe, TIME Magazine; Retrieved: 2007-09-21
  2. ↑ Heller & More: PA, NJ, New England, Cornwall, NW Europe., worldconnect.rootsweb.com (January 4, 2004). Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
  3. ↑ Official Jayne Mansfield Web Site
  4. ↑ Jayne Mansfield indexed
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Playboy Data Sheet: Jayne Mansfield". Playboy. http://www.playboy.com/girls/playmates/directory/195502.html. Retrieved 2008-08-06. 
  6. ↑ Official Jayne Mansfield website, sanctioned by CMG Worldwide, official representatives of Mansfield's estate. Retrieved 2006-12-31.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 (Strait 1992, p. 116)
  8. ↑ ROTTEN TOMATOES: Movies – Top Movies, Trailers, Tickets & Showtimes
  9. ↑ "Jayne Mansfield Dies in New Orleans Car Crash," The New York Times, June 30, 1967, p. 33
  10. ↑ Martha Saxton, Jayne Mansfield and the American fifties‎, page 13, Houghton Mifflin, 1975, ISBN 0395202892
  11. ↑ David Shipman, The great movie stars, the international years‎, page 349, Angus and Robertson, 1980
  12. ↑ Paul Donnelly, Fade to black: a book of movie obituaries, page 452, Omnibus, 2003, ISBN 0711995125
  13. ↑ Black, Gregory D. (January 26, 1996). Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies (Cambridge Studies in the History of Mass Communication). UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56592-8. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Jayne Mansfield: A Bio-bibliography by Jocelyn Faris, p. 10
  15. ↑ Jayne Mansfield's Wild, Wild World on Amazon.com
  16. ↑ Julie Burchill, Desperately seeking attention, 2003-04-12
  17. ↑ Atkinson, Brooks. "Theatre: Axelrod's Second Comedy," The New York Times, October 14, 1955, p. 22
  18. ↑ Welcome to Raymondo's Dance-o-rama. triad.rr.com Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
  19. ↑ Lask, Thomas, "Poetry: Revised Editions", The New York Times, August 30, 1964, page X21
  20. ↑ Episode 46 - The Girl Can't Help It; Retrieved: 2007-12-11
  21. ↑ Jimi Hendrix And Jayne Mansfield: The Untold Story; Retrieved: 2007-12-11
  22. ↑ Jayne Mansfield - The Poor Man’s Marilyn Monroe
  23. ↑ "Follow the Sun" The Dumbest Blonde (1962)
  24. ↑ Jayne Mansfield Bios, Miss February 1955, Playboy Playmate Pic and Data Sheet. playboy.com. Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
  25. ↑ The Playboy Index - M
  26. ↑ Awards, Theatre World Awards Website; Retrieved: 2008-01-25
  27. ↑ Jayne Mansfield page at Golden Globe site
  28. ↑ Thomas O'Neil; Movie Awards: The Ultimate, Unofficial Guide to the Oscars, Golden Globes, Critics, Guild and Indie Honor; page 839; Penguin USA; ISBN 0399529225
  29. ↑ Thomas O'Neil; Movie Awards: The Ultimate, Unofficial Guide to the Oscars, Golden Globes, Critics, Guild and Indie Honor; page 817; Penguin USA; ISBN 0399529225
  30. ↑ Hollywood Walk of Fame
  31. ↑ (Strait 1992, pp. 153–157, 177–190)
  32. ↑ Jerome A Kroth, Conspiracy in Camelot, Page 263, Inc NetLibrary
  33. ↑ "Books of the Times", The New York Times, November 1, 1965, p. 39
  34. ↑ Ik, Jan Cremer - Derde Boek, De Bezige Bij, 2007, ISBN 9023429826
  35. ↑ (Strait 1992, pp. 167–168, 170, 173–174, 195, 197, 202, 203, 207, 208, 224–225)
  36. ↑ "Jayne Mansfield Dies in New Orleans Car Crash", The New York Times, June 30, 1967, p. 33
  37. ↑ (Strait 1992, pp. 288–289)
  38. ↑ "Miss Mansfield Asks Divorce", The New York Times, May 4, 1962, p. 25
  39. ↑ (Strait 1992, p. 224)
  40. ↑ The Pink Palace
  41. ↑ Census of Housing, US Census Bureau
  42. ↑ "Jayne Mansfield Asks Divorce", The New York Times, July 21, 1966, p. 20
  43. ↑ David Wallace, Ann Miller; Hollywoodland; St. Martin's Press; 2003
  44. ↑ Tom Pendergast, Sara Pendergast;St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture; Page 260; St. James Press; 2000; ISBN 1558624015
  45. ↑ May Mann, Jayne Mansfield: a biography‎, Page 112, Abelard-Schuman, 1974, ISBN 0200721380
  46. ↑ (Strait 1992, p. ??)
  47. ↑ Daphne Merkin, "The Great Divide", The New York Times, August 28, 2005
  48. ↑ Martha Saxton, Jayne Mansfield and the American Fifties, page 95, Houghton Mifflin, 1975, ISBN 0395202892
  49. ↑ "Country Boy", Time, January 28, 1966
  50. ↑ The night Jayne Mansfield died, June 29, 1967. walkerpub.com Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
  51. ↑ Jayne Mansfield. snopes.com (January 3, 2001). Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
  52. ↑ Findadeath.com Mansfield death certificate
  53. ↑ Underride Guard on Everything2; Retrieved: 2007-11-29
  54. ↑ Reauthorization of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; page 39; United States, Congress Committee on Commerce; 1997
  55. ↑ (Strait 1992, p. 11)
  56. ↑ "Jayne Mansfield Suit Filed", The New York Times, June 23, 1968, p. 22
  57. ↑ Web Bio from fansite
  58. ↑ CMG Worldwide Clients
  59. ↑ 59.0 59.1 Steven Roby & Noel Redding, Black Gold: The Lost Archives of Jimi Hendrix, Page 44, Billboard Books, 2002, ISBN 082307854X

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