104 Facts About Jayne Mansfield

Jayne Mansfield was known for her numerous publicity stunts and open personal life.

Jayne Mansfield took her professional name from her first husband public relations professional Paul Jayne Mansfield.

Jayne Mansfield married three times, each marriage ending in divorce, and had five children.

Jayne Mansfield was born Vera Jayne Palmer on April 19,1933, at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, the only child of Herbert William Palmer and Vera Jeffrey Palmer.

Jayne Mansfield inherited more than $90,000 from her maternal grandfather, Thomas, and more than $36,000 from her maternal grandmother, Beatrice Mary Palmer, in 1958.

Until age six, Mansfield lived in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, where her father was an attorney practicing with future New Jersey governor Robert B Meyner.

In 1939, Jayne Mansfield's mother married sales engineer Harry Lawrence Peers and the family moved to Dallas, Texas, where she was known as Vera Jayne Peers.

Jayne Mansfield graduated from Highland Park High School in 1950.

In 1951, Jayne Mansfield moved to Los Angeles and attended a summer semester at UCLA.

Jayne Mansfield entered the Miss California contest but Paul found out and forced her to withdraw from the competition.

Jayne Mansfield then moved to Austin, Texas, with her husband, and studied dramatics at the University of Texas at Austin.

Jayne Mansfield joined the Curtain Club, a campus theatrical society that included lyricist Tom Jones, composer Harvey Schmidt, and actors Rip Torn and Pat Hingle among its members.

Jayne Mansfield then spent a year at Camp Gordon, Georgia, while her husband Paul served in the United States Army Reserve during the Korean War.

Jayne Mansfield worked at a variety of odd jobs including: selling popcorn at the Stanley Warner Theatre, teaching dance, selling candy at a movie theater, modeling part-time at the Blue Book Model Agency, and working as a photographer at Esther Williams' Trails Restaurant.

Jayne Mansfield later rejected "Miss Prime Rib" in 1957 as well.

In 1952, while in Dallas, she and Paul Jayne Mansfield participated in small local-theater productions of The Slaves of Demon Rum and Ten Nights in a Barroom, and Anything Goes in Camp Gordon, Georgia.

At Paramount, Jayne Mansfield performed a sketch she had worked out with Lumet from Joan of Arc for casting director Milton Lewis.

Jayne Mansfield failed to impress but learned she would have to go blonde.

Jayne Mansfield then performed the piano scene for Warner Brothers, but, again, failed to impress.

Jayne Mansfield landed her first acting assignment in Lux Video Theatre, a series on CBS in the episode "An Angel Went AWOL", aired on October 21,1954.

In February 1955, Jayne Mansfield was the Playboy Playmate of the Month, and appeared in the magazine several times.

Jayne Mansfield's first film part was a supporting role in Female Jungle, a low-budget drama completed in ten days.

Jayne Mansfield's part was filmed over a few days, and she was paid $150.

Jayne Mansfield was given bit parts in Pete Kelly's Blues, starring Jack Webb, and Hell on Frisco Bay, starring Alan Ladd.

Jayne Mansfield accepted the part while working in producer Louis W Kellman's The Burglar, director Paul Wendkos's film adaptation of David Goodis' novel, made in film noir style.

Jayne Mansfield undertook her first starring film role as Jerri Jordan in Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It.

Jayne Mansfield next played a dramatic role in The Wayward Bus, an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel of the same name.

The film enjoyed moderate box-office success, and Jayne Mansfield won a Golden Globe in 1957 for New Star of the Year, beating Carroll Baker and Natalie Wood with her performance as a "wistful derelict".

Jayne Mansfield attended the premiere of the film in London, and met Queen Elizabeth II.

Jayne Mansfield's fourth starring role in a Hollywood film was in Kiss Them for Me, for which she received prominent billing alongside Cary Grant.

Jayne Mansfield gained no major star role in film roles after 1959.

Jayne Mansfield was unable to fulfill a third of her contract with Fox due to her reported "repeated pregnancies".

When Jayne Mansfield returned to Hollywood in mid-1960,20th Century Fox cast her in It Happened in Athens with Trax Colton, a handsome newcomer Fox was trying to mold into a heartthrob.

Jayne Mansfield received first billing above the title but appeared in only a supporting role.

In 1961, Jayne Mansfield signed on for a minor role but above-the-title billing in The George Raft Story, released the following year.

Jayne Mansfield turned down the role because of her pregnancy with daughter Mariska Hargitay, and was replaced by Kim Novak.

In 1966, Jayne Mansfield was cast in Single Room Furnished, directed by husband Matt Cimber.

The film required Jayne Mansfield to portray three different characters, and was her first starring, dramatic role in several years.

Jayne Mansfield's wardrobe relied on the shapeless styles of the 1960s to hide her weight gain after the birth of her fifth child.

In early 1967, Jayne Mansfield filmed her last role, a cameo in A Guide for the Married Man, a comedy starring Walter Matthau, Robert Morse and Inger Stevens.

Jayne Mansfield played her first leading role on television in 1956 on NBC's The Bachelor.

Jayne Mansfield performed in a number of variety shows including The Jack Benny Program, The Steve Allen Show and The Jackie Gleason Show.

Jayne Mansfield was a member of the headlining guests for three of The Bob Hope Specials.

Jayne Mansfield's talk show career includes a large number of appearances which she appreciated for the publicity.

In 1964, Jayne Mansfield turned down the role of Ginger Grant on the up-and-coming television sitcom Gilligan's Island.

In 1980, The Jayne Mansfield Story aired on CBS starring Loni Anderson in the title role and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mickey Hargitay.

Jayne Mansfield starred as Rita Marlowe in the musical spoofing Hollywood in general and Marilyn Monroe in particular.

Jayne Mansfield received a Theatre World Award for her performance in 1956, as well as a Golden Globe Award in 1957.

Jayne Mansfield performed in about 450 shows between 1955 and 1956.

Jayne Mansfield toured small US towns alternating between the two plays.

Jayne Mansfield received $25,000 per week for her performance as Trixie Divoon in the show, while her contract with 20th Century Fox was paying her $2,500 per week.

Jayne Mansfield had a million-dollar policy with Lloyd's of London in case Hargitay dropped her as he whirled her around for the show.

In 1959, Jayne Mansfield returned to the Tropicana and made $30,000 per week, with her show being extended twice.

Jayne Mansfield returned to Las Vegas in 1966, but her show was staged on Fremont Street, away from the Strip where the Tropicana and Dunes were.

Jayne Mansfield played the roles of burlesque entertainer Midnight Franklin in Too Hot to Handle and Las Vegas show girl Tawni Downs in The Las Vegas Hillbillys.

Later in her career, Jayne Mansfield was busier on stage, performing and making appearances with her nightclub acts, club engagements, and performance tours.

Jayne Mansfield sang in film soundtracks, on stage for her theatrical and nightclub performances, and had singles and albums released.

Jayne Mansfield sang "Too Marvelous for Words" for The Jack Benny Program.

Ed Chalpin, the record producer, claimed that Jayne Mansfield played all the instruments on the singles.

Jayne Mansfield had a daughter with her first husband Paul Jayne Mansfield.

Jayne Mansfield was the mother of three children from her second marriage to actor and bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay, including actress Mariska Hargitay.

Jayne Mansfield had a son with third husband film director Matt Cimber.

Jayne Mansfield suffered from severe head trauma, underwent three surgeries at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, California, including a six-hour brain surgery, and contracted meningitis.

Jayne Mansfield met John F Kennedy through his brother-in-law Peter Lawford in Palm Springs, California in 1960, but their alleged affair did not last.

Jayne Mansfield wanted to marry Cimber in a Catholic ceremony, but was unable to find a priest who would perform it.

Karla LaVey, Anton LaVey's daughter, asserted in a 1992 interview with Joan Rivers that Jayne Mansfield was a practicing LaVeyan Satanist and that she had a romantic relationship with Anton LaVey.

Jayne met Paul Mansfield at a party on Christmas Eve in 1949; she was a popular student at Highland Park High School, and he at Sunset High School in Dallas.

At the time of their marriage, Jayne Mansfield was 17 and three months pregnant, while Paul was 20.

Paul Jayne Mansfield hoped the birth of their child would discourage her interest in acting.

In February 1955, Jayne Mansfield filed for separate maintenance and in August 1956 Paul filed for custody of their daughter, Jayne Mansfield Marie.

Jayne Mansfield filed for divorce in California in 1956; Paul filed for divorce in 1957 in Texas citing mental cruelty, and they received their divorce papers on January 8,1958.

Jayne Mansfield met her second husband, Mickey Hargitay, at the Latin Quarter nightclub in New York City on May 13,1956, where he was performing as a member of the chorus line in Mae West's show.

Jayne Mansfield fell for him immediately, which resulted in a squabble with West.

On January 13,1958, Jayne Mansfield married Hargitay at the Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

Jayne Mansfield co-wrote the autobiographical book Jayne Mansfield's Wild, Wild World with Hargitay.

Jayne Mansfield sued to get the Juarez divorce declared legal after Mariska was born, and the divorce was recognized on August 26,1964.

Jayne Mansfield married airline stewardess Ellen Siano in 1968, and she accompanied him to New Orleans when he picked up his three children after Mansfield's death.

Jayne Mansfield had once told Hargitay on a television talk show that she was sorry for all the trouble that she had given him.

Jayne Mansfield married him on September 24,1964, in Mulege, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

At the time, Jayne Mansfield had degenerated into alcoholism, drunken brawls, and performing at cheap burlesque shows.

Two weeks before her mother's death in 1967,16-year-old Jayne Mansfield Marie accused Sam Brody of beating her.

Jayne Mansfield came to be known as the "Working Man's Monroe".

Jayne Mansfield was one of Hollywood's original blonde bombshells, and remains one of the most recognizable icons of 1950s celebrity culture.

Jayne Mansfield learned French, Spanish, and German in high school, and in 1963 she studied Italian.

Jayne Mansfield's drive for publicity was one of the strongest in Hollywood.

Jayne Mansfield gave up all privacy, and her doors were always open to photographers.

Jayne Mansfield appeared in about 2,500 newspaper photographs, and had about 122,000 lines of newspaper copy written about her between September 1956 and May 1957.

Jayne Mansfield made news on a regular basis, for malfunctioning dresses and clothing that burst strategically at the seams, to wearing low cut dresses without a bra.

Jayne Mansfield received her first truly negative publicity after she and Hargitay pleaded poverty when his first wife, Mary Hargitay, who he divorced on September 6,1956, requested additional child support for their nine-year-old, first child, Tina, in September 1958.

Jayne Mansfield purposely wore a too-small red bikini, lent to her by photographer friend Peter Gowland.

Jayne Mansfield shimmied out of her polka-dot dress in a Rome nightclub in June 1962.

The best-known photo showed Loren's gaze falling on the actress's cleavage when Jayne Mansfield leaned over the table, allowing her breasts to spill over her low neckline, exposing one of her nipples.

The Jayne Mansfield-Sophia Loren photograph was a UPI sensation, appearing in newspapers and magazines with the word "censored" hiding the actress's exposed nipple.

Jayne Mansfield adopted pink as her color in 1954, and was associated with it for the rest of her career.

Jayne Mansfield had the house painted pink, with cupids surrounded by pink fluorescent lights, pink fur in the bathrooms, a pink heart-shaped bathtub, and a fountain spurting pink champagne; she then dubbed it the "Pink Palace".

On June 28,1967, Jayne Mansfield was in Biloxi, Mississippi, for an engagement at the Gus Stevens Supper Club.

Reports that Jayne Mansfield was decapitated are untrue, although she suffered severe head trauma.

Jayne Mansfield was buried in Fairview Cemetery next to her father.

Jayne Mansfield left behind five children and a crumbling estate, including the Pink Palace.

Jayne Mansfield is known for helping shape the "dumb blonde" stereotype.

Contrary to her public persona, Jayne Mansfield was quite intelligent, and at one point could speak up to five different languages.

Jayne Mansfield has won several awards for her work on the show, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 2005 and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2006.

Jayne Mansfield's estate was appraised initially at $600,000, including the Pink Palace, estimated at $100,000, a sports car sold for $7,000, her jewelry, and Sam Brody's $185,000 estate left to her in his last will.

However, her four eldest children went to court in 1977 to find that approximately $500,000 in debt that Mansfield had incurred, including $11,000 for lingerie, $11,600 for plumbing of the heart-shaped swimming pool, and litigation had left the estate insolvent.