She was born Vera Jayne Palmer on April 19, 1933 in Bryn
Mawr, Pennsylvania. Her father, Herbert Palmer, was an attorney, and her
mother, Vera Palmer, was a retired schoolteacher. She gained fame as Jayne
Mansfield and pin-up status after suffering wardrobe malfunctions in front of
photographers.
Jayne Mansfield was 16 years old when she met a boy named
Paul Mansfield at a Christmas party and immediately fell in love. They married
just months later, in May of 1950, a few weeks before Mansfield graduated from
Highland Park High School in Dallas. The Mansfields divorced in 1955.
Jayne was offered roles in several films such as “Kiss
Them For Me” (1957), and “It Takes a Thief” (1960). After her divorce to Paul
Mansfield, she married she married the winner of the Mr. Universe Competition, Miklós
‘Mickey’ Hargitay in 1958, and they had three children. However, theirs was a
tumultuous relationship, and in 1964 Mansfield married actor Matt Cimber in
Mexico, even though she had not yet officially divorced Hargitay. Mansfield and
Cimber had one child before also parting ways. For the rest of her life,
Mansfield was involved in a rocky relationship with Sam Brody, the attorney she
hired to assist with her divorce proceedings.
Mansfield appeared in only one Euro-western, “The Sheriff
of Fractured Jaw” (1958).
She experienced a career lull in the 1960s, though she
did act in small roles on film and stage. Mansfield died in a car accident on
June 29, 1967 at the age of 34. Her daughter, Mariska Hartigay, is a well-known
and respected television actress.
Today we remember Jayne Mansfield on what would have been
her 80th birthday.
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