Jayne Mansfield Was a Famous, Rich, Beautiful and Tragic Beauty
Birth Name: Vera Jayne Palmer
Date of Birth: April 19, 1933
Date of death: June 29, 1967 (aged 34)
Place of Birth: Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States
Nationality: American
Occupation: Actress, singer, model
Height: 5 feet 6 in; 1.68 m
Measurements: 40-21-35 (in); 100-53-89 (cm)
Famous for: Jayne Mansfield was a very popular actress working in Hollywood and on the Broadway theater in 1950’s and 1960’s. She starred in several blockbuster films and won many prestigious acting awards including a Golden Globe, Golden Laurel, Theater World Award, etc.
Quotes:
I like being a pin-up girl, there’s nothing wrong with it.
I didn’t come to Hollywood to be the girl next door. I came to be a movie star.
If you want the best things in life you have to earn them for yourself.
If you’re going to do something wrong, do it big, because the punishment is the same either way.
Interesting Facts:
Jayne was the only child of Herbert William and Vera Palmer. Her father died of a heart attack while driving a car with his wife and daughter (she was three years old).
Her mother Vera lived for 100 years (1903-2003).
On January 28, 1950 she secretly married Paul Mansfield, when she was 16 and he was 21.
Jayne gave a birth to her first child on November 8, 1950. She was 17 years old.
Mansfield had five children (two daughters and three sons).
In 1954, Jayne moved to Los Angeles with her daughter and first husband Paul Mansfield in order to pursue her acting career (she was married three times and divorced twice).
In 1955 she posed nude for the Playboy Magazine. That same year, few moths later, she had her film debut in Female Jungle.
Mansfield starred in 25 films (The Girl Can’t Help It, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, The Wayward Bus, etc) and she appeared in numerous television programs.
She was an alcoholic (she had a serious drinking problem most of her adult life).
Jayne Mansfield was the first American actress to appear nude in a mainstream American film (Promises! Promises! (1963)
Jayne earned $10,000-$35,000 (equivalent to about $70,000-245,000 in today’s money) weekly for her nightclub acts.
Mansfield was fluent in five languages including English, French and German.
Jayne was a classically trained pianist and violinist.
In 1964, she released a novelty album called Jayne Mansfield: Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky and Me.
Mansfield was named the 2nd top Playboy Playmates of all time according to Playboy Magazine.
She appeared in Playboy over 30 times.
Reportedly she had many affairs and sexual encounters with a number of individuals including John F Kennedy, the Brazilian billionaire Jorge Guinle, Anton LaVey, Robert F. Kennedy, etc.
In early June 1967 her oldest daughter Jayne Marie Mansfield, then 16, accused her mother’s boyfriend, Sam Brody, of beating her and her mother of encouraging the abuse. Few days later, a juvenile-court judge awarded temporary custody of Jayne Marie to a great-uncle, W.W. Pigue.
On June 29, 1967 Mansfield, the driver Ronnie Harrison, her three children (Miklós, Zoltán, and Mariska), and her lover Sam Brody where on their way to New Orleans. The three adults were sitting in the front seats of the 1966 Buick Electra 225 and the children were in the back seats. At around 2:25 am the car crashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer and went under it. Riding in the front seat, Jayne, Ronnie and Sam were killed instantly. The children in the rear survived with minor injuries.
Mansfield has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 2008 Jayne was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame.
Mansfield in one sentence – Jayne was a woman with very feminine body and a beautiful face; unfortunately as much as she was beautiful she was also troubled.
Go to Jayne Mansfield Gallery or to Beautiful American Women
Always remember that true beauty comes from within.