Celebrity Birthday: Jayne Mansfield - 34

Today, we celebrate Jayne Mansfield’s birthday and remember her for a career that was all too short. In her brief stint in Hollywood, Jayne earned her status as a sex symbol and Hollywood bombshell. She was often compared to Marilyn Monroe, who also died tragically young just five years before the world lost Mansfield.

“Sex appeal is a wonderful, warm, womanly, healthy feeling. If you're a woman it's womanly, if you're not it's manly... it comes only from inside... it's an effervescent desire to enjoy life.” - Jayne Mansfield

The Early Career of a Future Sex Symbol

Jayne Mansfield got her Hollywood start as “The Girl at the Piano” in an episode of Lux Video Theatre. She followed that minor role up with her appearance in Female Jungle in 1955. Jayne was paid $150 for that role. In today’s economy, that’s the equivalent of $1,683.81. After finishing filming on Female Jungle, Ms. Mansfield returned to her job selling cigarettes in Los Angeles movie theaters.

Jayne continued to pursue her acting career, taking minor bit roles as she took odd jobs in movie theaters. Throughout 1955, she appeared in Pete Kelly’s Blues, Illegal, and Hell on Frisco Bay. By the following year, Mansfield had earned enough attention to catch the starring role in The Girl Can’t Help It. The musical/comedy stars Mansfield as an “airheaded blonde” who is thrust into fame by her gangster boyfriend and a mediocre talent agent.

The film, along with Jayne’s image on movie posters in promotion of the film, garnered more attention for Mansfield. She appeared on television in an episode of Shower of Stars in 1957. Also in that year, the platinum blonde actress was seen in The Wayward Bus and The Burglar.

Jayne Mansfield Finds More Success With Director Frank Tashlin

Released in 1957, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? reunited Mansfield with director Frank Tashlin (The Girl Can’t Help It). She played Rita Marlowe, love interest to Rockwell P. Hunter (Tony Randall). Mansfield plays a famous actress who Rock Hunter wants to hire to promote his lipstick. She agrees, but with a catch. He has to pretend to be her new lover. Previously, in 1955, Jayne had played Rita Marlowe in the stage version of the same story.

Ms. Mansfield acted in one film a year over the next few years: Kiss Them for Me (1957), The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958), and Playgirl After Dark (1960).

In 1960, Jayne earned top billing in John Gilling’s It Takes a Thief. In this film, Billie (Mansfield) and Kristy (Carl Mohner) lead a gang of criminals. Once one of their gang gets arrested, the location of the loot gets lost. Later, Billie and Kristy kidnap the convicted robber’s son and hold him hostage in exchange for the loot.

Mansfield also starred in The Loves of Hercules in 1960, following that role up with appearances in The George Raft Story (1961) and It Happened in Athens (1962). During this period, Jayne was also seen on television, making appearances on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Red Skelton Hour, and Burke’s Law.

Jayne Mansfield Earns Her Sex Symbol Status

While most fans are familiar with Jayne Mansfield’s Hollywood films, they may not realize that she broke one of the earliest barriers for women in film. In Promises....Promises (1963), Mansfield appears nude. This is worth mentioning because it was the first time an American actress appears nude on film.

In spite of being the first American actress to be seen nude on film, Jayne was no stranger to flaunting her body. In 1955, she was Playboy’s Playmate of the Month for February. Her daughter, Jayne Marie Mansfield, also posed nude for Playboy in 1976.

During a raid on a Burlington, Vermont nightclub, Mansfield was arrested for indecent exposure. The arrest also happened in 1963.

Subsequently, Jayne starred in Primitive Love (1964), Las Vegas Hillbillies (1966), and Single Room Furnished (1966). The last film she completed prior to her tragic death was A Guide for the Married Man (1967). Jayne’s role (Technical Adviser) remains uncredited.

Was Jayne Mansfield’s Accident the Result of a Death Curse?

On June 29, 1967, Jayne had to leave Biloxi, Mississippi where she had been performing in nightclubs. The overnight drive was necessary to ensure she could make it to New Orleans on time for her television interview. She sat in  the front seat with her driver, Ronald B. Harrison, and her current boyfriend, Samuel S. Brody.

Three of Mansfield’s children occupied the backseat of the 1966 Buick Electra.

At approximately 2:00 am, Harrison found himself driving behind a 16-wheeler. At the same time, a fogging machine in a nearby field was spraying for insects. It seemed like a strange set of circumstances that combined to create the conditions for the crash. The wind blew the fog across the road, blocking Harrison’s view of the truck just as the semi driver stepped on his breaks. Presumably, the truck driver had also been blinded by the fog. The Buick crashed into the back end of the trailer, sliding underneath it.

As the car slid under the trailer, the top half of the Buick’s roof was sheared off. The adults in the front seat were all killed instantly, but the children, including actress Mariska Hargitay, all survived.

The news initially reported that the accident decapitated Jayne Mansfield, but this is inaccurate. While the actress’ skull was crushed and her head was partially separated, she was not decapitated. The misconception arose from the fact that the accident caused Jayne’s wig to fly from the car and land on the road. Photographers assumed the wig to be her decapitated head.

Another rumor that began circulating shortly after the crash and still persists to this day is that the accident was the result of a death curse. At the time of the accident, it was known that Mansfield had also been seeing Anton LaVey. Mr. LaVey was a Satanist and the founder of the Church of Satan. The rumor suggests that the accident was the result of a death curse that LaVey placed on Brody as a means of eliminating his romantic competition for Mansfield’s affections.

Thank Jayne Mansfield for Making Highways Safer

If you have ever traveled behind a tractor-trailer, you have undoubtedly noticed the metal bars affixed to the bottom rear of the trailer. These bars are dressed in reflective tape to make them more noticeable. These bars are called Mansfield Bars.

After the accident that claimed Jayne Mansfield’s life, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration updated their requirements for trailer designs. They determined the Mansfield Bar must be attached to every trailer to prevent vehicles from sliding underneath the trailer during a collision.