Since Jayne Mansfield’s death in a horrible car accident, she has become the focus of
ghoulish obsession.
Was she actually decapitated?
And how did the Church of Satan fit in?
Keep watching to find out!
Born Vera Jayne Palmer on April 19, 1933, Jayne Mansfield wanted to become a Hollywood
star from a very young age, inspired by the success of her childhood hero, Shirley Temple.
According to "Jayne Mansfield: A Bio-bibliography," her parents were supportive, enrolling young
Jayne in voice, dance, and violin lessons, while also allowing her to play the violin
in their driveway for neighbors and those on the sidewalk.
Not just a performer, however, Mansfield also displayed an interest in linguistics, eventually
becoming fluent in five languages.
But her youthful aspirations were temporarily derailed at the age of 16 when she met 20-year-old
Paul Mansfield and subsequently became pregnant.
A few mere months before she graduated high school, she married Paul, and the couple then
welcomed their daughter, Jayne Marie.
After a stint taking drama classes at the Southern Methodist University and the University
of Texas, Jayne convinced her husband to move the family to Los Angeles in 1954 so she could
pursue her dream of stardom.
A year later, she got her big break as a Playboy Playmate of the Month.
But it came at a cost: Paul filed for divorce after realizing, quote, "he would always be
second choice" when it came to Jayne's quest for fame.
While some may say that Kim Kardashian or even Paris Hilton pioneered the modern wave
of reality stars who are "famous for being famous," one could argue that it was Jayne
Mansfield who started the movement herself.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, quote,"if it weren't for Mansfield then, there would
likely be no Kardashians today."
The blonde star made her big-screen Hollywood debut in 1955, appearing in four films, including
"Female Jungle."
The roles were small, so according to Biography, she knew she had to get the media's attention
in a different way.
In January of 1955, Mansfield was invited to an event for Howard Hughes' "Underwater."
While sporting a red bathing suit that didn't leave much to the imagination, and surrounded
by photographers, Mansfield jumped into the pool - and, quote, "had the genius to permit
her bathing suit to split open."
She became a sensation with the press, in part because, unlike her contemporary Marilyn
Monroe, Mansfield welcomed the paparazzi with open arms.
But her studio, Fox, didn't think all publicity was good publicity, so they loaned her out
to other studios, where she had to appear in even worse films.
For her part, though, Mansfield always made a distinction between the publicity and the
work.
"I think a person to exist as a star is one thing, and a person to exist as an actress
is another."
Jayne Mansfield built an image of a "dumb blonde," but it was a careful construction,
as she was actually highly intelligent.
In fact, according to "Jayne Mansfield: A Biography," her I.Q.
was believed to have been 163.
Yet she stuck to her public persona that brought in legions of fans, even when challenged directly.
During an appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," for instance, the
host boldly declared in front of his guest, quote, "Nobody with an I.Q. of 160 can be
that stupid."
Yet Mansfield remained composed, pretending she didn't understand what he meant.
Occasionally she would let things slip, such as an eloquent BBC4 interview where she explained
what sex appeal meant to her.
"It comes only from inside; it's nothing that's manufactured.
It has nothing to do with measurements or lipstick color."
But mostly, she stuck to the role she felt she could be successful in.
She revealed to BBC4 that when auditioning for MIlton Lewis, the head of casting at Paramount
Studios, she performed a soliloquy from "Joan of Arc."
But he told her she was, quote, "wasting [her] obvious talents" - meaning her looks.
It was Lewis who would help mold her image into the voluptuous icon she is remembered
as today.
Jayne Mansfield will forever be remembered for her now-legendary photo standing next
to Sophia Loren, who is giving what appears to be the most judgemental side-eye in existence
aimed at the sultry blonde's cleavage.
As the story goes, Loren was invited to a dinner at Romanoff's restaurant in Beverly
Hills.
She wrote in her memoirs,
"[Mansfield] came right for my table.
She knew everyone was watching.
[...] I'm staring at her nipples because I am afraid they are about to come onto my plate.
In my face you can see the fear.
I’m so frightened that everything in her dress is going to blow -- BOOM! -- and spill
all over the table."
According to Vanity Fair, the spectacle was allegedly responsible for Loren's disdain
of Hollywood.
Yet, as the years went on, Loren wished the moment would stay in the past, particularly
after Mansfield's untimely death in 1967.
She told Entertainment Weekly that whenever she's asked to sign an autograph for the photo,
she refuses, quote, "out of respect for Jayne Mansfield."
For her own part, Mansfield always maintained that she never enjoyed such showy publicity.
As she told CBC in the early '60s,
"As far as actually enjoying it, I don't think anyone actually enjoys it."
There's a reason why the Golden Age of Hollywood was known for being consistently wholesome
and glamorous: it simply had to be.
In the mid-1930s, a set of guidelines called the Hays Code ruled over Tinseltown film studios,
not allowing any on-screen nudity.
This code reigned supreme until 1968 — yet some actors still pushed the boundaries by
the time the early '60s came along.
Of course, overseas, foreign stars were already baring all, such as French icon Brigitte Bardot's
buff debut in 1956's "...And God Created Woman," which put her on the international map.
In America, though, it was Mansfield who appeared in the first modern nude scene for a Hollywood
release, going topless in 1963's "Promises!
Promises!"
According to Vulture, the blonde's career was heading towards a standstill, her studio
growing impatient that her last box office success was in 1957 with "Will Success Spoil
Rock Hunter?"
Going back to the basics of what made her a breakout star originally, Mansfield did
what she did best: a publicity stunt.
But it backfired.
"Promises!
Promises!"
was a critical failure, leading only to more offers to do skin flicks.
And it was also a nerve-wracking experience for Mansfield herself, who, according to "Here
They Are Jayne Mansfield," allegedly drank, quote, "[a] magnum of champagne" so she could
get the courage to bare it all on camera.
Jayne Mansfield made a career out of mimicking the blonde sex symbol stereotype put forward
by fellow A-listers such as Marilyn Monroe.
This similarity didn't go unnoticed by Monroe, who even wanted to sue her counterpart for
copying her so much.
As Lawrence J. Quirk, author of "The Kennedys in Hollywood" recalled in a conversation he
once had with Monroe, she snapped,
"All she does is imitate me — but her imitations are an insult to her as well as to myself."
But did Monroe have another reason to hate Mansfield?
According to Quirk, Mansfield "envied" Monroe for her affair with John F. Kennedy in the
mid-1950s, and by the time the next decade rolled around, she was determined to steal
the spotlight yet again.
With the help of JFK's brother-in-law, Peter Lawford, Mansfield embarked on her own affair
with Kennedy, and when Lawford warned her to perhaps be a bit more discreet, the actor
shot back,
"Everyone in Hollywood and Washington knows about it anyway, and I like it that way!
And I'll bet Marilyn's pissed as all get out!"
Interestingly enough, after Marilyn Monroe's death in 1962 (and the subsequent conspiracy
theories that the Kennedys were involved somehow), Mansfield grew increasingly paranoid that
she would meet the same fate.
According to "The Kennedys in Hollywood," she told her friend Jerry Asher, quote, "Maybe
I'll be next!"
Jayne Mansfield understood that to make it in Hollywood, she had to craft a totally manufactured
version of herself to stand out in the sea of wannabe A-listers.
According to Biography, she, quote, "made pink her trademark color" and even went as
far as to ensure that she would be seen in her pink car, decked out in pink clothing.
However, her biggest commitment to her bubble gum lifestyle was her house, dubbed The Pink
Palace.
In 1958, the newly married Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay bought a mansion on Sunset Boulevard,
which consisted of 25 rooms and 11 bathrooms that its new owners then repainted in pink.
Mansfield also ensured that the outside would fully represent her as well, making a stone
wall that encompassed the compound also in her trademark color.
She also decorated her house with cupid motifs throughout, saying,
"All my life, I've dreamed of a place full of cupids and angels and hearts."
Perhaps the most elaborate add-on of The Pink Palace was the swimming pool, which Hargitay
built himself into a heart shape, installing on the bottom a gold mosaic which read, "I
love you Jaynie."
By the time the late 1960s rolled around in America, the youth of the country were rebelling
against the political and religious conservatism of the 1950s.
And Hollywood took notice as well, including Jayne Mansfield, who reportedly realized she
needed an image makeover.
"Mansfield 66/67" director P. David Ebersole explained to Interview that the blonde's "larger-than-life"
persona wasn't popular anymore, and so she yet again embarked on a quest for even more
widespread publicity.
Cue the Church of Satan founder, Anton LaVey.
According to SFGate, LaVey actually rejected the concept of any religion in a theological
sense, yet his blend of, quote, "​​pagan hedonism and hucksterism" was enough to make
him a household name in the late '60s.
Mansfield and LaVey's paths crossed in 1966, after an encounter at the San Francisco Film
Festival, where she ended up visiting his home as he showed off his various occult knick
knacks.
From there, Mansfield and LaVey were photographed together multiple times.
According to History Collection, he performed a "Satanic" ritual in his home with Mansfield
in attendance, and he even visited her in her Pink Palace, taking photos by her unique
heart-shaped pool.
Although Mansfield denied ever being a Satanist, Interview notes that she openly declared LaVey
"a genius."
Jayne Mansfield died on June 29, 1967, in a car accident on Route 90 on her way to New
Orleans from Biloxi, Mississippi.
Mansfield was in the car with three of her children as well as her "companion," Samuel
S. Brody, and a driver.
While her kids survived, all three adults died instantly when the vehicle hit a truck.
After Mansfield's death made headlines, an urban legend began circulating that she was
decapitated in the tragedy.
But this wasn't true.
Jim Roberts, a mortician at a New Orleans funeral home, told The New York Times,
"Her head was attached as much as mine is.
[...] People always figured wrong about Jayne.
About the way she lived and the way she died."
Even in death, Mansfield couldn't escape the predatory public.
Her ex-husband, Mickey Hargitay, was hounded by the press, and the car she died in has
become a ghoulish tourist attraction.
Jayne Mansfield was mother of five children, and one of her kids has successfully followed
in her mother's footsteps when it comes to having an A-list Hollywood career.
Mariska Hargitay, daughter of Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay, is synonymous with her "Law
& Order: Special Victims Unit" character, Olivia Benson, whom she's played since 1999.
Unlike her mother, Mariska has primarily stuck to the small screen, yet her face is instantly
recognizable.
Having survived the car accident that took her mother's life, Mariska has said she had
a, quote, "relatively normal childhood," yet as she told Glamour in 2021, the actor has
spent her life dealing with the subsequent trauma.
"I've spent [...] 54 years sort of trying to figure out what happened and why, and what
am I supposed to do with it?"
She told James Lipton on "Inside the Actors Studio" that she takes comfort in religion.
"I believe that there are no accidents, and I believe that God has a plan.
And I have a very deep belief in God."
Nevertheless, Mariska credits her mother for instilling positive values that she's taken
with her into adulthood, from being a mother to her professional career.
Hargitay told Closer,
"She was an inspiration, she had this appetite for life."
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Grunge videos about your favorite stars are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.