Jayne Mansfield was connected to many high-profile men during her blonde bombshell days in Hollywood,
but she met her match with 1955's Mr. Universe. Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay
were the hot couple, but would you believe their relationship wasn't quite smooth sailing?
Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay's relationship began with a legendary quip by the blonde actor.
As the story goes, in 1955, it was star Mae West who discovered Hargitay after
spotting him on Strength and Health’s magazine cover. She quickly asked him
to become one of her "musclemen" for her nightclub act, to which he agreed.
According to "Did Success Spoil Jayne Mansfield?," on May 13,
1956, Mansfield happened to be in New York and came to watch the show.
When a server came to her table to ask what she would like, the star allegedly declared,
"I'll have a steak and the man on the left."
It turned out that the attraction was mutual. Hargitay would later discuss
that particular night in BBC's "Living Famously: Jayne Mansfield," saying,
"It [was] difficult to miss her. She was blonde. She was
drinking a milkshake, which impressed me, too."
The pair immediately clicked, and the rest, as they say, was history.
By 1957, Mickey Hargitay and Jayne Mansfield were an item, and the actor's press tour in
Europe wasn't enough to cause a rift. In fact, according to "Jayne Mansfield:
The Girl Couldn't Help It," Mansfield never forgot about her lover back home while she was away.
By the time she returned home in November, Hargitay was at the airport waiting for her,
alongside her daughter from her first marriage,
Jayne Marie. She later recalled seeing him after the time apart:
"I saw the man I love and I guess I just went crazy."
Her affection was clearly enough for her bodybuilding beau,
too, as in the car ride immediately after, he popped the question. Mansfield explained that
as the pair gushed over one another, Hargitay reached into his pocket, cheekily mentioning,
"I've got a little something for you." The ring, according to W magazine,
was a 10 carat, round diamond valued at $25,000
at the time. Mansfield later remembered being just as happy as she was shocked,
and in that moment, there was nothing more in the world that she wanted or needed — she had it all.
"I think that… I think everyone should live like you want to live,
and, no matter how small it is, or how big it is."
After Mickey Hargitay's November 1957 proposal, he and Jayne Mansfield began planning their A-list
wedding. Of course, the blonde star first had to finalize her divorce from her first husband,
Paul Mansfield, which she eventually did, with five days to spare.
According to "Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn't Help It," in January,
Mansfield and Hargitay began holding press events, declaring that their union would be a small,
private one, and that it was a time that Mansfield wanted minimal publicity.
The pair picked January 13, 1958 as their wedding date. According to Mansfield,
it was because the couple initially met on the 13th, and also due to Hargitay's Mr. Universe
win and American citizenship — both events which also happened to involve the number.
In spite of their desire for a private affair, things still got out of hand. Years later,
Hargitay recalled that he almost couldn't make it to his own wedding due to the thick crowds.
While the exact numbers of paparazzi that came to catch a glimpse of Mansfield aren't exact,
it's believed that 1,500 to 2,000 reporters were present on the celebratory day.
Their wedding was ultimately delayed because of the chaos.
"And thousands of fans showed up, really, and I saw no one but Jaynie."
Jayne Mansfield was truly, without a doubt, the queen of self-marketing. As detailed by Biography,
the actor knew the value of a good publicity stunt, often showing up to events where an
"accidental" wardrobe malfunction would occur, causing the paparazzi to go into a frenzy.
Above all, however, Mansfield marketed her own look,
choosing pink as the color she would be most associated with.
After marrying Mickey Hargitay in 1958, the happy couple bought their first home together,
and snagged a mansion at 10100 Sunset Boulevard in Holmby Hills for a cool
$76,500. Although they lived in it for a mere five years, the A-listers transformed it from
a Mediterranean-style abode to their "House of Love," better known as "The Pink Palace."
The Pink Palace captured Mansfield's brand perfectly. Architectural Digest says their home
was repainted in pink and quartz grains, and the prevailing motif was one with hearts and cupids.
To top it off, Hargitay himself built his lady a heart-shaped swimming pool,
spelling "I love you Jaynie" in gold mosaic at the bottom. The entire thing was meant
to be a very straightforward declaration of love, and that was definitely achieved.
The marriage wasn't the first one for either star. Mansfield was a mere 16 years old when
she met Paul Mansfield, her first husband. The pair wed in 1950, had one daughter together,
and split in 1955, amid Mansfield's subsequent initial struggles to make it in Hollywood.
Hargitay, on the other hand, moved to America from Hungary in 1947
and married first wife Mary Birge in 1948, welcoming daughter Tina the following year.
After Mansfield and Hargitay got married in 1958 and moved into their Beverly Hills mansion,
they were suddenly both slapped with ugly child-support claims.
As "The Girl Couldn't Help It" details, they both claimed that they were barely
making ends meet during these highly publicized proceedings.
The pair allegedly brought reporters into their Pink Palace,
showing how they slept on mattresses on the floor, and didn't have any furniture or rugs.
As Jayne told reporters, they claimed to only spend around $50 on food every month, then added,
"Don't worry about us."
To the public, they seemed like a match made in heaven.
The Mr. Universe winner's hunky physique matched Mansfield's ultra-feminine look.
After the pair hooked up, Mansfield and Hargitay decided to profit off of their relationship,
appearing in various roles together on the silver screen. Their professional on-screen debut came
in 1957 with the adaptation of the Broadway production "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?"
It was Hargitay's idea to turn the successful play into a Hollywood flick, and the result
was handing Mansfield the leading part, while Hargitay himself made his debut in a minor role.
The flick was overall well-received by critics and certainly great publicity for both Mansfield
and Hargitay. It also finally put the Hungarian bodybuilder on the map. Hargitay would later say,
"I felt like I made it! Everybody knows me now!"
The pair went on to do more feature films together, including 1963's
controversial "Promises! Promises!" and the poorly-received "The Loves of Hercules" in 1960.
Jayne Mansfield's manufactured image was pretty evident when she finally
joined the ranks of her Hollywood peers. Mansfield's career started in the 1950s,
and Twentieth Century Fox wanted her to become the next Marilyn Monroe. The result was taking
on comedic roles that only played up her dumb blonde image and iconic measurements.
For a while, and much to the delight of Fox, this image worked, so the studios weren't
exactly thrilled when Mansfield embarked on domestic bliss with her second husband.
As "Jayne Mansfield: A Bio-bibliography" details,
Twentieth Century Fox hired the star because they wanted someone
with mass sex appeal — and someone who they thought wasn't smart enough to fight back.
Unfortunately for the studio, they hadn't banked on Mansfield's determination
and intelligence — some reports alleged that the actor had an IQ of 163.
"Of course, she's not scatterbrained at all, because any girl who would be so smart as to
try to gather as many diamonds as this girl is could not be a scatterbrain!"
Interestingly enough, while Mansfield's studio wasn't pleased about her marriage to Hargitay,
the press lapped it up, and it ultimately worked in favor for the A-list pair, who went on to have
three children together: Miklos "Mickey" Jr., in 1958, Zoltan, in 1960, and Mariska, in 1964.
After getting hitched, Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay decided to embark on a joint act to
profit from their dazzling presence together. As explained in "Did Success Spoil Jayne Mansfield?,"
the happy couple didn't waste time after their 1958 honeymoon, making their on-stage
debut at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, earning $25,000 a week for the first month.
Hargitay said in BBC's "Living Famously: Jayne Mansfield" that he had been trained as an acrobat,
but talent wasn't enough for Mansfield, who also went to scope out her competitors.
She just so happened to watch Marlene Dietrich's act at the Sahara Hotel
and was mesmerized by the icon's stunning gown, which was covered in diamonds.
As a result, Mansfield decided to create her own, which reportedly cost around $30,000.
Weighing a whopping 15 pounds, the dressmaker told the star to
avoid letting Hargitay toss her around on stage.
Of course, the pair ignored these instructions, resulting in costly repairs each night.
Nevertheless, "Tropicana Holiday," as it was called, was a hit, with the two stars
returning to Vegas the following year for another show, this time at the Dunes Hotel.
"Are you built along lines that would cause a great deal of whistling anywhere you appear?"
Sadly, Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay's relationship didn't last.
Along with mounting pressures from Mansfield's studio to lose the weight
she gained after giving birth to her second son, Zoltan, her schedule was still demanding:
The star quickly went off to Greece in 1960 to film "It Happened in Athens." It's there that she
had an alleged tryst with co-star Trax Coltan, all while fighting a growing alcohol problem.
As the years went on, the star traveled across the pond for more films — and
more affairs. In 1962, during the production of the 1964 flick "Panic Button," the star embarked
on a romance with production manager Enrico Bomba, although at this point,
she had filed for divorce from Hargitay, which came as a shock to the bodybuilder.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the pair reconciled in 1963,
but things didn't get better as more rumors mounted.
In 1964, Mansfield filed for divorce again,
announcing it to the public — and Hargitay, who was standing right next to her, unaware.
She ultimately left her husband for director Matt Cimber.
While Mickey Hargitay's marriage to Jayne Mansfield heartbreakingly disintegrated,
it doesn't mean the pair was on completely sour terms. Hargitay once said:
"If you love a girl, you love her forever."
The same year the pair divorced, in 1964, Mansfield married director Matt Cimber,
a marriage which lasted a mere two years. Hargitay was there for his ex-wife as she
struggled with her new marriage. Even as the actor struggled with her nose-diving fame and
dwindling source of income, Mansfield saw her marriage to Cimber fall apart, too.
Throughout her domestic struggles, Hargitay remained her steadfast friend.
After Mansfield's life came to a tragic end with her untimely death in 1967, Hargitay still
remembers his time with the blonde legend fondly. During a 1988 interview at his home, he recalled:
"It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.
She was one of the greatest ladies in my life."
Jayne Mansfield never retired at the peak of her success. Sadly, the star's life came to
a shocking end when she was involved in a fatal car accident on June 29, 1967.
Mansfield was en route from ​​Biloxi, Mississippi, to New Orleans for a television appearance.
In the car was the driver, Ronald B. Harrison, Mansfield's lawyer and boyfriend,
Samuel S. Brody, and the three children she had with Mickey Hargitay: Mariska,
Zoltan, and Mickey Jr. While on U.S. Route 90, their car hit the rear end of a trailer-truck,
instantly killing the actor, Brody, and Harrison. Remarkably, all three children survived.
It turned out that Mansfield actually spoke to Hargitay the same day as her untimely demise.
As the bodybuilder himself revealed in BBC's "Living Famously: Jayne Mansfield,"
the star called her ex-husband while the travelers stopped at a gas station,
yet an "angry voice" quickly got her off the phone.
It was the last he had heard from her. As Hargitay further recalled through tears,
later that evening, he had a visit from the state
marshal at his door, who informed him that Mansfield had died. She was 34.
A few months before Mansfield's passing in June, Hargitay himself remarried,
and he stayed with his new bride for 38 years — until he died in 2006 at the age of 80.
Mansfield and Hargitay had three children together, yet it's their daughter, Mariska
Hargitay, who has seen the most comparable success to her parents — on the small screen,
that is. Fans of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" will quickly recognize Mariska as the
show's lead, Detective Olivia Benson, a character that she's played since 1999.
Although Mariska never had the opportunity to act alongside her famous mother,
she shared the small screen with her father in a 2003 episode of "Law & Order: SVU."
Sadly, with Mickey's death in 2006, Mariska didn't have another chance to grace either small or big
screens with her dad. She does, however, credit both of her parents for her success,
dubbing Mansfield as her inspiration during a chat with People in 2018. She added of her father,
"I was the most like him. [...] I do feel that he's with me.
Even though he's not here physically, I carry him."
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