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Today in unheard stories, we will tell the story of an actress who was called a ‘glamour girl’ in the 50s and 60s because of her unmatched beauty.
Her name is Jane Mansfield. She was a famous Hollywood actress in the 50s and 60s. Jane’s film career was short but she was a superstar. However, she had to struggle a lot for this.
Sometimes she became a nude art model and sometimes she sold books door to door. She even worked as a popcorn and candy vendor in a theatre but did not give up.
Jane’s luck changed in 1955 when she got a chance to appear on the cover page of the famous Playboy magazine while modeling.
Her personal life was also full of ups and downs. Jane had five children from three marriages. She was called Marilyn Monroe’s rival. In many ways, her life was also like hers. Her name was even linked with John F. Kennedy, but her end was also as painful as his.
On June 29, 1967, at the age of 34, Jane died in a horrific car accident. Her high-speed car collided with a truck and she died on the spot. The accident was so severe that her head was separated from her body.
Let’s take a look at the full story of Jayne Mansfield…
At the age of three, he lost his father
Jane was born on April 19, 1933 in Pennsylvania. Her real name was Vera Jane Palmer. Jane lived in Phillipsburg, New Jersey until the age of 6. She lost her father when she was three years old.
Her father, Herbert William Palmer, died of a heart attack in 1936. Three years later, Jane’s mother, Vera Jeffrey, married sales engineer Harry Lawrence Pearce and moved to Dallas, Texas.
Childhood photo of Jane.
Jane lived her childhood amidst these ups and downs. She was so impressed by Hollywood star Shirley Temple at an early age that she wanted to become an actress like her. For this reason, she started learning dance at the age of 12.
After passing the tenth grade, she took classes to play musical instruments. She also learned to speak Spanish and German. Jane was good at studies and passed all her school exams with high grades.
Worked from nude art modeling to selling books
Immediately after leaving school, Jane married Paul Mansfield on May 6, 1960 and six months later they had a daughter. Jane and her husband took admission to Southern Methodist University to study acting. After this, both of them shifted to Austin, Texas where she studied dramatics from the University of Texas.
Because of her beauty, she was compared to Marilyn Monroe.
Jane struggled a lot during this time. She even worked as a nude art model. She also sold books door to door, and also worked as a receptionist in a dance studio. In 1953, Jane returned to Dallas where she learned acting from Sidney Lumet, the founder of the Dallas Institute of Performing Arts. He used to give private sessions to Mansfield.
In 1954, with his help, Jane got her first screen test at Paramount and she shifted to Los Angeles. Here too her struggle did not end. Sometimes she sold popcorn and candy at the theatre and sometimes she taught dance to earn her living. She also used to do part-time modelling at Blue Book Modelling Agency.
During this time, Mansfield also participated in many beauty contests. She also gave auditions for many films but was unsuccessful. She got her first acting assignment in 1954 in An Angel Went AWOL, in which she was paid $300 for speaking a few lines of dialogue.
Playboy magazine changed her luck
Mansfield’s luck shone when she appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine in February 1955. When her bold pictures were published in the February edition, it caused a stir. The magazine’s circulation increased overnight, which greatly benefited Mansfield’s career.
After her first hit appearance, Mansfield became a regular model for Playboy and the magazine published many of her pictures from 1955 to 1960.
The magazine also published bold pictures of top actresses of that era like Marilyn Monroe, Betty Page and Anita Ekberg.
Jane came into the limelight after appearing on the cover page of this high profile magazine. She started getting the film offers from Hollywood which she was waiting for. She got the opportunity to debut in the film Female Jungle in 1955 in which she played a supporting role. After this she was seen playing a small but impressive role in Warner Brothers’ courtroom drama film ‘Illegal’.
Jane was famous for doing tremendous exposure in films, which was not easy for any mainstream actress in those times.
Marilyn Monroe’s rival
Mansfield was widely sought after by filmmakers, with several major production companies signing six-year contracts with her. She was pitched as Marilyn Monroe’s successor and rival in Hollywood.
The film ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ released in 1956 was one of her biggest successes. In this way, she achieved success and reached great heights in Hollywood.
Mansfield could do anything for publicity. For this, she put all her privacy at stake. Her doors were always open for Hollywood photographers.
This is why more than 2500 of her photographs were published in newspapers from September 1956 to May 1957. Jane had achieved the status of an international celebrity due to the tremendous publicity she received.
Married three times, became mother of five children
Jane faced many ups and downs in her personal life. When she became pregnant at the age of 17, she had to marry her boyfriend Paul Mansfield in a hurry. Paul thought that Jane’s interest in acting would decrease after becoming a mother, but that did not happen. Their relationship turned sour when Jane did a bold photoshoot for Playboy magazine.
Angered by this, Paul sought custody of daughter Mary from the court and called Jane an unfit mother. The couple got divorced in 1958 but the custody of the daughter remained with Jane. She also refused to remove the Mansfield surname from her name.
Jayne Mansfield with her five children.
In 1958, Mansfield married actor and bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay. The three had three children and worked together in many films. The couple divorced in 1964. After this, Jane fell in love with film director Matt Kimber.
The two got married on 24 September 1964 and got divorced on 20 July 1966. The two had a son. In this way, Jane gave birth to five children from three marriages. Apart from three marriages, news of her numerous affairs also surfaced. Out of these, Jane’s most famous affair was with former US President John F. Kennedy.
In 1968, the Hollywood Publicist Guild started the ‘Jayne Mansfield Award’ in her name. This award is given to the actress who gets the most publicity throughout the year.
He died in an accident, his head was separated from his torso
When Mansfield learned of Marilyn Monroe’s death in 1962, she exclaimed, “I’m probably next.”
Then exactly five years later, in 1967, in the early morning of June 29, Jayne Mansfield said goodbye to the world. She was going from Mississippi to New Orleans. After performing at a nightclub late at night, Jayne left for New Orleans where she had to perform on television the next day. The journey was long.
This was the condition of Jane’s car after the accident.
Jane sat in the front seat with driver Ronald B. Harrison and boyfriend Samuel S. Brudy while their three children slept in the backseat.
Around 2 am, his car collided with the rear of a trailer truck. In this horrific car accident, three people sitting in the front seat died on the spot, one of whom was Jane.
According to media reports, the accident was so severe that Jane’s head was separated from the body. Later, the police report also revealed that a part of Jane’s head was badly damaged and this was also written in her death certificate. Inspired by her gruesome death, a film ‘Crash’ was also released in 1996.
Jane’s daughter Mariska Hargitay, while remembering her mother years later, said in an interview, ‘My mother was a very beautiful, amazing and glamorous sex symbol. She was way ahead of her time. She was an inspiration and had a hunger to live life’.
Mariska survived the accident in which Jane died. She was one of the three children who were sleeping in the backseat of the car. Mariska, like her mother, also joined the acting field and won accolades for playing the role of Olivia Benson in Law & Order: SVU.
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