Legend: Jayne Mansfield

Jayne Mansfield: Featured Legend of Red Hots Burlesque

We love the legends who brought burlesque and sex appeal to the big screen, and this week Red Hots celebrates

JAYNE MANSFIELD
b. April 19, 1933

The woman that Fox called “Marilyn Monroe king-sized,” Jayne Mansfield was a successful movie star, burlesque performer and tabloid personality. Known for her tremendously lush figure and outrageous personality, Mansfield starred on stage and screen in the 50s and 60s. At first Hollywood wouldn’t touch her due to her prominent bosom, but after posing for a fledgling Playboy magazine in 1955 (in pajamas with the hem of her shirt riding high enough to show a glimpse of the bottoms of her breasts) Mansfield was a much sought-after leading lady. She famously wed Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay in 1958. They had met at one of Mae West’s stage shows, where Hargitay performed in chorus, and instantly became enamoured with each other, much to West’s dismay. During their marriage they had three children, one of them the gorgeous Mariska Hargitay who stars on Law & Order: SVU. Due to her frequent pregnancies, Hollywood lost interest in Mansfield, a woman they had hoped to fill the shoes of Marilyn Monroe. Mansfield returned to her fame in Vegas, starring in striptease revues in nightclubs. Mansfield died in a car crash in Louisiana at the age of 34, but if she had lived, would still be posing for pin up photos: “When I’m 100 I’ll still be doing pin-ups.”