Jayne Mansfield

At 34 years old, Jayne Mansfield has this physical status:

Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer, 1933-67) was an American film, theater, and television actress.

She was also a nightclub performer and a singer, as well as one of the early Playboy Playmates.

When under 20th Century Fox's sponsorship, she was a major Hollywood sex symbol during the 1950s and early 1960s.

She was also known for her well-known personal life and publicity stunts, including "wardrobe malfunctions." Mansfield's film career was short-lived, but she had multiple box-office successes and won a Theatre World Award and a Golden Globe.

Both in the 1955–1956 Broadway revival and the 1957 film version of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter, Rita Marlowe enjoyed success. She appeared in The Girl Can't Help It (1956), The Wayward Bus (1957), and Too Hot to Handle (1960).

In Promises, she was the first major American actress to have a nude scene.

Promises!

(1963) Ancestral House (Japan) Mansfield earned her name from her first husband, Paul Mansfield, a public relations specialist.

She was married and divorced three times and had five children.

Nelson Sardelli, a Las Vegas entertainer, was accused of intimately linking with many men, including Robert and John F. Kennedy, her counsel Samuel S. Brody, and Las Vegas entertainer Nelson Sardelli.

She died in a car accident in Eastern New Orleans on June 29, 1967, at the age of 34.

Early life

Vera Jayne Palmer, of English and German descent, and Herbert William Palmer, the sole child of Herbert Herbert Palmer, of English and German ancestry, and Vera Jeffrey (née Palmer) Palmer of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, was born on April 19, 1933. She inherited more than $90,000 from her maternal grandfather, Thomas ($850,000 in 2021 dollars), and more than $36,000 from her maternal grandmother, Beatrice Mary Palmer, in 1958 ($340,000 in 2021 dollars).

She spent her youth in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, where her father, Robert B. Meyner, was an attorney practicing with New Jersey governor Robert B. Meyner. Her father died of a heart attack in 1936. Her mother married sales engineer Harry Lawrence Peers and the family moved to Dallas, Texas, where she was identified as Vera Jayne Peers in 1939. She aspired to be Shirley Temple as a child. She began dancing at the age of 12. In 1950, she graduated from Highland Park High School. Palmer took violin, piano, and viola lessons while in high school. She also studied Spanish and German. She received A-Bs in all subject areas on a regular basis.

She married Paul Mansfield on May 6, 1950, at the age of 17. Jayne Marie Mansfield, the couple's daughter, was born six months later on November 8, 1950. Jayne and her husband enrolled in Southern Methodist University to study acting. Jayne moved to Los Angeles in 1951 and spent a summer semester at UCLA. She entered the Miss California contest, but Paul found out and coerced her to leave the sport, but she was refused. She and her husband then moved to Austin, Texas, and studied dramatics at the University of Texas at Austin. She served as a nude art model, sold books from door to door, and worked as a receptionist in a dance studio. She also joined the Curtain Club, a campus drama club that included lyricist Tom Jones, composer Harvey Schmidt, and actresses Rip Torn and Pat Hingle among its members. When Paul Mansfield served in the United States Army Reserve in the Korean War, she spent a year at Camp Gordon, Georgia (a US Army training center).

In 1953, she returned to Dallas and studied acting for many months under Baruch Lumet, director Sidney Lumet's father and founder of the Dallas Institute of Performing Arts. Lumet taught her private lessons and dubbed Mansfield and Rip Torn his "kids." Lumet later helped Jayne pass her first screen test at Paramount in April 1954. In 1954, Paul, Jayne, and Jayne Marie moved to Los Angeles. Jayne worked at a variety of odd jobs, including selling popcorn at the Stanley Warner Theatre, teaching dance, selling candy at a movie theater, modeling part-time at the Blue Book Model Agency, and working as a photographer at Esther Williams' Trails Restaurant.

Personal life

Paul Mansfield, a public relations specialist, had a daughter with her first husband. She was the mother of three children from her second marriage to actor/bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay. She also had a son with her third husband, film producer Matt Cimber.

When he and his mother were visiting the theme park Jungleland USA in Thousand Oaks, California on November 23, 1966, Mansfield's son Zoltan was shocked when a lion named Sammy bit his neck. He suffered from severe head injury and underwent three surgeries at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, California, including a six-hour brain surgery and contracted meningitis. Sam Brody of Mansfield sued the theme park on the family's behalf for $1.6 million ($13 million in 2021 dollars). The theme park's negative publicity resulted in its closing.

Whitney Williams, a film critic and exploitation movie specialist, wrote about Mansfield in Variety: "her personal life out-rivaled any of the roles she played." Mansfield was accused of being intimately linked to many men, including Claude Terrail (owner of the Paris restaurant Tour d'Argent), Robert F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Brazilian billionaire Jorge Guinle, Las Vegas entertainer Nelson Sardelli, and producer Enrico Bomba. In 1960, she met John F. Kennedy through his brother-in-law Peter Lawford in Palm Springs, California, but their alleged affair did not last. Both Mansfield and Brody, her lawyer and alleged lover at the time, were killed in a car crash.

Mansfield converted to Catholicism in August 1963. Despite the fact that she never converted, she did attend Catholic services while she was in Europe and continued Catholic practices when she was associated with a Catholic partner (including Hargitay, Sardelli, and Cimber). Her appearance at the Mount Brandon Hotel in Tralee, Ireland, was postponed in May 1967 because Catholic clergy had condemned it. She wanted to marry Cimber in a Catholic ceremony but was unable to find a priest who would officiate it. Though she was involved with Brody, she expressed an interest in Judaism.

Mansfield and Brody visited the Church of Satan in San Francisco for the city's 1966 Film Festival, meeting Anton LaVey, the church's founder. Mansfield was awarded a medallion and the title "High Priestess of San Francisco's Church of Satan." The media enthusiastically covered the meeting and the events surrounding it, identifying her as a Satanist and romantically associated with LaVey. The meeting remained a well-known and highly quoted event both of her life and the Church of Satan's history. In a 1992 interview with Joan Rivers, Karla LaVey revealed that Mansfield was indeed a practicing Satanist and that she had a personal acquaintance with Anton Lavigney.

In 1949, Jayne first met Paul Mansfield at a Christmas Eve party; she was a popular student at Highland Park High School and attended Sunset High School in Dallas. They married in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 6, 1950. Jayne was 17 and three months pregnant at the time of their union; Paul was 20 years old. Although most major biographies set the date at May 6, several reports claim that the wedding took place on May 10, 1950. She had a previous "unknown" marriage on January 28, which gave birth to her first child, according to biographer Raymond Strait. Jayne Marie Mansfield, the daughter of Mansfield's daughter, was born on November 8, 1950. Some reports cite Paul Mansfield as the father of her child, while others suspect the pregnancy was due to date rape.

Paul Mansfield hoped that the arrival of their child would discourage her from being involved in acting. If it didn't, he decided to move to Los Angeles in late 1954 to help with her career. She juggled motherhood and Texas classes at the University of Texas in 1952. Paul was sent to the United States Army Reserve for the Korean War early in 1952. Although she was in the army, she spent a year at Camp Gordon, Georgia. With Paul's army allotment, life became much simpler. With Jayne and her three children, a Great Dane, three cats named Sabina, Romulus, and Ophelia, two chihuas dyed pink, and a rabbit, returning from the Korean War in 1954, he lived in a tiny apartment in Van Nuys, California, a small newspaper. While living in California, she left Jayne Marie with her maternal grandparents and spent the summer semester at UCLA.

They decided to break off the marriage after a string of marital feuds over Jayne's aspirations, infidelity, and animals. It was a long process. Jayne Marie's parents had requested separate care in February 1955, and Paul filed for custody of their daughter, Jayne Marie, in August 1956. In California, Jayne applied for divorce in 1956, Paul applied for divorce in 1957 in Texas citing mental illness, and they received their divorce papers on January 8, 1958. She retained "Mansfield" as her official name after the divorce. Paul Mansfield remarried, moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, but refused to win custody cases against Jayne Marie or stop her from traveling abroad with her mother.

Jayne Marie, an 18th birthday girl, argued that she had not received her inheritance from the Mansfield estate or heard from her father since her mother's death.

On May 13, 1956, Mansfield's second husband, Mickey Hargitay, was seen as a member of the chorus line in Mae West's show at the Latin Quarter nightclub in New York City. Hargitay, a writer and bodybuilder who had won the Mr. Universe competition in 1955, was a student and bodybuilder who had won the Mr. Universe competition. Mansfield collapsed for him right away, resulting in a squabble with West. Mr. California, Chuck Krauser, defeated Hargitayayay and was arrested and released on a $300 bond ($3,000 in 2021 dollars).

Hargitay introduced Mansfield back from her 40-day European tour on November 6, 1957, costing her $40,000 in 2021 dollars. Mansfield married Hargitay at the Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, on January 13, 1958 (days after her divorce from Paul was confirmed). The unique glass chapel made public and press viewing of the wedding possible. With a 30 yd (27 m) flounce of pink tulle (designed by a twentieth century-Fox costume designer), mansfield wore a dazzling pink, skintight wedding gown made of sequins, and Hargitay served pink champagne at the reception.

In a bit part of Will Be Happy Spoil Rock Hunter, Hargitay made his first film appearance with Mansfield. The pair formed a touring company on stage shows, where Mansfield's leopard-spot bikini became a point of discussion and newspaper coverage. Hargitay, as her shows made more news, tossed her around his waist and spun her in broad circles. He was Mansfield's male lead in her Italian ventures – The Loves of Hercules and L'Amore Primitivo – and a main supporting character in Promises! Promises! He was the male lead in The Tropicana Holiday, The House of Love, French Dressing, and other nightclub performances on stage.

They appeared on television shows such as the Bob Hope Specials. Mansfield and Hargitay had a variety of company interests, including the Hargitay Exercise Equipment Company, Jayne Mansfield Productions, and Eastland Savings and Loan. Jayne Mansfield's Wild, Wild World co-wrote with Hargitay. The book also contained 32 pages of black-and-white photographs from the film that were printed on glossy paper.

She had a well-publicized affair with Enrico Bomba, the Italian producer and production manager of her film Panic Button, in 1962. Hargitay accused Bomba of sabotaging their marriage. She had another close friendship with singer Nelson Sardelli, who said she intended to marry after her divorce from Mickey Hargitay was finalized in 1963. In May 1963, the couple divorced in Juarez, Mexico, where Nelson Sardelli accompanied Mansfield in his legal proceedings. She had previously applied for divorce on May 4, 1962, but "I'm sure we'll make it up," she told reporters. During the tense divorce process, the actress attempted to persuade Hargitay of kidnapping one of her children.

After her divorce, a mansfield discovered she was pregnant. Since she and Hargitay are still married, she and her unwed mother will have put her career in jeopardy. Mariska Hargitay was born January 23, 1964, after the original divorce was declared valid in California, but not before California ruled it valid. After Mariska was born, a mansfield filed a lawsuit to have Juarez's divorce declared legal, and the divorce was confirmed on August 26, 1964. Hargitay, Zoltan, and Mariska were made the guardian of Mickey, Zoltan, and Mariska, according to a court order in 1967, but the couple continued to live in Mansfield. Ellen Siano, a retired airline stewardes, married Ellen Siano in 1968, and she followed him to New Orleans when he picked up his three children following Mansfield's death. Hargitay's widow's estate was sued for more than $275,000 ($2.20 million) to assist the children after his wife Ellen's death, but he and his husband lost the case shortly after. On a television talk show, Mansfield had once told Hargitay that she regretted all the pain she had caused him.

As a youth, the mansfield became familiar with Matt Cimber (a.k.a. Matt Cimber). When Matteo Ottaviano, né Thomas Vitale Ottaviano, an Italian-born film director, directed her in a stage production of Bus Stop in Yonkers, New York, costarring Harmay. She married him in Mulegé, Baja California Sur, Mexico, on September 24, 1964. The couple divorced on July 11, 1965, and filed for divorce on July 20, 1966. Cimber took over managing her career after they married and led her on a string of increasingly challenging ventures such as Promises, Promises, and The Las Vegas Hillbillys. Mansfield's marriage to Cimber began to fail as a result of her alcohol use, public infidelities, and her admission to Cimber that she had only been content with her former lover, Nelson Sardelli. Mansfield's film Single Room Furnished, directed by Cimber (1966), was suspended. Antonio Raphael Ottaviano (a.k.a.) was the couple's son. Tony Cimber, born October 18, 1965. Tony, Mansfield's youngest child, was raised by Cimber and his third wife, dress designer Christy Hilliard Hanak, who married on December 2, 1967. Cimber became a producer for Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling later in life.

Mansfield had degenerated into alcoholism, impenetrious brawls, and was selling cheap burlesque shows at the time. Sam Brody, her attorney, had frequent drunken brawls with her and mistreated her eldest daughter, Jayne Marie, by July 1966. Beverly Brody, Sam's wife, filed for divorce, naming Mansfield as the "41st other woman" in Sam's lifetime.

Jayne Marie, 16, accusing Sam Brody of beating her just two weeks before her mother's death in 1967. The child's testimony to police officers in Los Angeles the following morning charged her mother in inciting the violence, and a juvenile court judge granted temporary custody of Jayne Marie to Paul's uncle William W. Pigue and his wife Mary several days later.

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Career

Mansfield was the winner of many beauty competitions, including Miss Photoflash, Miss Magnesium Lamp, and Miss Fire Prevention Week at the University of Texas. Miss Roquefort Cheese was the only thing she refused because she felt it "didn't sound right" on her own account. In 1957, Jayne dropped "Miss Prime Rib" for the second time. She and Paul Mansfield performed in small local-theater productions of The Slaves of Demon Rum and Ten Nights in a Barroom in 1952, and Anything Goes in Camp Gordon, Georgia. She made her first major theatre appearance in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, starring Lumet, on October 22, 1953. While at UCLA, she entered the Miss California lottery (hiding her marital status) and secured the local round before withdrawing.

Some advertisers deemed her prominent breasts unattractive, resulting in her losing her first professional position – a GM commercial depicting young women in bathing suits relaxing around a pool. Emmeline Snively, the head of the Blue Book Model Agency, had introduced Emmeline Snively, a photographer, to photographer Gene Lester, which led to her short-lived stint in the GM commercial. Jayne performed a sketch she had performed out with Lumet from Arc for casting director Milton Lewis in 1954. Lewis told her that she was "wasting her "obvious abilities" and that she would return a week later to perform The Seven Year Itch's piano. Jayne failed to impress, but she learned she'd have to go blonde. She appeared on Warner Brothers' piano, but she failed to impress once more. In the CBS episode "An Angel Went AWOL," she landed her first acting work in Lux Video Theatre, a series on CBS. She sat at a piano and delivered a few lines of dialogue for $300 ($3,000 in 2021 dollars).

Hugh Hefner began publishing Playboy in December 1953. The magazine was a hit in part because of early appearances from Mansfield, Marilyn Monroe, Bettie Page, and Anita Ekberg. Mansfield was the Playboy Playmate of the Month in February 1955 and appeared in the magazine several times. Mansfield's career flourished as a result of her appearance in February, which also helped promote the magazine's circulation. She took to the Playboy calendar shortly afterward, clutching her breasts with her hands. Mansfield was on display in 1952, 1955 to 1958, and again in 1960.

Paul Mansfield demanded custody of his daughter in August 1956, claiming that Jayne was an unfit mother because she appeared nude in Playboy. The magazine reproduced the 1955 pictorial from 1954. For those nostalgic photos from that pictorial collection, Playboy reprinted photos from the 1960s "The Playboy Portfolio of Sex Stars," as well as "Centerfolds of the Century" in December 1965.

Male Jungle, a low-budget thriller that was completed in ten days, was Mansfield's first film role. Her role was shot over a few days, and she was paid $200 ($2,000 in 2021 dollars). In early 1955, it was first published unofficially. James Byron, her boss and publicist, negotiated a seven-year deal with Warner Brothers in February 1955, who were fascinated by her publicity antics. The contract initially paid her $250 a week ($3,000 in 2021 dollars) and landed her two films, one with an insignificant role and the other unreleased for two years. In January, she requested a divorce from Paul Mansfield. In Pete Kelly's Blues (1955), starring Jack Webb, and Hell on Frisco Bay (1955), starring Alan Ladd, mansfield was given bit parts. She appeared in one more film for Warner Brothers, playing Edward G. Robinson in the courtroom drama Illegal (1955).

William Shiffrin, Mansfield's chief, has committed to play Rita Marlowe in the Broadway play Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Orson Bean and Walter Matthau. She auditioned for the role while working on producer Louis W. Kellman's The Burglar (1957), director Paul Wendkos' film version of David Goodis' book in film noir style. Mansfield appeared alongside Dan Duryea and Martha Vickers. It was published two years ago, when Mansfield's fame was at its high point. She was successful in this straight dramatic role, but the majority of her subsequent film appearances were comedic or based on her sex appeal. It was Kellman's first big venture, and he seemed to have "discovered" Mansfield. Will Spoil Rock Hunter Be a Success Spoil Rock Hunter was announced. Russell Brothers withdrew Warner Brothers' August 31. In mid-July 1955, Century-Fox's New York office agreed to a six-year deal to mold her as a replacement for Marilyn Monroe, the company's resident blonde sex symbol who had just completed the extremely difficult Bus Stop. Mansfield was still under the Broadway contract and was playing Will Spoil Rock Hunters? From September 15, 1956, the show appeared on Broadway until September 15, 1956. Jerri Jordan played Jerri Jordan in Frank Tashlin's "I Can't Help It (1956). It was originally named Do-Re-Mi and featured a diverse cast of contemporary rock and roll and R&B musicians, including Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Fats Domino, The Platters, and Little Richard. The Girl Can't Help It was one of the year's biggest successes, both technically and financially, with more than Gentlemen Prefer Blondes now earning more than three years ago. Fox began promoting Mansfield as "Marilyn Monroe king-size," threatening to pressure Monroe to return to the studio and end her deal. Mansfield appeared in The Wayward Bus (1957), a John Steinbeck's based on John Steinbeck's book of the same name. She tried to break away from her "blonde bombshell" image in this film and establish herself as a leading actress. Mansfield was a Golden Globe winner in 1957 for New Star of the Year, defeating Carroll Baker and Natalie Wood for her role as a "wistful derelict." According to The New York Times, it was "mostly conceded to have been her best acting" in a volatile career marred by her flamboyant image, distinctive voice ("a soft-voiced coo punctuated with squeals"), voluptuous figure, and limited acting range. Cast Mansfield of Tashlin In the film version of the Broadway show Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, she appeared as Rita Marlowe alongside costars Tony Randall and Joan Blondell, who appeared in 1957. With a North American tour and a 40-day, 16-country tour of Europe, Fox launched its new blonde bombshell. She attended the premiere of the film (named Oh! ). Queen Elizabeth II, (for a Man in the United Kingdom) in London, and he met her.

Mansfield's fourth appearance in a Hollywood film was in Kiss Them for Me (also 1957), for which she received major credit alongside Cary Grant. However, in the film itself, Grant's role refers to a redhead portrayed by fashion model Suzy Parker; The film, which was dubbed "poor" and "ill-advised," was a critical and box-office flop and represented one of the last efforts by twentieth Century-Fox to publicize Mansfield. Mansfield's physical appearance was in jeopardy, despite her continuing coverage. In The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958), a western comedy shot on location in Spain, Fox gave her a leading role opposite Kenneth More. Singer Connie Francis dubbed Mansfield's three songs in the film. In 1959, Fox introduced the film in the United States, and Mansfield's last mainstream film triumph. In the romantic comedy Bell, Book and Candle (1958), Columbia Pictures offered her a part opposite James Stewart and Jack Lemmon, but she turned it down due to being pregnant. In Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys, Fox attempted to cast Mansfield opposite Paul Newman.' (1958) his first attempt at comedies, his ill-fated first attempt at comedy.

Mansfield became a box-office haven by the 1960s, despite the fact that lucrative and lucrative nightclub performances continued to bring large audiences outside the United States. With a reduced demand for big-breasted blonde bombshells and an increasing negative reaction toward her excessive publicity, she became a box-office has-been.

Since 1959, mansfield had no interest in film roles. Due to her ongoing "repeated pregnancies," she was unable to complete a third of her Fox contract. Fox stopped referring to her as a major Hollywood celebrity and began lending her and her likeness out to overseas theatres in England and Italy, respectively, until her 1962 contract ended. Many of her English/Italian films are considered obscure, while others are considered lost.

In 1959, Fox starred her in two independent gangster films shot in the United Kingdom: The Challenge and Too Hot to Handle, which were both released the following year. Both films were low-budget, and their American debuts were postponed. Playgirl After Dark, a hot topic, was not available in the United States until 1961. It Takes a Thief, a 1963 edition of the Challenge. Censures in the United States protested a scene in Too Hot to Handle, in which Mansfield, wearing silver netting with sequins painted over her nipples, has almost nude.

With Trax Colton, a handsome newcomer Fox was trying to convert into a heartthrob when Mansfield returned to Hollywood in the mid-1960s. She received her first billing above the rank, but only in a supporting role. In Greece in the fall of 1960, the Olympic Games-based film was shot but was not released until June 1962. It was a box-office disaster, and Fox's twentieth Century Fox sacked Mansfield's employment. Mansfield played a small role in 1961 but in The George Raft Story, which was released the following year, Mansfield paid above-the-title billing. In a small role as a glamorous film star, actor Ray Danton portrays Mansfield in Raft. She returned to European films soon after the film's release, including Heimweh nach St. Pauli (1964, Italy), L'Amore Primitivo (1964, Italy) and Einer frisst den anderen (1964, Germany).

In the film Promises, Tommy Noonan begged Mansfield to be the first mainstream American actress to appear nude in a leading role.

Promises!

(1963). In a Chicago court, Playboy issued nude photographs of Mansfield on the set in its June 1963 series, which culminated in obscenity charges against Hugh Hefner.

Promises!

Promises!

Was barred from serving in Cleveland, Ohio, but the Cleveland, Ohio, restaurant enjoyed brisk sales elsewhere. Mansfield debuted on the Top ten list of box-office attractions for the first year as a result of the film's success.

Soon after her success in Promises!

Mansfield was selected from many other actresses to replace Marilyn Monroe's in Kiss Me, Stupid (1964), a romantic comedy starring Dean Martin. She canceled the role due to her pregnancy with her daughter Mariska Hargitay, and Kim Novak took over. Mansfield also appeared in Jayne Mansfield for President Jayne Mansfield: the White House or Bust, a pinup book that was widely distributed on billboards, and commercial and fine art photographer David Attie took the photographs the same year.

In 1966, Mansfield was cast in Single Room Furnished, directed by husband Matt Cimber. Mansfield was required to play three distinct characters in the film, and it was her first starring, dramatic role in many years. It was published briefly in 1966, but not until 1968, almost a year after her death. Mansfield was cast opposite Mamie Van Doren and Ferlin Husky in The Las Vegas Hillbillys (1966), a low-budget comedy from Woolner Brothers, after Single Room Furnished wrapped. It was her first country and western film, and she promoted it through a 29-day tour of major U.S. cities, accompanied by Husky, Don Bowman, and other country performers. Mansfield said she would not "share any screen time with the drive-in's answer to Marilyn Monroe," implying Van Doren. Though their characters did have a common thread, Mansfield and Van Doren filmed their scenes at different times in the hopes of being edited together later.

After the birth of her fifth child, Mansfield's wardrobe continued to wear the 1960s' shapeless styles to mask her weight gain. Despite setbacks in her career, she remained a well-known celebrity in the early 1960s thanks in her publicity antics and stage performances. Mansfield appeared in A Guide to the Married Man, a comedy starring Walter Matthau, Robert Morse, and Inger Stevens in early 1967. Mansfield appears as one of the technical advisors in the opening, as well as other celebrity names.

On NBC's The Bachelor, Mansfield appeared in her first leading role on television in 1956. She read Shakespeare (including a line from Hamlet) and performed piano and violin in her first appearance on British television in 1957. Burke's Law, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Red Skelton Hour (three episodes), Kraft Mystery Theater, and Follow the Sun were among her notable television dramas. Mansfield's appearance in her first series Follow the Sun ("The Dumbest Blonde"), season 1, Episode 21; (produced by 20th Century Fox Television) was praised as the birth of "a new and spectacular Jayne Mansfield." She appeared on a number of game shows, including "Talk it up," Down You Go (as a regular panelist), and The Match Game (one rare episode has her as a team captain), and What's My Line? (as a special mystery visitor).

She appeared in a number of shows, including The Jack Benny Show (on which she appeared violin), The Steve Allen Exhibition (during the mid-1960s), and The Jackie Gleason Show (during the second-highest-rated program in the United States). According to the broadcaster, one of her nightclub performances was highlighted in November 1957 in a special episode of NBC's The Perry Como Show ("Holiday in Las Vegas"), something quite controversial for the audience. She was one of three of The Bob Hope Specials' headlining guests. In 1957, she toured Hawaii, Okinawa, Guam, Tokyo, and Korea with Bob Hope for the United Service Organizations for 13 days as a comedian; and in 1961, she visited Newfoundland, Labrador, and Baffin Island, Canada, as a comedian. She has had a large number of appearances in her talk show career, many of which she adored for the exposure. One of her most memorable appearances on a variety show was on The Ed Sullivan Show (Season 10, Episode 35; May 26, 1957), right after she appeared with Rock Hunter, where she performed violin with a six-person backup band. "Now I am truly national." after the program, she exclaimed, "Now I am truly national." "Ed Sullivan's show is on display in Momma and Dallas."

She made $20,000 per episode for television appearances ($188,000 in 2021 dollars). Ginger Grant, the role of Ginger Grant on the up-and-coming television sitcom Gilligan's Island, was rejected by Mansfield in 1964. Although her acting roles were marginalized, Mansfield dismissed the role as it epitomized the stereotype she hated. The part of the story eventually went to Tina Louise. Academy researchers discovered baseless evidence that Mansfield had a breast-flashing dress mistake at the 1957 Academy Awards. To the Virgins, Make Much of Time, Robert Herrick's poem about early death on The Joey Bishop Show, she read ten days before her death.

Mansfield remained one of the top television hits in the 1980s as late as the mid-1980s. The Jayne Mansfield Story, starring Loni Anderson in the title role and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mickey Hargitay, aired on CBS in 1980. It was nominated for three Emmy Awards. In an episode titled Jayne Mansfield: Blonde Ambition, A+E Networks television series Biography included her. In 2001, the television series received an Emmy Award in the outstanding non-fiction television series category. In 1999, A&E retold her life in Dangerous Curves, another television series. She made her life and archive video in 1988 as part of the television series Hollywood Sex Symbols.

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