Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield became one of American cinema's bombshell actresses, whose onscreen sexuality created a new precedent in moviemaking. Born Vera Jane Palmer in 1933, she married Paul James Mansfield at the age of sixteen. In Dallas, Mansfield studied acting with Baruch Lumet, who was the father of the future director, Sydney Lumet. In 1955, Mansfield appeared on Broadway and then the film Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Two dozen movies followed, including: Kiss Them for Me (1957), The Girl Can't Help It (1956), Wayward Bus (1957), and Too Hot to Handle (1960). Mariska Hargitay, her daughter with her second husband, Mickey Hargitay, is an actress on television's Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Mansfield's third husband, Matt Cimber, became her agent, and negotiated the deal to have Mansfield appear naked onscreen in the 1963 film, Promises, Promises. This was the first American film to feature a mainstream American star fully nude, and was released in both "hot" and "cold" versions. Mansfield died in an automobile crash in 1967, on her way to a club appearance in New Orleans.
