Mariska Hargitay is THIS Bombshell’s Daughter

Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Actress Mariska Hargitay is best known as bad-ass Olivia Benson, a lead role in the longtime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The NBC series was a real breakthrough for Hargitay in 1999 — but perhaps she was always destined to be a star. Hargitay’s mother was Jayne Mansfield, the famous blonde who died in a fiery car crash when little Mariska was just three years old. Oh, and her dad was also Mr. Universe.

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Jayne Mansfield

In the wake of Marilyn Monroe’s super-stardom, the young — smart — Jayne Mansfield sensed an opportunity. Born in 1933, Mansfield was a contemporary of Monroe and headed to LA to make a name for herself in 1954. By that point, Mansfield was already a young mother and married to Paul Mansfield, the father of her first child, also called Jayne.

At first, Mansfield worked a series of odd jobs, modeling and selling candy, but by early 1955, she was a Playboy Playmate. The same month, she signed her first contract with Warner Bros. As her star rose, though, she clashed with Paul and he left the family. And soon after, she was dropped by Warner Bros.

Then Mansfield landed a role on Broadway in the play Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? from the same writer of The Seven Year Itch. In it, Mansfield played an actress and the character was a direct, mocking stand-in for Marilyn Monroe. Shortly after, Mansfield met the Hungarian bodybuilder — and Mr. Universe —Mickey Hargitay. They made a hot couple.

Meanwhile, Mansfield was earning on-screen roles. First, in the musical comedy The Girl Can’t Help It and the film adaptation of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, then in the neo-noir Too Hot to Handle. Throughout these films, Mansfield’s bodacious figure was the butt of jokes, exaggerating the Monroe-crazed media. But the roles left Mansfield as something of a walking punchline. She was the essential blonde bombshell — not just in appearance but in character.

Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay via Photos.com

Wanting to hype up her sexed-up image, Fox, the studio which represented Mansfield at the time, did not allow her to openly date Hargitay. But in an act of defiance, she announced their engagement at a press conference and they wed in 1958. They had three children together: Mickey Hargitay Jr., Zoltan Hargitay, and Mariska Hargitay. The future Law & Order star was born in 1964, just around the time that her parents divorced.

That one year after Mansfield starred in the sex comedy Promises! Promises! …which featured a very famous nude scene. But her popularity was waning. She took a role in a stage production of another Monroe venture, Bus Stop. Manfield quickly fell for the director — and future pornographer — Matt Cimber. They married and had Manfield’s fifth and final child, Tony Cimber in 1965. After their split, Mansfield took up with her divorce lawyer, Sam Brody, who was an abusive partner.

Brody was in the car with Mansfield on the day of her fateful accident, as were her three children Mickey, Zoltan, and Mariska, and a young driver named Ronnie Harrison. The year was 1967.

The family was leaving Biloxi, Mississippi toward New Orleans on U.S. Highway 90 when a truck slowed ahead of their car in the fog. Harrison did not stop in time, and the bodies of all three adults were ejected from the car. They all died while the children, asleep in the backseat, survived with minor injuries.

Jayne Mansfield was not decapitated, as stories imply. But she did suffer intense head trauma, losing a part of her skull. Mansfield was also wearing a wig at the time of the accident, which went flying.

Mariska Hargitay

Following the death of her mother, Mariska Hargitay and her siblings were raised by Mickey Hargitay and his third wife Ellen Siano. And now Hargitay has a family of her own.

In 2004, Hargitay married the actor Peter Hermann, who plays a recurring role on Law & Order: SVU. They met on set. Two years later, she gave birth to their son and in 2011, adopted a baby girl as well as another son, a few months later.

Read More: When Jayne Mansfield Did Playboy

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