For more than 20 seasons of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Mariska Hargitay played the fiery protagonist Olivia Benson.
That will change on Friday when a filmmaker of the highest caliber is revealed in Hargitay’s remarkable biographical documentary debut, My Mom Jayne.
My Mom Jayne chronicles a daughter’s quest to discover her heritage and comprehend Jayne Mansfield, the mother she never met.
The result is a complex family history that made headlines around the world decades ago and is being investigated, analyzed, and clarified now because of Hargitay’s perseverance.
Hargitay’s mother was the sex icon of the 1950s, Jayne Mansfield, who gained notoriety as a more flamboyant representation of Marilyn Monroe, the biggest star of the day and a curvaceous, blonde bombshell.
Mansfield, who was born Vera Jayne Palmer in 1933 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, was raised with the goal of being a famous person. She was married and had a child right away with her first husband, Paul Mansfield, but she left him in Dallas to pursue a career in Hollywood.
The satirical comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? began Jayne Mansfield’s career. It was a Broadway hit, and she went on to become a one-note caricature of Monroe in the 1957 film.
Mansfield wed Mickey Hargitay, a Hungarian bodybuilder. Their heart-shaped pool in Beverly Hills made them a famous pair. They let the world into their life, and shortly after, the lives of all their children.
When Jayne, then just 34, and two other people were killed in a horrifying vehicle accident in 1967, Mariska Hargitay was three years old. Mariska survived by sleeping in the rear car with her two older brothers, Mickey Jr. and Zoltan.
My Mom Jayne makes it very evident that PTSD never truly goes away and that it is a necessary part of living your life as Hargitay and her brothers talk about their recollections of the event and its aftermath while sobbing and feeling regret.
In her twenties, Hargitay revealed that her father was not Hargitay, the man who had loved and reared her and whom she calls Dad, but rather Nelson Sardelli, an Italian musician whom she had met in Atlantic City and temporarily shared a home with in Europe.
Mansfield got back up with Mickey while pregnant, gave birth to Mariska, and then they parted ways for good.
The documentary has transformed Mariska Hargitay’s path with her mother. Jayne Mansfield, a five-language woman and a skilled violinist and pianist, struggled with drugs, drink, and men as her career fell apart.
As a child, Mariska didn’t find anything to appreciate, much less embrace, in her mother’s hot club act and nude Playboy spreads.
Naturally, that has changed. She can now admire a famous person who was a career earner and a loving parent while having five kids.
My Mom Jayne will stream on MAX and debut on HBO on Friday.
