On January 13, 1958, at the picturesque Wayfarer’s Chapel in Palos Verdes, California, vivacious, gorgeous movie star Jayne Mansfield married Hungarian-born former "Mr. Universe" Mickey Hargitay.  It was the second marriage for both of them and it was a publicist’s dream:  the blonde with the greatest body in Hollywood marrying the most famous bodybuilder in the whole world.  The setting was sublime and the bride and groom were radiant, and it was the beginning of a grand time for them both.

Rising star Jayne first saw Mickey Hargitay in 1956 in New York, onstage in his role appearing alongside screen legend Mae West in her infamous nightclub act where she was surrounded by a bevy of beefy bodybuilders.  Jayne was smitten by the muscular and personable Hungarian stand-out, and as their romance progressed he returned with her to Hollywood, where her career was really beginning to take off.  Years spent as sexy window dressing as a minor character in several movies and even her starring role that year in The Girl Can’t Help It only slightly prepared Jayne for her success on Broadway in the comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?.  The play shot her to legitimate stardom and garnered her glowing reviews and critical appreciation for her comic chops.  She came to Hollywood to make the movie version in 1957 and as soon as her marriage to her first husband was final, Jayne and Mickey tied the knot.

Jayne and Mickey were on top of the world, their every move followed by the press, who adored Jayne as much as she loved them.  Hargitay and Mansfield were a stunning couple, perfect physical specimens, full of life and crazy in love.  Their passion pit was the unique Pink Palace, Jayne’s Beverly Hills mansion, formerly Rudy Valley’s pad (and now razed), which she had painted over in shades of pink and outfitted with a Hargitay-designed heart-shaped swimming pool and marble-topped barbeque island where they entertained with a friendly ease characteristic of Jayne’s personality.  Along with Jayne’s daughter from her previous marriage, and the three children that she and Mickey had together, life at the Pink Palace was sweet and it was a Hollywood romance that looked like it might actually have a fairy tale perfection about it. 

But it was not to be.  Eventually Jayne and Mickey began to grow apart, even as Jayne’s career continued to prosper in movies like The Wayward Bus and Kiss Them For Me with Cary Grant.  She and Mickey toured together in stage versions of her movies, and fashioned a highly successful, highly lucrative nightclub act.  Hargitay also had a separate career in his bodybuilding mode, including hosting an exercise show on TV.  Finally in May 1963, after several separations and reconciliations, they divorced in Mexico, a decree which wasn’t recognized in the States.  Back together again, they had their daughter Mariska at the beginning of 1964, but a permanent solution to their marital woes was not to be found and their divorce became final late that year. 

Everybody knows about the sad and much too early demise of the charming Jayne Mansfield in 1967 at the age of 34.  Blessed with a body that turned heads, natural musical and acting talents that may never really even have been fully realized, and a craving for recognition that made her a natural for Hollywood’s hectic publicity machine, Jayne Mansfield was an original.  Sweet, smart, funny, voluptuous, uninhibited…she was nobody’s clone or knock-off.  She was the real thing. 

Mickey Hargitay, after a long, productive and honorable life, died in 2006.