# Jayne Marie Mansfield
**Jayne Marie Mansfield** (born 1950) is an American actress, the eldest child of the film actress [Jayne Mansfield](https://www.edgepedia.org/jayne-mansfield) (1933–1967) and her first husband, Paul Mansfield. She has worked mostly in small film and television credits and is best known publicly for appearing as herself in the 2025 HBO documentary *My Mom Jayne*, directed by her half-sister [Mariska Hargitay](https://www.edgepedia.org/mariska-hargitay).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1155799/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1950, Dallas, Texas, United States[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1155799/) |
| Parents | Jayne Mansfield and Paul Mansfield, her mother's first husband[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1155799/) |
| Acting credits | *Olly, Olly, Oxen Free* (1978), *Arena* (1975), *Blond in Hollywood* (2003)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1155799/) |
| Documentary appearance | *My Mom Jayne* (2025), as "Self – My Sister"[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1155799/) |
| Marriage | Barry Christopher Lang, from January 1970, divorced, one child[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1155799/) |
| Siblings | Half-siblings Mariska Hargitay, Miklós (Mickey) Hargitay Jr., Zoltán Hargitay, and Tony Cimber[2](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/27/arts/my-mom-jayne-mariska-hargitay/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results) |
## Birth and family
Jayne Marie Mansfield was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1950, to Jayne Mansfield and Paul Mansfield.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1155799/) Her parents had met at a party on [Christmas Eve](https://www.edgepedia.org/christmas-eve), 1949, married on January 28, and the birth followed what the family biography describes as a difficult labor.[3](https://jaynemansfield.com/index.php/biography/) The Handbook of Texas records that Jayne Mansfield married Paul Mansfield at sixteen, before leaving Texas, and that the daughter was born to them in 1950; the couple divorced in 1956.[4](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/mansfield-jayne) Paul Mansfield, aware of his wife's Hollywood ambitions, had thought becoming a mother would distract her; the family biography states that she remained set on becoming a star.[3](https://jaynemansfield.com/index.php/biography/)
After the divorce, Jayne Mansfield kept the surname [Mansfield](https://www.edgepedia.org/mansfield) and moved to Hollywood with her first child.[3](https://jaynemansfield.com/index.php/biography/) • [5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/my-mom-jayne-a-film-by-mariska-hargitay-hbo-documentary-review-2025) Through her mother's later marriages, Jayne Marie acquired four half-siblings: Mariska, Miklós, and Zoltán Hargitay, children of Mansfield and the bodybuilder [Mickey Hargitay](https://www.edgepedia.org/mickey-hargitay), and Tony Cimber, son of Mansfield's third husband, the director [Matt Cimber](https://www.edgepedia.org/matt-cimber).[2](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/27/arts/my-mom-jayne-mariska-hargitay/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results)
Her mother died in a car accident near New Orleans, Louisiana, on June 29, 1967, while on the way to a television engagement.[4](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/mansfield-jayne) After the death, William Pigue served as legal guardian for Jayne Marie, alongside the arrangements made by her grandmother, Mickey Hargitay, and Mansfield's business manager.[6](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0543790/fullcredits)
## Acting work
Mansfield's screen appearances have been sparse. IMDb lists her as an actress in *Olly, Olly, Oxen Free* (1978) and in television self-appearances on *Arena* (1975) and *Blond in Hollywood* (2003).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1155799/) She rarely makes public appearances; one documented exception was her presence at the 2013 [Hollywood Walk of Fame](https://www.edgepedia.org/hollywood-walk-of-fame) ceremony commemorating her sister Mariska Hargitay.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1155799/)
## My Mom Jayne and recollections of her mother
In 2025, Mariska Hargitay directed the HBO documentary *My Mom Jayne*, in which she and her siblings discuss their mother on camera for what the director describes as the first time.[2](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/27/arts/my-mom-jayne-mariska-hargitay/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results) As the oldest of the children, Jayne Marie provides what the film's reviewers call the clearest picture of Jayne Mansfield.[2](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/27/arts/my-mom-jayne-mariska-hargitay/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results)
Her remarks in the film center on her mother's ambition. "She just had that desire to be a serious actress," she says early in the film, "and she was totally determined to do that."[7](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/07/my-mom-jayne-mansfield-documentary-review/683468/) Asked by Hargitay why their mother did not play more dramatic parts after *The Wayward Bus* (1957), she answers: "Because the parts didn't come in."[7](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/07/my-mom-jayne-mansfield-documentary-review/683468/) She also describes the blonde persona her mother built as "a box," a framing the documentary uses to explain Mansfield's attempt to change her image after [Marilyn Monroe](https://www.edgepedia.org/marilyn-monroe)'s death in 1962.[7](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/07/my-mom-jayne-mansfield-documentary-review/683468/)
In a quotation cited in 1976, she recalled a childhood visit with her mother to the White House, saying her mother knew President Kennedy well and described him after the visit as "a man extremely gentle and sweet."[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1155799/)
## References
1. [Jayne Marie Mansfield, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1155799/)
2. [In 'My Mom Jayne,' Mariska Hargitay makes peace with the mother she never knew, The Boston Globe](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/27/arts/my-mom-jayne-mariska-hargitay/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results)
3. [Biography, JayneMansfield.com](https://jaynemansfield.com/index.php/biography/)
4. [Mansfield, Jayne, Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/mansfield-jayne)
5. [My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay, review, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/my-mom-jayne-a-film-by-mariska-hargitay-hbo-documentary-review-2025)
6. [Jayne Mansfield full credits, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0543790/fullcredits)
7. [She Was More Than the Next Marilyn Monroe, The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/07/my-mom-jayne-mansfield-documentary-review/683468/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Film actors and performers › Actors and actresses by country or nationality › American actors and actresses › Surnames G to O*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license