‘My Mom Jayne’: Mariska Hargitay Investigates Jayne Mansfield’s Life (& Tragic Death) in New Doc

Captain Olivia Benson is ready to solve a new case— the death of her mother, Jayne Mansfield. Mariska Hargitay announced on Tuesday, April 8, that she has been working on a documentary, My Mom Jayne, about the mom she never knew.

“Strength in vulnerability. A new HBO Original documentary, #MyMomJayne, directed by @TheRealMariskaHargitay, about embracing Hollywood icon Jayne Mansfield, the mother she never knew, is streaming on @StreamOnMax this June,” the HBO Instagram account posted, along with a photo of Hargitay and her mom.

 

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“This movie is a labor of love and longing. It’s a search for the mother I never knew, an integration of a part of myself I’d never owned, and a reclaiming of my mother’s story and my own truth,” she said in a press release. “I’ve always believed there is strength in vulnerability, and the process of making this film has confirmed that belief like never before.” The documentary is produced by Hargitay and Trish Adlesic and executive produced by Lauran Bromley.

The documentary “follows Mariska as she seeks to know, understand, and embrace her mother for the first time. Through intimate interviews and a collection of never-before-seen photos and home movies, she grapples with her mother’s public and private legacy and discovers the layers and depth of who Jayne was, not only to her audience but to those who were closest to her.”

My Mom Jayne will premiere on HBO and stream on Max in June.

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Hargitay was only three years old when Mansfield died at the age of 34, so she directed this documentary to try and get to know her mom on her own as an adult. If still alive today, Mansfield would have turned 92 on April 19. It will be Hargitay’s directorial debut and the first time she talks about her mom’s death in 57 years.

The actress, along with her two older brothers, survived a car crash that killed her mom in 1967. At the time of her death, Mansfield was divorced from her third husband, director Matt Cimber, to whom she was married from 1964 to 1966. The couple had a son, Antonio “Tony” Cimber, in 1965. Mansfield married Mariska’s father, Miklós “Mickey” Hargitay, a former Mr. Universe, in 1958. The couple had Mickey Jr. later that year and a son, Zoltan, in 1960. They divorced in May 1963. Her first marriage to Paul Mansfield in 1950 gave her her first daughter, Jayne, the same year. They split in 1954.

College student Ron Harrison sped down Highway 90 in Louisiana at 75 mph in his silver Buick Electra, driving Mansfield and her children from Biloxi, Mississippi, to New Orleans after she performed a gig at the Gus Stevens Supper Club. He didn’t see the truck stopped on the road in the path of their accelerating car because it was blocked by a cloud of insecticide from a city council vehicle, which was spraying a swamp for mosquitoes.

The car plowed into the bar of the truck, killing Harrison, Mansfield, and her lawyer, Samuel S. Brody. Mansfield’s children and her four chihuahuas all survived with minor injuries. Her death changed road safety. It sparked a campaign that has saved many lives since. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed new standards calling for the addition of underride prevention guards on large trucks, according to Dan Doyle Law. The requirement wasn’t put into place until 1998, however. Before it was enforced, more than 300 deaths occurred each year due to underride crashes.

Mansfield was a beauty queen, a stage actress, a Playboy Playmate, and a screen actress. Some of her biggest roles included Follow the Sun, The Girl Can’t Help It, The Burglar, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, 1956’s The Bachelor, and more.

My Mom Jayne, HBO, stream on Max, June 2025