Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer April 19, 1933 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania; died June 29, 1967) was an American actress and sex symbol. Famed for her platinum-blond hair and hourglass figure, she emerged during the 1950s appetite for glamorous sex symbols led by Marilyn Monroe. In her first few starring roles, Mansfield was courted by 20th Century Fox as a replacement for a then-misbehaving Monroe. However, her Hollywood film career proved fleeting; after playing key roles in just a handful of major Hollywood productions she drifted into independently produced low-budget melodramas and comedy films, many of which were filmed in Europe, and nightclub tours.

Early life

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She was the only child of Herbert William Palmer and Vera Jeffrey Palmer. It is not clear if her parents were cousins. The maiden name of Jayne's maternal grandmother was Jeffrey. When Jayne was three years old, her father, a lawyer, died of a heart attack. After his death, her mother worked as a school teacher to support them. In 1939, Vera married Harry Lawrence Peers, and the family moved to Dallas, Texas. Jayne could play the violin by the time she was seven, and would stand in the driveway playing for passersby.

Jayne attended Highland Park High School. Then she moved to Austin with her first husband. She studied drama at Southern Methodist University, and the University of Texas at Austin. In Dallas, she met Baruch Lumet, father of director Sidney Lumet, who decided to help her and took her under his wing. She took acting classes with him as he was founding his Dallas Institute of the Performing Arts. In 1953, on october 22th, she appeared on stage in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman." While at Texas, she won several beauty contests: "Miss Photoflash," "Miss Magnesium Lamp" and "Miss Fire Prevention Week." The one title she turned down was "Miss Roquefort Cheese," because it "just didn't sound right." In 1954, she and her husband moved to Los Angeles and she studied drama at UCLA.

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