Jayne Mansfield, a famous actress and blonde bombshell, is instantaneously murdered on June 29, 1967, when the vehicle she is riding in collides with a trailer truck on U.S. Route 90 east of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Mansfield had a television appearance arranged on the following day and was traveling to New Orleans from Biloxi, Mississippi, where she was doing a standing engagement at a local nightclub. Three of Mansfield’s children with her ex-husband Mickey Hargitay were traveling with her and Samuel S. Brody, her lawyer and companion, in Stevens’ 1966 Buick Electra, which was being driven by Ronald B. Harrison, a driver for the Gus Stevens Dinner Club. The Electra struck the trailer-truck from behind as it was traveling along a dark section of road, maybe hidden from Harrison’s view by a machine spraying a dense white fog to ward off mosquitoes.
In the accident, Mansfield, Harrison, and Brody all perished. Mickey, who was eight years old, Zoltan, who was six, and Marie, or Mariska, who was three, all appeared to have been sleeping in the back seat; all were hurt but lived.
Vera Jayne Palmer, better known as Mansfield, was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and moved to Hollywood as a young bride and mother (of Jayne Marie) in 1954 with the goal of becoming an actor. She didn’t hesitate to showcase her best features right away, in particular her curvy body, her flowing platinum blonde hair, and her radiant smile. She attracted attention when she was cast in the Broadway comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? as a beautiful, gullible blonde movie actress; in one well-known scene, she was seen wearing nothing but a white towel.
She made a notable naked appearance in the 1963 comedy Promises! Promises!, and stills from the scene were featured in Playboy magazine. However, most people agree that her best performance was in the 1957 film The Wayward Bus with Joan Collins, which was based on the John Steinbeck novel. Although she only appeared in a handful of forgettable movies, she excelled in the movie star role off-screen and rose to become one of the era’s most recognizable glamour girls.