Jayne Mansfield - Television Career

Television Career

Mansfield's first leading role on television was with NBC's Sunday Spectacular "The Bachelor" in 1956. In her first appearance on British television in 1957 she recited from Shakespeare (including a line from Hamlet) and played piano and violin. Her notable performances in television dramas included episodes of Burke's Law, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Red Skelton Hour (three episodes), Kraft Mystery Theater and Follow the Sun. Mansfield's performance in her first series Follow the Sun ("The Dumbest Blonde"; Season 1, Episode 21; February 4, 1962; produced by 20th Century Fox Television) was hailed as the advent of a "a new and dramatic Jayne Mansfield". She appeared on a number of game shows including Talk it up, Down You Go (as a regular panelist in), The Match Game (one rare episode has her as a team captain), What's My Line? (as a special mystery guest) and It Pays to Be Ignorant.

She performed in a number of variety shows including The Jack Benny Program (on which she played violin), The Steve Allen Show and The Jackie Gleason Show (during the mid-1960s, when the show was the second-highest-rated program in the U.S.). In November 1957, she was portrayed in one of her nightclub acts in a special episode of The Perry Como Show ("Holiday in Las Vegas"), which created "a situation" for the audience according to NBC, the television station that broadcast the show. She was a guest in three episodes of The Bob Hope Show touring with team. In 1957, she toured United States Pacific Command areas of Hawaii, Okinawa, Guam, Tokyo and Korea with Bob Hope for the United Service Organizations for 13 days appearing as a comedienne; and in 1961, toured Newfoundland, Labrador and Baffin Island for a Christmas special. Her talk show career includes a very large number of talk shows, as she appreciated the publicity and appeared frequently in talk shows. One of her more notable appearances in a talk show was in The Ed Sullivan Show (Season 10, Episode 35; May 26, 1957) right after her success with Rock Hunter. In the show she played violin with a six person back-up. After the show she exclaimed, "Now I am really national. Momma and Dallas see the Ed Sullivan show!"

By 1958, she charged $20,000 per episode for television performance ($161,000 in 2012 dollars). In 1964, Mansfield turned down the role of Ginger Grant on the up-and-coming television sitcom Gilligan's Island, although her acting roles were becoming marginalized, because the part epitomized the stereotype of which she wished to rid herself. The part eventually went to Tina Louise. The widespread rumor that Jayne Mansfield had a breast-flashing dress mishap at the 1957 Academy Awards was found to be baseless by Academy researchers. Ten days before her death, she read To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, a poem by Robert Herrick about early death on The Joey Bishop Show (Mansfield's last television appearance).

As late as the mid-1980s, Mansfield remained one of the biggest television draws. In 1980, The Jayne Mansfield Story aired on CBS starring Loni Anderson in the title role and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mickey Hargitay. It was nominated for three Emmy Awards. She was featured in the A+E Networks TV series Biography in an episode titled Jayne Mansfield: Blonde Ambition. The TV series won an Emmy Award in outstanding non-fiction TV series category in 2001. A&E again featured her life in another TV serial, Dangerous Curves, in 1999. In 1988, her story and archival footage was a part of TV documentary Hollywood Sex Symbols.