Acting Career
Hargitay's first film role came when Jayne Mansfield demanded he be cast in her newest film, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957). The two met the year before at The Mae West Show at the Latin Quarter. When Jayne noticed Mickey performing, she told the waiter, "I’ll have a steak and that tall man on the left." The two fell head over heels in love and were never seen apart. 20th Century Fox didn't want Hargitay in Rock Hunter, because they hated that Mansfield saw Hargitay as her "only" lover. Fox liked their sex symbols to be single. But when Jayne told the studio that she would turn the film down, they gave in and allowed Hargitay to appear in a bit part.
In 1960, Jayne and Mickey would have the lead roles in The Loves of Hercules. The film was shot in Italy, and to this day hasn't been released in US movie theaters. Over the next few years Mickey and Jayne, together, would appear in, Promises! Promises! (1963) and L'Amore Primitivo (1964). In 1965, Mickey, only, would have the lead role in Bloody Pit of Horror. There was a part in the film written for Mansfield, but, the two divorced before filming on the feature began.
He also acted in Hungarian director György Szomjas' 1988 film, Mr. Universe.
Hargitay's final acting appearance was in an episode of his daughter Mariska's series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In the episode "Control", Hargitay played a man on a subway station escalator who witnesses the aftermath of a brutal assault. Mariska's character, Olivia Benson, is later seen interviewing him.
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