Mariska Hargitay, star of TV’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” for 26 seasons and counting, leads a different kind of investigation in the HBO documentary “My Mom Jayne.”
An Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actress, Hargitay makes her feature film directorial debut with the documentary, telling an acutely personal story through an investigator’s truth-seeking lens and a motherless child’s longing to know the mother she does not remember.
The daughter of 1950s and ’60s movie star and sex symbol Jayne Mansfield, Hargitay was 3 years old when her mother was killed in a horrific 1967 car crash. The accident happened during an overnight drive from Biloxi, Mississippi, to New Orleans, instantly killing the three adults in the vehicle’s front seat. Hargitay and her brothers, Mickey Jr., 8, and Zoltan, 6, all sleeping in the backseat, survived.
Actress Mariska Hargitay sits amid memorabilia connected to her mother, 1950s and ’60s movie star Jayne Mansfield.
“My Mom Jayne” presents Hargitay’s first-person account of her tragically ended relationship with her mother and the complex family history they share. Echoing her TV character, sex crimes detective Olivia Benson, Hargitay’s intimate inquiry is both sensitive and direct. The film includes Mansfield’s up-and-down career, three marriages and affair with the Italian cabaret entertainer Hargitay didn’t know was her biological father until she was 25 years old.
“I was so angry at my mother for hurting my father (Mickey Hargitay Sr.) and leaving me so alone and untethered,” she confesses.
Hargitay gathers a small but essential group of interviewees, including her oldest half-sibling, Jayne Marie Mansfield, and older half-brothers Mickey Jr. and Zoltan.
Mickey Hargitay Jr., from left, Mariska Hargitay, Jayne Marie Mansfield and Zoltan Hargitay share a moment in 'My Mom Jayne.'
“You have all these memories,” she tells them. “I’m envious of that.”
Jayne Marie Mansfield, born when her mother was 17 years old, gives her half-sister Hargitay the richest memories, while the much younger half-brothers offer impressionistic recollections. The children’s stepmother, Ellen Hargitay, and, Mansfield’s 101-year-old press secretary, Raymond Strait, share their memories, too.
Hargitay and her editor, J.D. Marlow, effectively exploit a cache of family photos and home movies and the abundant archival film of perhaps the most photographed woman of her time. Mansfield’s allure lights movie scenes and TV appearances with Groucho Marx, Ed Sullivan, Edward R. Murrow, Jack Paar and Merv Griffin.
Jayne Mansfield was perhaps the most photographed woman of her time.
“My Mom Jayne” begins with a montage of Mansfield’s life in the brightest of spotlights. The flashy intro segues to a clip from a chaotic 1966 episode of “The Merv Griffin Show.” Despite the family circus around her mother — four children, incontinent dogs and third husband — little Mariska, aka Maria, steals the show. Losing control of his show, Griffin admonishes 2-year-old Mariska: “Listen, get your own show, darling.”
Like her mother, Hargitay studied acting seriously before launching her career. Avoiding the typecasting Mansfield experienced, she took small roles, including her film debut in 1984’s “Ghoulies,” before playing the recurring character in TV’s “ER” that led to her starring role in “Law & Order: SVU.”
Evidence being essential to any investigation, Hargitay finds long-unexplored material in Mickey Hargitay Sr.’s storage unit. Mansfield’s marriage to the Hungarian-born actor and former Mr. Universe was her longest and, apparently, most loving.
Giovanna Sardelli, left, and Pietra Sardelli, center, participate in their half-sister Mariska Hargitay's documentary about her mother, 'My Mom Jayne.'
“She always had me,” he says in a 1989 interview. “She knew that, but it seems like, at times, it wasn’t enough.”
On the last day of her life, Mansfield spoke with second husband Hargitay by phone 90 minutes before her speeding New Orleans-bound entourage lodged beneath a tractor-trailer on U.S. 90 near Slidell. He told her during the call he was flying to New Orleans to be with her and the children.
Though Mickey Hargitay Sr. is beloved by Mariska Hargitay, “My Mom Jayne” reveals that he, contrary to his claim until his death, is not her biological father. Her loyalty to him compelled her to suppress the identity of her biological father for 35 years.
“Sometimes keeping a secret doesn’t honor anyone,” she says of her change of heart.
More revelations come with appearances by Hargitay’s biological father, Nelson Sardelli, and his daughters. Hargitay embraces the meeting as part of a healing process, helping her replace the decades of loss, anger and shame she felt about her mother with understanding and forgiveness.
