Jayne Mansfield holds her daughter Mariska Hargitay. Allan Grant/HBO Closed Subtitles
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Allan Grant/HBO
Emmy Award Winner Law and Order: Special Victims Department In 1967, her movie star mother, Jayne Mansfield, died in a tragic car accident and is now 3 years old. Although she was in the car with her siblings at the time, Hajitai had no memory of the crash and never had the chance to really know her mother.
“One of the things I heard when I grew up was how smart she was, how firm she was, and how wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful sense of humor she had,” Hargitay said.
But the private version of her mother grew up with Hargitay and clashed with Mansfield’s public image as he was a hyper-gender platinum blonde. “When I grew up and started seeing this public image and her pictures, it was all confusing because nothing was in line for what she heard,” Hargitay said.
Hargitay's new documentary, My mom Jayneis an attempt to reconcile the two versions of Mansfield. She likens the filmmaking process to archaeological excavations. Hargitay first reads letters from fans who raised their mother. This allowed her to comb through storage boxes that had not been touched since 1969.
“It was during Covid that I had the time and space to think about all of this and think about her, and ended up with some letters that people wrote to me over the years,” she said. “I had treasures in my hand, these precious memories. So all I did was start to be indifferent to these people.”
Hargitay said throughout the process, she was looking for a glimpse of the woman behind the Hollywood facade, which was behind the five clever mothers who spoke multiple languages and played piano and violin.
“Find those private moments – that's the way I get into her soul,” she said. “I'll find expressions I've never seen before, or just a private idea or a private moment, I'm like, 'You're there.'”
The documentary also uncovers complex truths about Hajiti’s own identity. She grew up thinking that actor and bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay was her father, but the film reveals that her biological father was another man, Nelson Sardelli, was a fact she learned in her 20s in her 20s, but never revealed publicly.
Highlights of the interview
Moving to Los Angeles on Jayne Mansfield, she was a 21-year-old mother at the time
I was fearless and ambitious about what she did, and how overwhelmed she was. She had a plan and decided to do so. And I just think she has a lot of chutzpah, I just don't know what I could have done so much that I would move to another state with my 4 or 5 year old daughter. I was so frustrating and awe of her achievements.
Fake sounds used in her bombshell character Mansfield
I think we all feel this way as my siblings. I think my sister probably knows this better because she is older and she spends more time with my mom, she is with my mom…that artificial, a little bit of a spread sound works, right? So my sister understands it. But for all of us, it's just that I don't think it's true. I think that's scary, right? When our parents are not real, or we hear some kind of wrong voice. For me, someone’s voice has always been where I go in, do I trust them, right? Are they real? So the lack of authenticity and the fact that she is playing this role and making a sound is very disturbing and unbalanced.
It's Hargitay's wake-up call in a motorcycle crash
When I was 34, I had a motorcycle accident. I was behind my friend’s motorcycle and I remember flying through the air when the car hit the motorcycle and I remember going to go – because it all happened in a slow motorcycle – I remember saying, “Oh my god, that’s it, this is my death. I can’t believe I’ll die like my mother at 34.” Then I landed on the asphalt and I said, “I’m still alive, I’m not dead.” That was my moment. …That was me saying, “This cycle is breaking.” I won’t carry it with me. Her life is not mine. I remember being very aware of it, and it was obvious that this accident was a wake-up call to me in some way. …The whole journey has been a long time.
First time meeting her biological father, Nelson Sardelli
I don't know I have such words, but it's like putting you together in the hardest puzzle. I could actually feel my cells exhale inside my body. I'm right, I know something. …I think it’s also the moment when I learn to believe in myself at such a profound level because I always know something and I’m right. …
When I saw Nelson's face- that was mine! …Every feature and everything makes sense, I just feel weird, uncomfortable home.
How the studio system’s abuse of mothers affects Hajitai’s acting career
I just came in from my own point of view, maybe a little armor, and I wasn't that easy, and tried to be as capable as I was at the time, even young, and if there was anything that felt like something that wasn't right for me, I would postpone going back. …I have to do this career the way I do. I decided-that was my motto. If you don't tell me, I'll tell you. Because so many people tell her what to do, people with bad advice, people with no best intentions, and people with disrespect, rude and agenda.
Ann Marie Baldonado and Susan Nyakundi broadcast and edited the interview. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it into the network.