My Mom Jayne

It’s curiously ironic that the search to learn more about a loved one you barely knew turns out to be a journey of discovery about oneself. Nevertheless, such was the case for actress Marisla Hargitay, daughter of screen legend Jayne Mansfield (1933-1967), who directed this revealing new HBO documentary about her relationship (or lack thereof) with the famous mother she lost in a tragic car accident when she was only three years old. Mansfield, one of the most visible movie idols of the 1950s and ʼ60s, was molded by the Hollywood star-making system into one of the era’s prototypical blond...

My Mom Jayne (2025) reminds me of Stewie Griffin’s suggesting that, while they’re not actually related, Brad Pitt being John Lithgow’s nephew sounds like something that could be true. Discovering that Mariska Hargitay is Jayne Mansfield’s daughter kind of has the opposite effect.

First, there’s the apparent lack of physical resemblance. Then, there’s the antithetical career paths. Mansfield was a celebrity, a movie star, a sex symbol. Hargitay is a workmanlike television actress with a familiar face to a niche audience and a lowish profile that allows her to escape the extremes ...