Mariska Hargitay seeks out the reality about mother Jayne Mansfield : NPR

Jayne Mansfield holds her daughter Mariska Hargitay.

Allan Grant/HBO

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Allan Grant/HBO

Emmy Award-winning Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actor Mariska Hargitay was simply 3 years previous in 1967 when her film star mom, Jayne Mansfield, died in a tragic automotive crash. Though she and her siblings had been within the automotive on the time, Hargitay has no reminiscence of the crash, and by no means had the possibility to actually know her mom.

“One of the things that I grew up hearing is how smart she was, how determined she was, and what a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful sense of humor she had,” Hargitay says.

But the non-public model of her mom that Hargitay grew up with conflicted sharply with Mansfield’s public picture as a hyper-sexualized, platinum blonde starlet. “As I got older and started to see sort of this public image and the photos of her, it was all very confusing, because nothing lined up with what I had heard about her,” Hargitay says.

Hargitay’s new documentary, My Mom Jayne, is an try to reconcile these two variations of Mansfield. She likens the filmmaking course of to an archeological dig. Hargitay began by studying letters from her followers who introduced up her mom. And that lead her to combing by means of storage packing containers that hadn’t been touched since 1969.

“It was during COVID when I had the time and space to think about all of this, and think about her, and finally face some of the letters and that people had written me over the years,” she says. “I was holding treasures in my hand, these precious memories. And so what I did is I started cold-calling these people.”

Throughout all of it, Hargitay says she was trying to find glimpses of the girl behind the Hollywood façade, the sensible mom of 5 who spoke a number of languages and performed the piano and violin.

“Finding those private moments — those were my ways into her, into her soul,” she says. “I would catch an expression that I never saw or just a private thought or a private moment, and I would be like, ‘there you are.'”

The documentary additionally reveals an advanced fact about Hargitay’s personal id; she was raised believing actor and bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay was her father, however the movie reveals that her organic father is one other man, Nelson Sardelli — a reality she realized in her in her 20s, however by no means revealed publicly.

Interview highlights

On Jayne Mansfield transferring to LA to pursue performing when she was a 21-year-old mom

I’m so in awe of what she did, of how fearless she was and the way formidable she was, and the way undeterred she was. She had a plan and determined she was going to do it. And I simply assume she had a lot chutzpah and I simply do not know that I may have completed that, that I’d have moved to a distinct state … with my 4-year-old or 5-year-old daughter. I simply am so actually flabbergasted and in awe by what she achieved.

On the faux voice Mansfield utilized in her bombshell persona 

I feel all of us felt that approach by way of my siblings. I feel my sister could have understood it extra as a result of she was older and she or he received extra alone time with my mother and she or he was with my Mom earlier than … that synthetic, kind of put-on voice got here into play, proper? So my sister, I feel, understood it. But for all of us, it was simply one thing that I simply did not assume it was actual. And that, I feel, is frightening, proper? When our dad and mom aren’t being actual, or we hear some form of false voice. For me, the tone of any individual’s voice has all the time been like, the place I’m going in, do I belief them or not, proper? Are they genuine or not? So the dearth of authenticity and the truth that she was taking part in this position and doing a voice was simply very unsettling and unbalanced me.

On the motorbike crash that served as a wake-up name for Hargitay

At 34, I used to be in a bike accident. And I used to be on the again of a pal’s motorbike and I bear in mind when the automotive hit the motorbike, I went flying by means of the air and I remembered going — as a result of all of it occurred in slow-mo — and I remembering going, “Oh my God, this is it, this how I’m going to die. I can’t believe I’m going to die at 34 like my mother.” And then I landed on the asphalt, and I stated, “I’m alive, and I’m not dying.” And that was my a-ha second. … That is after I stated, “this cycle is breaking now.” I can’t carry this with me. Her life is just not my life. And I bear in mind very cognizant of this, being very clear that this accident was in some way some form of wake-up name to me. … This entire journey has been a very long time coming.

On assembly her organic father, Nelson Sardelli, for the primary time

I do not know that I’ve the phrases for it, nevertheless it was like placing in that remaining piece of the toughest puzzle you’ve got ever put collectively. I may really really feel my cells in my physique exhale. It was such an affirmation that I used to be proper, that I knew one thing. … I feel it was the second too that I realized to belief myself on such a deep stage as a result of I all the time knew one thing and I used to be proper. …

When I noticed Nelson’s face — that is my face! … Every single characteristic and every part made sense and I simply felt unusually, uncomfortably house.

On how the studio system’s mistreatment of her mom impacted Hargitay’s strategy to her personal performing profession

I simply went in with a bit little bit of my very own standpoint and had a bit little bit of armor, possibly, and I wasn’t as accommodating, and tried to examine with myself as a lot as I used to be succesful on the time, even being younger, the place if one thing did not really feel proper to me, I’d push again. … I had to do that profession of mine my approach. And I resolve — that is been my motto. If you do not inform me, I inform you. Because so many individuals informed her what to do, and folks with dangerous recommendation, and folks with not one of the best intentions, and people who had been disrespectful, and impolite, and had an agenda.

Ann Marie Baldonado and Susan Nyakundi produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey tailored it for the online.