Loni Anderson as 1950s and 1960s screen siren Jayne Mansfield and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Jayne's second husband (and "Mr. Universe 1955") Mickey Hargitay in the CBS/Dick Lowry bio-pic The Jayne Mansfield Story, originally broadcast on October 29th, 1980. A rating's hit, the TV movie earned three Emmy nominations for hair, makeup and costume design. Loni, however, who uncannily nailed Mansfield's over the top screen persona while also managing to humanize her, was unfortunately snubbed. Taking the role very seriously, she spoke with a number of people who knew and worked with Jayne, including talk show host Merv Griffin, Hollywood journalist James Bacon, and producer/director Jay Sandrich. This scene, which took place at the time of Jayne's initial Hollywood success in 1957, was fraught with foreshadowing, warning of her tragic death at the age of 34 in a horrific car accident ten years later. Jayne and Mickey were the parents of Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay, who was also in the car that took her mother's life with two of her brothers on the night she died. Only three years old at the time, she thankfully has no recollection of the accident (which her brothers, who were older, unfortunately do), though she bears a scar on her cheek from being trapped under the front seat following the crash. (Side-note: Mariska was conceived while Jayne and Mickey were separated and Jayne had an affair with Italian singer Nelson Sardelli; when Jayne and Mickey briefly reunited while she was pregnant, it was announced that Mickey was Mariska's father to prevent Jayne from being involved in a scandal, and Mariska didn't learn about or meet her biological father until thirty years later after being raised by Mickey and his new wife following Jayne's demise.) To this day, Mariska keeps a photo of Jayne on her Law & Order character Olivia Benson's desk, with Jayne representing Olivia's mother. Loni Anderson stated in a 2021 interview with Canadian podcast host (and Canada's first openly LGBTQ+ Judge) Harvey Brownstone that shortly after she starred in this movie, Jayne's daughter Mariska visited her on the set of Loni's TV series WKRP in Cincinnati and they spoke at length about Jayne, with Mariska, who only had a few vague memories of her mother, telling Loni that her portrayal and interpretation of Mansfield's personality helped her to feel closer to her late mom, a touching observation which Anderson found both flattering and deeply moving. Loni and Mariska later worked together in the TV movie Gambler V: Playing for Keeps in 1994, with Anderson recalling that when Mariska blew a line, she'd look at Loni and good-naturedly crack: "Mother, where were you when I needed you?" Though Mickey Hargitay met with Arnold Schwarzenegger during production of The Jayne Mansfield Story, he refused to meet with Loni, finding her resemblance to Jayne too painful of a reminder at the time. In a lovely gesture, Mariska surprised Loni while making Gambler V by bringing her father to the set and introducing him to Anderson, with Mickey telling her that he approved of her portrayal of his late wife. Loni also recalled during her interview with Brownstone that Hollywood legend Cary Grant (Anderson's favorite actor and Jayne's co-star in the 1957 movie Kiss Them for Me) introduced himself to her at a Variety Club dinner for Frank Sinatra in 1983 and complimented her interpretation of Jayne, telling her: "I loved The Jayne Mansfield Story. I knew her, you know, I did a movie with her", going on to say that Jayne was a lovely person, funny, easy to work with, very smart, but that she'd unfortunately gotten "tied up in this image that she created".
