Mariska Hargitay is known to TV fans as the longtime lead, Olivia Benson, on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, but now get to know the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actress-producer as a director, with her documentary debut My Mom Jayne, premiering tonight on HBO and Max.
Debuting Friday, June 27 at 8pm Eastern Time, My Mom Jayne is centered on Hargitay's complicated relationship with her mother, Hollywood legend Jayne Mansfield—the actress and sex symbol behind such mid-century favorites as Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, The Girl Can't Help It, The Wayward Bus and Too Hot to Handle—who died at the age of 34 in a horrific car crash when Mariska was only three-and-a-half years old. Hargitay was in the vehicle with her two siblings during the crash, but the children survived.
"Mariska Hargitay searches for the mother she never knew almost six decades after the Hollywood legend’s tragic death," reads the official doc synopsis, per HBO. "Through intimate interviews and an extensive collection of never-before-seen photos and home movies, she grapples with her mother’s complicated public and private legacy, uncovering the surprising layers and depth of who Jayne was, not only to her fans, but also to those closest to her."
"Featuring film clips from Jayne’s work in the 1950s and ‘60s, archival footage from her many talk show appearances and interviews, as well as striking personal footage, the film contextualizes the dazzling star power of the most photographed Hollywood celebrity of her day," per HBO. The deeply personal film also includes intel directly from Mariska’s siblings Jayne Marie Mansfield, Mickey Hargitay, Jr., Zoltan Hargitay, and Tony Cimber, as well as stepmother Ellen Hargitay and Jayne Mansfield’s press secretary Raymond “Rusty” Strait.
As for why she wanted to explore such an intimate and painful topic via documentary, Hargitay told The Hollywood Reporter: "The moment that I decided was during COVID. I had, obviously, been carrying the story with me for a long time. When I started thinking about how I don’t want to carry this anymore, I thought, “Should I write a book? Do I do a segment on Oprah? What do I do?” At the time, I was thinking this needed somebody who’s skilled and masterful at affairs of the heart, because this was such a delicate story...I don’t know that I’m a skilled enough writer [to write a book]. Documentary is just my medium. It’s a medium that speaks to me, and I love filmmaking. This is what I need to do."
Check out the official trailer for My Mom Jayne before tuning into the gripping new doc on HBO or Max.
