NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, Pa. — On a blustery Saturday afternoon, a handful of friends gathered at Fairview Cemetery in Pen Argyl around a pristine, well-kept gravestone in the shape of a heart.
Author Frank Ferruccio, next to the marker, which stands apart from the surrounding graves worn down by decades of harsh weather, spoke about the star of page, stage, and screen Jayne Mansfield, one of Hollywood’s most remarkable and intriguing actresses.
It’s been 57 years since one of the most recognizable faces of Hollywood died in a tragic car accident, but she still draws fans to her final resting place all those decades later.
Ferruccio has been enamored with the blonde bombshell for years, visiting her grave site on Mansfield’s birthday and death day since 1982. He’s written several books — “Diamonds to Dust: The Life and Death of Jayne Mansfield,” which was also made into a movie, and “Did Success Spoil Jayne Mansfield” — and has gone out of his way to provide a look into the life of a misunderstood starlet.
A chance encounter at Fairview Cemetery
Mansfield’s grave is amid family, including her mother and stepfather, Vera and Harry Peers, and some of her mother’s family, including her aunt, Helen.
“Helen was my best friend, she’s the one that welcomed me into the family,” Ferruccio said.
The pair first met in 1984, Ferruccio said, when he was visiting Mansfield’s grave, and her aunt appeared “in a white Cadillac convertible, which was Jayne’s motif, with the top down… I saw a pink scarf and blonde hair…”
Chatting about the actress for a bit, Ferruccio told Mansfield’s aunt he was a big fan, and the duo enjoyed a get-together sharing Manhattans at Helen’s nearby home. He would make return trips after that to discuss Mansfield and enjoy a few rounds of bridge.
“And I became like the star of the extended family, she called me. And every time I came up here, I would stop there and have lunch with her, take her out,” Ferruccio said.
Thus would begin a personal connection to Mansfield’s family, a lifelong focal point for Ferruccio, who would go to incredible lengths to shine a spotlight on a star he felt saw far less appreciation than she was due.
Over the years, he would speak to family members — he even gifted Mansfield's daughter Mariska Hargitay with a stuffed animal she had when she was a child — to learn of and preserve Mansfield's incredible history.
An obsession is born
Growing up, Ferruccio held a fascination for Marilyn Monroe, which came from watching her movies as a child. Digging through her history, he would find multiple references to Mansfield, which sparked another interest.
“And I was like, ‘Who is this Jane? I was like, ‘What is she about?’ They always talk derogatively about Jane, when it came to Marilyn, that she was an imitator. She was the truck drivers’ version of Marilyn. They belittled her image, and they put Marilyn on this big pedestal,” Ferruccio said.
“So I became very curious, being that I had already read everything I could read about Monroe, there was so little written about [Mansfield] and it was all out of print.”
Over the years, he would connect with various people during his trips from New Jersey to Mansfield’s plot in Pennsylvania. He met a man he would consider as a mentor, who would offer him looks into his archives of movie costumes, correspondence, and more.
Ferruccio would amass countless artifacts and stories on his muse, building up a more complete story of Mansfield’s life, and leading to his own original output on the actress.
“She led her life like she knew it was going to be over fast, because how many women can become an international star – because she wasn't just a star here, she was a star in every country in the world? And she made 29 movies. She had five children. She was married three times. At the time that she died she was basically a multimillionaire.”Frank Ferruccio
In the years since, Ferruccio has built a network of people who honor the life of Mansfield for better and worse, respecting the incredible work of a woman who only had a limited time to make a monumental impact on the world of entertainment.
It’s a connection Ferruccio values greatly to this day, and one he hopes will continue onward, well into the future.
“She led her life like she knew it was going to be over fast, because how many women can become an international star — because she wasn't just a star here, she was a star in every country in the world? And she made 29 movies. She had five children. She was married three times. At the time that she died she was basically a multimillionaire,” Ferruccio said.
History of a Hollywood star
Born in Bryn Mawr on April 19, 1933, Mansfield was raised in Phillipsburg until the age of six. Mansfield aimed to become a star like Shirley Temple, studying ballroom dancing, music, languages, and more. She married her first husband, Paul Mansfield — whose last name she would keep as a professional name — with whom she had her first daughter, Jayne.
Mansfield went on to study acting at Southern Methodist University, before taking a semester at UCLA and then a stint at the University of Texas at Austin.
During that time, Mansfield won multiple beauty contests, which helped facilitate her career in theater. In the mid-1950s, she appeared as Playboy’s “Playmate of the Month,” which would provide a substantial boost to her career.
By that time, Mansfield started picking up roles in film, but the role which would catapult her to the stars came when she took the role of Rita Marlowe in the Broadway play “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?”
She would reprise the role on film in 1957, before starring in other big pictures including “The Girl Can’t Help It,” “The Wayward Bus,” “Too Hot to Handle,” and “Promises! Promises!”
And while she was often relegated to being a back-up “dumb blonde” for the notably difficult-to-work-with Marilyn Monroe, Mansfield was something of a genius herself.
According to Ferruccio, Mansfield had an IQ of 163 and was able to speak five languages, though the star was known to lament “They’re more interested in 40-21-35,” indicating her measurements.
She would later marry performer Mickey Hargitay, with whom she had children Miklós, Zoltán, and Mariska. Mariska would go on to star in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Her final marriage was to film director Matt Cimber, with whom she had a son, prior to her tragic death.
One of the most oft-repeated misconceptions about Mansfield revolves around her death, Ferruccio said. It’s become something of a Hollywood legend that she was beheaded in a car accident when she was headed from a performance in Biloxi, Mississippi to New Orleans, where she was set to appear in a production of the Midday Show.
While she did suffer head trauma, Ferruccio said, the rumor appeared to stem from photos of the traffic accident scene showing the Buick she, her husband, and a club employee were driving in. The car’s top portion had been practically sheared off, and in at least one image, it looks like a wig or some other material was caught in the windshield.
Her passing sparked intense debate over her final resting place, Ferruccio said, though ultimately it was decided she should rest close to family.
“They were all fighting for her body. Matt wanted her buried in Hollywood, Mickey wanted her here because she said when they first came up here to visit her grandparents, Jane said she wanted to be up here. So that's what he went by. And then Mickey designed this heart shaped stone. It was the only one in here. And then through the years, I've noticed people copying and doing smaller versions of the heart,” Ferruccio said.
A fellowship of appreciation
“I think it's great. You know, it's wonderful when that pressure is taken off of the family themselves to come out, take care of a gravestone, memories and things like that."Kelly Marmol
Kelly Marmol said Ferruccio has been a longtime friend, and over the years, his obsession with Jayne has passed on to her.
“I think it's great. You know, it's wonderful when that pressure is taken off of the family themselves to come out, take care of a gravestone, memories and things like that,” Marmol said.
“And I think it's great that Frank has taken that on for them and is also trying to keep her memory alive for many years to come.”
Stephen Ballschmieder came out to the site with Ferruccio on Saturday as well, joining Ferruccio in decorating Mansfield’s grave in remembrance of an incredible figure.
“Normally we lay out flowers onto the grave. We knew other people were going to be here today, so we came out to lay down some more flowers and meet up with everyone else,” Ballschmieder said.
Gary Reider said he had also come out to support Ferruccio and pay homage to Mansfield, a film star he remembered fondly from his youth. And thanks to fans like Ferruccio, Reider is still able to honor and appreciate one of his favorite artists to this very day, 57 years after she passed away.
“I remember the day she died, back in ’67. We were coming home from the shore and it was announced. And she was my dad's favorite star. I frankly didn't know she was buried here, until I was married. My wife lived in Nazareth. She brought me up here, and I couldn't believe that she would be buried here. I've been coming since,” Reider said.
