Jayne Mansfield’s Death And The Chihuahuas That Survived

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90 – March, 2025

By Amy Fernandez

Two things: Americans never shake this weird fascination with headline tragedies. The Titanic…although it hit that iceberg 100+ years ago, we never stop revisiting that sad story. The other thing is that dog people, although not immune to that other obsession, reflexively seek out the dog element of the story. It’s true. I bet a lot of us can name every single dog–never mind the specific breeds–that went down on April 15, 1912.

Getting more specific, the horrifying death of Jayne Mansfield is another story that ranks right up there with permanent national obsessions. Chihuahuas had become part of the Jayne Mansfield legacy long before this horrific tragedy. Back in the day, every celebrity rag featured photos of the curvaceous blond toting a Chihuahua. Mansfield may be thoroughly embedded in popular culture but she generally doesn’t come up within the context of our little world. And that’s the great thing about this dog biz, the connections are always there–if you look.

On June 29, 1967 Mansfield was on her way from Biloxi after a performance when her car collided with a semi. It was gruesome. All three adults in the car were killed. Three of her children, including the now famous Mariska Hargitay, survived along with some of the Chihuahuas. And those Chihuahuas were English imports. And from our perspective, the key piece of that story is the Chihuahuas. You must wonder how and why Jayne Mansfield ended up with Chihuahuas from England when there were countless domestic sources throughout the country.

Just in case anyone fell off the truck yesterday, Jayne Mansfield was born in 1933 and in 1954 she arrived in Hollywood determined to make her name. Blond and super hot, she definitely fit the image of the day. However, Mansfield was anything but a proverbial dumb blond. She had an IQ of 164. She was in the right time and place to capitalize on her looks. She played to her strengths and she was a media delight. Her career choices could be called daring­–or shocking–but they did the trick. Reporters followed her every move.

Click here to read the complete article
90 – March, 2025

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Posted by AnthonyA on Mar 9 2025. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.