Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 - June 29, 1967) was an American film, theater, and television actress. She was also a nightclub entertainer, a singer, and one of the early Playboy Playmates. She was a major Hollywood sex symbol during the 1950s and early 1960s, while under contract at 20th Century Fox. She was also known for her well-publicized personal life and publicity stunts, such as wardrobe malfunctions.
Although Mansfield's film career was short-lived, she had several box-office successes and won a Theatre World Award and a Golden Globe. She enjoyed success in the role of fictional actress Rita Marlowe, both in the 1955-1956 Broadway version and the 1957 Hollywood film version of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Her other major movie performances were in The Girl Can't Help It (1956), The Wayward Bus (1957), and Too Hot to Handle (1960). In the sexploitation film Promises! Promises! (1963), she became the first major American actress to have a nude starring role in a Hollywood motion picture.