Jayne Mansfield claimed to have an IQ of 163. She spoke 5 languages.

[jobycom]

She was a classically trained pianist and violinist. She was the mother of Mariska Hargitay, who was in the back seat when Jayne was killed in a car crash a few miles from where I lived at the time.

I learned all this because my mother is randomly emailing me information about her. No idea why, but I hope it is not related to my teaching my teenager to drive now.

[XemaSab]

1. Yet she is remembered for being stacked

:shrug:

[Drunken Irishman]

3. Well she was and that we could actually see. ;)

[merh]

4. from wiki

<3> Mansfield admitted her public didn't care about her brains. "They're more interested in 40-21-35," she said.<4>

[ReliantJ]

5. and that picture. Is it her head?

[jobycom]

8. The beautiful and (incidentally and barely worth mentioning) talented Jayne Mansfield.

Mariska speaks five languages, too, in case anyone cares.

[Drunken Irishman]

2. Was her brain in her boobs?

[jobycom]

9. If it were, it might have survived the accident.

[FloridaJudy]

6. Hedy Lamarr was a brilliant scientist

One of her inventions revolutionized telecommunications. She was also the first woman to appear nude in a mainstream movie.

Fascinating woman. http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Lamarr_Hedy.html

[Skittles]

7. she was fascinating INDEED

:thumbsup:

[enigmatic]

10. Hedy Lamarr was my first crush

One of the local TV stations in Cleveland used to show all-night movies when I was growing up and "Extasy" was one they showed often (uncut, too). What an amazing woman.

[FloridaJudy]

12. My family wasn't much for movies

And we didn't have a TV when I was growing up, so I only heard of her as Bob Hope's dim side-kick.

When I later read about her life, I was amazed. Why the hell no one's ever made a movie out of her biography baffles me. It's got everything: sex, political intrigue, and a daring escape from the Nazis. Of course, the casting would be really tricky.

[enigmatic]

13. I don't know who could play her

I'm drawing a blank on who could pull it off; maybe an unknown..

[LisaM]

86. Natalie Portman

She looks a lot like that picture.

[PassingFair]

18. Catherine Zeta Jones....

or Alyssa Milano for the Lifetime version.

[rurallib]

23. I think you've mixed Hedy Lamar and Dorothy Lamour

[FloridaJudy]

48. No. Lamar was also in some popular film

Opposite Hope. That creep got all the lookers...

[rurallib]

50. I liked Hope.

[Robeson]

11. Absolutely. Thanks for bringing this up....

...:thumbsup:

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

15. That's "Hedley" you idiot!!!11!!

I want rustlers, cutthroats, murders, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con-men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglars, horse thieves, bull-dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, sh**-kickers, and Methodists!

Bart: Mongo, why would Hedley Lamarr care about "where the choo-choo go"?
Mongo: Don't know. Mongo only pawn in game of life.

[bmbmd]

16. That's HEDLEY!

nt....

[msanthrope]

20. "That's HEDLEY!!!!"

Sorry. Saw Blazing Saddles again last night........

on edit---beaten to the punch...by over an hour...

[pokerfan]

27. She came up with frequency-hopping, a form of spread spectrum

Learned about her from my EE studies at college.

[MrSlayer]

14. Many people link her unfortunate decapitation to LaVey.

Apparently she was heavily involved with he and the Church of Satan. Just as an aside.

[Maine-ah]

21. she wasn't decapitated

she was basically scalped.

This website is not for the squeemish.

http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/m/Mansfield/jayne_mansfield.htm

[msanthrope]

25. great website (goes into favortites)

[peekaloo]

17. Did you ever see that really bad tee vee movie about her life?

The Governator kept calling her "Jaynes". :dunce:

[Left Is Write]

19. I saw that movie...

"Hideous" about sums it up.

[Flaxbee]

53. the one with Loni Anderson as Jayne?

We got it a few months ago from Big Lots for $2 ... my husband has a fondness for horrible movies, and it was horrible :)

[Left Is Write]

54. Yes, that's the one. Ahhhnold plays Mickey Hargitay.

[Auggie]

22. We need a pic:

[baldguy]

60. .

[DS1]

65. Reminds me of Kim Kardashian

[Shell Beau]

24. Some people have it all. Looks, smarts, and beautiful children.

But then she had a tragic accident.

[jobycom]

26. Her career was on the skids. She was washed up at 34.

These days actresses are just hitting their stride at 34, getting those prime roles as eye-candy girlfriends for men their fathers' ages.

She had three failed marriages, and was playing a dinner club in Biloxi, MS.

It just occured to me that she would have driven right past my house going from Biloxi to New Orleans, half an hour before she was killed. Probably less. I would have been two. Mildly interesting. I wonder if that has anything to do with my mother sending me all this. :shrug:

[Shell Beau]

28. Well I guess I am learning as much about her as you are!!!

Interesting that she drove by your house hours before her death!

[jobycom]

30. Less than hours. More like twenty minutes.

We lived on Hwy 90 in Bay St. Louis, about 25 miles from where she was killed.

[Shell Beau]

33. Wow! Are you still in that area? I remember you saying you were

on the coast. I love Bay St. Louis.

[jobycom]

35. No, I'm in Austin. We moved to Gulfport after Camille.

Then up to Saucier, where my parents still live. Most of my relatives are there or in New Orleans. I get back every other month or so.

I never knew whether you were on the Coast or an upstater?

[Shell Beau]

37. I grew up in the delta. So I am technically an upstater I suppose.

But now I am around the Jackson area.

[jobycom]

39. Everybody north of the coast are upstaters. Yankees, we used to call y'all.

:rofl:

Justin Wilson used to say a Yankee was anyone born up north, around Baton Rouge.

[DevonRex]

66. Me, too. What town?

[Shell Beau]

70. Brandon/Flowood

[DevonRex]

76. Check your PMs. :)

[jobycom]

81. Where in the Delta?

[merh]

44. Don't down play Gus Stevens Supper Club, it was a hot spot

Plenty of performers played the club, Andy Griffith, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jayne Mansfield, Rudy Vallee, Mel Torme, Elvis. It was part of the coast's colorful past. (Illegal gambling went on in the lounge, but then again, most clubs on the strip conducted illegal gambling.)

It was a special place -- my father used to take us to dinner on our birthdays and we would go to Gus Stevens, order what we wanted including a Shirley Temple or two - it was just a special dinner with daddy.

FYI - the driver killed in the wreck, Ronnie Harrison, was involved with Gus' daughter, Elaine and impregnated her. After the wreck and his death, Gus, the very forceful Greek father sent Elaine to a home for unwed mothers and made Elaine give the child up for adoption. Mother and daughter found each other in 2000.

Oh, and before Katrina, I used to have a photo of Jayne Mansfield on the Ship Island pier, my father took it with a poloraid when we ran into her on a trip to the island.

[jobycom]

45. I know nothing about him or the club.

I guess I was too young, and my parents weren't the club-going types. Where was the place? When did it close? And was the Polaroid of Mansfield from the same trip, or did she visit the coast more often?

I knew where she had been killed--we drove that highway a lot when I was a kid, so it came up now and then. But I guess I didn't know all the rest of it.

[merh]

47. I was almost 7 when she died

I do recall the supper club since it was special for daddy to take us for a private dinner and shirley temples on our birthdays. All dressed up and going on a date with daddy.

Before Katrina I could tell you where the club once was, now my landmarks are all gone so I get confused.

Do you remember that sovereign shop on the north side of the highway in biloxi, not far from the huge pink T-Shirt City sovereign store on the beach side of 90? I believe Gus Stevens was once on that corner.

As best that I recall, the photo of Jayne Mansfield on the Ship Island pier was from when she arrived in town, the photo shoots they did to promote her appearance.

Biloxi had a very colorful past, Dixie Mafia, illegal gambling, etc.

[jobycom]

51. I think so. Around the amusement park and the Flamingo Motel?

There wasn't much south of 90, other than that area, that I recall. There was a bar that the airmen hung out at, right past the pink place I think you're talking about, and a bend in the highway, then a long, dark section of beach. I think. When I was ten my best friend's family ran the Flamingo, and I used to stay over there.

Found this picture on Googlemaps. Is that the one? That would place it around Veterans or McDonnel? (I googlemapped, I don't remember that well):

[merh]

52. I think that was it.

Yes, it was Veterans and 90

Biloxi's next casino project could be at the old Gus Stevens location. RW Development wants to build the Gold Coast Resort at the foot of Highway 90 and Veterans Avenue.

Here are some cool images
http://www.geocities.com/twincousin2334/NO_GusStevens.html




This video contains the news footage about the accident - at the end of the video is Jayne Mansfield playing the violin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCw8o05uApk&eurl=http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/m/Mansfield/jayne_mansfield.htm

[pokerfan]

29. Lise Meitner is probably not as well known

though Element #109 is named after her. She got screwed out of a 1944 Nobel Prize (or even a share of it).



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Meitner

[redqueen]

31. Nice to know about her... thank you for posting that.

:)

[pokerfan]

34. Hedy and Lise were both from Vienna

so when I hear one I usually think of the other. As was Bertha von Suttner, the first female Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

[redqueen]

42. I'm glad you mentioned her.

I like to talk up the notable women in science to my girls. They both love science, and I want them to know they shouldn't listen to anyone who says that old stuff people used to say about girls and science. I hope they're not still saying it... but, just in case... :)

[pokerfan]

84. I do the same with my nieces

I don't push them one direction or the other but I do want them to know that all options are open.

Another nice list here: http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/timeline_Women_in_science_and_engineering.html">Women in science and engineering.

[jobycom]

32. Was she killed near my house? No. Was my mother sending me late night emails

about her? No. WTF?

Interesting person, though.

[pokerfan]

36. A brief bio as an alternative to the wiki entry

Born in Vienna, Meitner was invited to work with physicist Otto Hahn in Berlin but was refused access to his laboratory because she was a woman. She was forced to occupy a broom cupboard instead. In 1934, Hahn and she began experiments bombarding uranium with neutrons with puzzling results. Only later, when working with her nephew Otto Frisch did she realize that what they had actually done was split the uranium nucleus. She was forced to leave Germany by the Nazis in 1938 and fled to Sweden, barely escaping with her life. Meitner recognized there could be a chain reaction causing a huge explosion. In 1939, she and Frisch published a paper describing the process they called nuclear fission. Edward Teller and others who realized its potential as a weapon, persuaded Einstein to write and warn President Roosevelt. This led to the establishment of the Manhattan Project but Meitner refused an offer to work on it at Los Alamos, saying "I will have nothing to do with a bomb!" In possibly the most egregious example of a scientist being overlooked for a Nobel, it was Hahn who received the prize for the discovery of nuclear fission, not Meitner.

http://www.womeninscience.co.uk/bios.php?id=30&comments=0&action=show

[jobycom]

46. Thanks.

One of the most interesting hijacks I've seen. Thanks. :)

[qwertyMike]

87. Rosemary Brown, Crystallographer

handed Crick and Watson the double helix structure of DNA.

They cashed in with the Nobel.
She barely got a mention.

There is a site somewhere about women scientists scorned for the Nobel.

Among the men the worst was Charles Best. Banting got it (deservedly) for the isolation of insulin but he thought Best had been co-nominated but he wasn't since he was only a 1st year medical student and did the actual isolation from dog pancreas.
In those days the nominations were not known to anyone and they were only notified after being awarded the prize.
To his credit Banting shared half the substantial prize money. But he never got over the snub.

I had the pleasure of 'working' with Best in 1972 as a young chemist. Genius!!!

Now, back to Jayne . . . . .

[GoddessOfGuinness]

79. If only she'd gotten breast enlargement surgery and died her hair blond

[DS1]

38. ^ would hit it like the fist of God

[jobycom]

40. Who's ^ ?

[DS1]

41. ME

and HIM

[jobycom]

43. HE

looks disturbingly like me... :cry:

Seems like she's a bit dusty for your tastes... These days....

[Deep13]

74. What? Who's fisting God?

:shrug:

[sammythecat]

49. Fascinating. I never knew.

I learned something here. Thanks

[rug]

55. I always admired her intellect.

[Juche]

56. Did she do anything constructive with that IQ?

Did she invent anything or achieve anything to make the world a better place, etc? If not, I'm not really impressed. She seems like the 60s version of Britney Spears. If she had a high IQ, then that is a waste of talent. I once read alot of people with extremely high IQs go onto fairly mediocre lives wrt intellectual achievements.

Here is my favorite celebrity gossip/fact:

James Woods has an IQ of about 184 and went to MIT. He also was sitting in first class on a flight in August 2001 when he noticed 4 middle eastern men acting extremely suspiciously. He thought they were doing a trial run of a hijacking and reported the incident to the FBI and the airport. They ignored the warning, and the 4 men were among the 19 hijackers on 9/11.


http://www.snopes.com/rumors/woods.asp



On the downsid ehe supports the war in Iraq, Bush and Guiliani. Can't win them all.

[jobycom]

57. You know her name, so she did something.

She died at 34, so who knows what she would or could have done. I guess she never discovered ways to make bombs capable of destroying civilization, so in that regard she was an underachiever.

During her life she won a Golden Globe, a Golden Laurel, appeared in a lot of movies, recorded a musical album with Jimi Hendrix, appeared (and was acclaimed) on stage on Broadway and throughout Europe in several languages, recorded a spoken-word album where she recited poetry by Shakespeare and Browning, was a force in Hollywood in the 50s (she had fallen from fame by the 60s), and raised three kids.

She had her first child while in Austin, TX at 17 (she was married already), yet attended UT and then SMU to study dramatics while raising the child. Her husband tried to make her drop acting, yet despite having a child and a non-supportive husband she moved to California to study at UCLA, and finally broke into films.

Pretty damned impressive, it seems to me.

Had she lived, she may have moved beyond her young image as a bombshell, and who knows what else. So, yeah, she did something constructive with her abilities, and could hardly be described as living a "mediocre life." Hollywood had passed her by during the 60s, but she was young, educated, intelligent, and ambitious. Who knows what she could have done? Directing, acting, politics...

People with high IQs often try to accomplish great things in grandiose or even uncharted fields. Those who succeed become great. Those who fail become mediocre, even if their failure is due to the world not being ready for them. And of course, maybe some never try, prefering whatever they do to fulfilling someone else's ideal of what they should do.

[Juche]

58. None of that relates to her IQ

She can and should have done whatever she wanted with her life, its her life. But if you are going to brag about having a genius level IQ while doing nothing constructive with it, I am not impressed and that is what I was discussing. I feel the same way about wealth, as things like wealth, intelligence and political/social power are gifts that we can and should use to improve the world, not do nothing with then expect others to be impressed because we possess them but don't use them. People like Paul Allen or Bill Gates, who are wealthy and who spend the money promoting philantrophy and medical research are far more impressive to me than people who have wealth and who spend it all on luxuries or who hoard it. Some celebrities use their social power to fight poverty and disease. Some just beg for attention and money. I don't think the two are equals because they aren't. Some use their gifts, some do not. If you choose not to use your gifts and abilities to make the world a better place, don't expect me to be impressed that you have them.

Paul Allen took his wealth and invested in brain research that will advance the study of neurological diseases far faster than it would occur w/o that research. Bill gates is fighing a one man war against Malaria. That is impressive. Donald trump bragging about his wealth in his gold plated tower is not.

[Shakespeare]

59. You're giving male examples only.

That part of the equation does have significance, you know.

[Juche]

61. Yeah, I'm probably a sexist

Do you know of any billionaire women who fund medical research? I'm sure there are some, but I don't know them.


I will give you an example of a woman who has gifts (social influence) and who uses them constructively. Aung San Suu Kyi. She is the daughter of the general who liberated Myanmar from the British. Instead of using her fame to get rich and brag about how great it is to be rich, she became a leader of the resistance to the dictatorship. I thought of ending my first post with a quote of hers, but will just put it in this post because it describes what I am referring to, the fact that gifts and talents aren't impressive unless you use them.

Please use your liberty to promote ours
- Aung San Suu Kyi


If she had used her gifts to brag about how great it is to be famous, color me unimpressed. Instead she uses them to fight dictatorship.


Now to sit back and wait for all the 'what have you done with your life' posts. Well, I have donated time and money to causes I believe in. And I have given decent ideas I've come across to anyone who wanted or needed them.

[Shakespeare]

64. Did I say you were a sexist? No.

I am, however, pointing out that the challenges for an intelligent woman in the mid 60s who attempted to make the most of her intellectual gifts were much greater than they were for a man in the same position. That she was stunning (yes, that's a negative in cases like this), and poor and from the south didn't help, either. She also died very young, so to judge her so harshly seems rather unfair. There was a lot of unrealized potential there.

I'm sure you can find a handful of examples of women who did the sort of thing Aung San Suu Kyi does (and let's not forget her considerable family connections, too), but that doesn't negate the fact that it's extraordinarily difficult for a woman to do so.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

88. Actually Aung San Suu Kyi fails the test as well

She started her courageous and brave struggle against the Burmese military regime when she was in her early 40s following her return to Myanmar to care for her ailing mother. Before that she was living a low profile, comfortable life in the United Kingdom married to an academic with two young sons. So had she died at the same age of Jayne Mansfield, we wouldn't have heard of her at all and she would never have fulfilled her potential

[jobycom]

67. You don't think the arts are a worthy pursuit for an intellect?

She didn't come from a wealthy family. Her father died when she was three, her mother was a schoolteacher. She started out poor, struggled against the odds in her chosen field while raising children, and just when she hit it big, her career was over as America changed its mind about what they wanted to oogle on screen.

I guess what I find sad is that she's looked at as a sex symbol and a shallow person because of her gender, and her looks, and was given a set of options based on her looks, and every time she tried to do more, America told her they weren't interested. Even when she did more, she often had to do it in Europe.

Bill Gates didn't give a damn about charity until he was 40 and was richer than God. His family was quite well off, he never had to struggle for anything. If he had died at 34, he would fail your test, too. Allen also came from a comfortable background, never wanted, and didn't get into philanthropy until his mid 30s.

Both have lived every day of their lives better off than Mansfield was at any point in her life, and never had to deal with the personal issues she did. Neither lost a parent, neither was poor, neither had to make it in a world run by the opposite gender for the enjoyment of the opposite gender. She accomplished a lot with what she had, considering how far she had to go.

I just find reactions to her very telling, I guess. Not you, just everyone.

[Juche]

71. Arts are a great pursuit

I love music and film, and art is a great pursuit.

You made good points.

[AlCzervik]

62. she was only 34 when she died, who knows what she could have accomplished.

[Juche]

63. Could be

I really don't know.

[struggle4progress]

83. She invented a number of wardrobe malfunctions: it seems that a plunging neckline

offers numerous opportunities for creative invention to the dedicated wardrobe malfunction hobbyist

[Lavender Brown]

85. Was it ever proven that they were the same men?

The Snopes article doesn't say that.

[underpants]

68. Her daughter is on that Law & Order Special Victims Unit show

both the kids were in the car when their mother died


sad

[jobycom]

72. Yes, she's battling her own health issues now.

She had a collapsed lung, and now she's back in the hospital, and there is suspicion that something worse is happening to her.

[GreenTea]

69. But couldn't figure out a way to keep her career out of the toilet.

[jobycom]

73. Society changed its preferences.

She built her image as a blond bombshell, and the market fell out of that image. She tried to craft another image, but American audiences didn't buy it. She did have success on Broadway and on the European stage.

[GreenPartyVoter]

75. Marilyn Monroe wasn't really a dumb blonde either. Thank god we have left the 50s behind!

[LNM]

77. and Geena Davis is a Mensa member

with an IQ of 140.

[jobycom]

80. I don't think any thinks of her as dumb, though. And if they did

Oh, if they did...

[dysfunctional press]

78. Carol wayne- the 'tea-time movie girl' on johnny carson was a total brainiac...

who would always show her stuff on "celebrity sweepstakes"

[sohndrsmith]

82. Mischa Auer was fluent in 5 languages, played piano beautifully (his grandfather was Leopold Auer,

so music was a big deal) and attended the New York School for Ethical Culture before hitting Broadway, then the silver screen.

But was best known as a screwball character actor. I don't know his IQ, but I do know he was far more intellectually sophisticated than the characters and roles he played.

Not sure what the point is... other than many people aren't one-dimensional, which is a great thing....