Jayne Mansfield: The Tragedy of a Blonde

Mar 22, 2015

0h 53m

★ 6.4

Overview

On June 29, 1967, Jayne Mansfield tragically died at the age of 34. Her stunning blue Buick Electra collided with and was crushed under a semi-trailer truck. With her voluptuous figure and baby-doll face, Hollywood's most photographed actress did everything to become a star, accepting every compromise, going from icon to object. While portraying the actress, this film offers a glimpse into the Hollywood dream factory through the lens of a casting call. Like Jayne herself, who went through countless auditions...

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

What's Up Films

ARTE France Cinéma

Jayne Mansfield: The Tragedy of a Blonde Trailers

Cast

Self (archive footage)

Jayne Mansfield

Self - Narrator (voice)

Patrick Floersheim

Self

Cassidi Parker

Self

Sarah Oliver

Self (archive footage)

Mariska Hargitay

Self (archive footage)

Mickey Hargitay

Self (archive footage)

Marilyn Monroe

Self (archive footage)

Robert Mitchum

Self (archive footage)

John F. Kennedy

Self (archive footage)

Jacqueline Kennedy

Self (archive footage)

Shirley Temple

Self (archive footage)

Robert Morse

With unprecedented access to the multi-faceted woman behind the persona, follow Megan Thee Stallion's journey on the road to stardom as she tenaciously navigates fame, grief, pressure and success, This documentary unpacks the Houston native's most vulnerable moments in a powerful way that allows fans to meet the real Megan Pete.

5.4

The James Dean Story

Aug 13, 1957

Released two years after James Dean's death, this documentary chronicles his short life and career via black-and-white still photographs, interviews with the aunt and uncle who raised him, his paternal grandparents, a New York City cabdriver friend, the owner of his favorite Los Angeles restaurant, outtakes from East of Eden, footage of the opening night of Giant, and Dean's ironic PSA for safe driving.

0.0

Je m'appelle Régine et je vous emmerde !

Oct 6, 2025

No overview available.

0.0

LA. LA. End

Oct 20, 2024

The Californian sun, which lights up the city, lights up again every evening in cinemas all over the world". Guided by these words from Blaise Cendrars, L.A. L.A. END is a stroll through Los Angeles, among the remnants of Hollywood's Golden Age. Following in the footsteps of a Marilyn Monroe lookalike, we meet a gallery of characters who paint a sensitive portrait of a bygone era that gradually becomes a portrait of a woman.

4.4

Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor

Apr 27, 2018

This documentary recounts the difficult choice actress Mary Astor had to make after learning her personal, very intimate, diaries had been stolen. The film tells the story of Astor's 1936 child custody case.

8.0

Lex Barker - Westernheld und Playboy

Oct 1, 2023

He is the most sought-after man in Europe in the 1960s. Lex Barker embodies the flawless hero in his films and, as Old Shatterhand, becomes a role model for generations of fans. Revered in Europe, misunderstood and almost forgotten in his native America. But who was this American who rode through Yugoslavia in a leather costume for the European audience? In 1973, Lex Barker died of a heart attack on the streets of Manhattan in New York. But no one recognizes the man who was Tarzan in Hollywood. Nobody knows him or cares about that he, as Winnetou's friend, is revered as an icon in Europe. Lex Barker's European western adventures are just a footnote in American film history. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death, the documentary tells the story of one of the most beautiful men who ever flickered across Europe's cinema screens, for whom European cinema proved to be a stroke of luck and for whom a failed Hollywood career took him via Italy to Germany.

0.0

Finding Bobbi

Sep 20, 2019

The poignant journey of a transgender actor unfolds, as twenty-three years after last performing on stage as a man, she makes her return in the iconic role of Aunt Eller in an LGBTQ+ production of the Rogers and Hammerstein classic Oklahoma! at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

6.4

Gene Tierney: A Forgotten Star

May 13, 2017

Martin Scorsese is among those paying tribute to Gene Tierney, the Academy Award-nominated American actress who was a leading lady in Hollywood throughout the 1940s and '50s.

6.6

Becoming Cary Grant

May 23, 2017

For the first time one of Hollywood's greatest stars tells his own story, in his own words. From a childhood of poverty to global fame, Cary Grant, the ultimate self-made star, explores his own screen image and what it took to create it.

0.0

Klaunka

Apr 22, 2023

No overview available.

8.0

Françoise Dorléac, from The Man from Rio to The Young Girls of Rochefort

Dec 31, 2021

Born into a family of actors, Françoise Dorléac, Catherine Deneuve's older sister, began her career at the age of 15. She shone a few years later alongside Jean-Paul Belmondo in "L'Homme de Rio". From there, a great international career is announced to the young actress. But in 1967, a few months after filming the "Demoiselles de Rochefort" with her sister, she died tragically in a road accident, at the age of 25. Nevertheless, she leaves behind an abundant career and thus continues to be present in the minds of cinephiles.

0.0

Yoko Tani in London

Apr 2, 1959

A fun tour of 1950s West End with international film star Yoko Tani.

0.0

Josiane Balasko, un grand cri d'amour !

Oct 8, 2025

This documentary looks back on a career of a woman who, very early on, refused to accept the roles assigned to her. In the 1980s, while others were trying to please, she wrote "Les hommes préfèrent les grosses" (Men Prefer Fat Women), a manifesto ahead of its time, funny, feminist, and blunt. Later, with "Gazon maudit" (Damned Grass), she tackled homosexuality with a freedom that is still shocking today.

6.9

Marilyn Monroe Declassified

Jul 12, 2015

Declassified FBI and CIA documents help director Paul Davids unravel the puzzle of Marilyn Monroe's demise, which was officially ruled a "probable suicide," while providing detailed evidence supporting the conclusion that Marilyn was murdered.

3.7

Anna Nicole Smith: Exposed

Sep 8, 1998

A fictionalized day in the life of Anna Nicole Smith, revealing her innermost thoughts on the people (friends, servants, lawyers, photographers) and events (photoshoots, bathing, sexual exploits) that make up her life.

6.6

The Brothers Warner

Oct 16, 2008

An intimate portrait and saga of four film pioneers--Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack who rose from immigrant poverty through personal tragedies persevering to create a major studio with a social conscience.

7.9

Bowie: The Final Act

Dec 26, 2025

The final creative chapter of one of music’s most iconic artists. Featuring rare interviews with those who knew and worked alongside Bowie as well as famous fans and figures who have been inspired by his artistry, the film will uncover the strategy behind Bowie’s artistic resurrection and the inexhaustible extraordinary creativity that defined his final decade, in which he released his critically acclaimed album Blackstar just two days before he died. This was an emergence from the turbulence of the 1990s, when Bowie had found himself at odds with a changing industry but pushed on to headline Glastonbury in 2000.