With the exception of recent titles like Netflix’s action comedy “FUBAR” and “The New Celebrity Apprentice,” which Arnold Schwarzenegger quit in 2017, there aren’t many TV projects on Schwarzenegger’s resume. But early in his career, the Hollywood box office behemoth and former bodybuilder tackled a TV role that hit incredibly close to home.
In the 1980 CBS made-for-TV movie “The Jayne Mansfield Story,” Schwarzenegger stepped into the shoes of Mickey Hargitay — the real-life father of “Law & Order” series icon Mariska Hargitay and second husband to ’50s- and ’60s-era megastar Jayne Mansfield (Mariska’s mother). The biopic stars the late Loni Anderson as Jayne Mansfield, charting the tragic blonde bombshell’s meteoric rise to fame and tumultuous personal life until her death in 1967 (Mariska was 3 years old at the time of her mother’s death).
But it was Schwarzenegger’s casting as Mariska’s bodybuilder father that stood out as an inspired fit. For the future “Terminator” star, playing the Hungarian-American muscleman wasn’t just one of his first major TV gigs, it was a chance to portray a personal hero he had a lot in common with.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger was a big admirer of Mickey Hargitay
Arnold Schwarzenegger as bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay in The Jayne Mansfield Story – CBS/YouTube
“When I played Mickey Hargitay, I played Mickey Hargitay because I was a big admirer of Mickey Hargitay,” Schwarzenegger shared in an interview with IndieLondon. “I thought it was amazing that someone who comes from Hungary could win the Mr. Universe contest in 1956 and then come to America with broken English and get married to Jayne Mansfield.” Schwarzenegger, who is Hungarian as well, called Mickey’s journey “an extraordinary accomplishment,” though he admitted he had no inkling at the time that his own career would eventually eclipse his idol’s.
Some critics took notice of the young actor’s potential, too. In its 1980 review, The New York Times praised Arnold Schwarzenegger’s performance, noting that he brought a pleasant, unpretentious gentleness to the role. Because his character serves as the movie’s narrator, the outlet observed that Mickey Hargitay comes across as deeply sympathetic.
In more contemporary reviews on Letterboxd, some users have made some jabs about Schwarzenegger’s narration. “Casting Ahhnuld as the narrator of this story, given his command of the English accent in the early 1980s, is … not the choice I would have made,” wrote a reviewer who gave the film one star. “Still, you can see flashes of an emerging screen presence, even in this very forgettable TV movie.”
Just two years after “The Jayne Mansfield Story,” Schwarzenegger began his blockbuster journey, starring in “Conan the Barbarian,” which paved the way for 1984’s “The Terminator” and his legendary catchphrase, “I’ll be back.”
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