Los Angeles, California is the home of make-believe, fairytales, and creativity. Pomp and circumstance rule all in the land of Hollywood, but not everything ends as cute and clean as the scripts that are drawn up by Hollywood screen writers. Hollywood legends have come and gone over the course of almost a century of movie-making. Some of them make a quick impression but fail to impress long-term, while others turn out memorable moments like it’s as easy as flipping a switch.
Then there are those who grace us with their presence for just a few years before they are lost to tragedy and their works become instant favorites for their nostalgic value. Over nearly a century Hollywood has lost a number of celebrities before their time, leaving the rest of us to wonder, what if?
1. Jayne Mansfield
Photo: classic film scans
Jayne Mansfield was one of the first, and most popular, Hollywood blonde bombshells. An hourglass figure, beautiful natural looks, and platinum blonde hair made Mansfield a star in Hollywood. She soared to fame in the 1950s working with 20th Century Fox, but when her contract ended she struggled to find work. Mansfield appeared in low-budget European films and television shows in the U.S. to get by until her tragic death.
On a foggy Louisiana night in June 1967, Mansfield was killed in a car crash when her convertible went clear under the trailer of a semi. By some stroke of luck, three of her children were in the vehicle and escaped unharmed. Mansfield was not as lucky as the tractor-trailer scalped her head.
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