Sort-of-Hungarian Wins at Hollywood's Sort-of-Oscars

Hey, we won the Oscars! Well, sort of. Okay, so sort of kind of. Anyway, if you hadn't heard, the Golden Globes awards - they are generally considered the poor cousin of the Academy Awards - were held Sunday night in Los Angeles, and two of the big winners had distinct Hungarian connections. Annette Bening won the award for best actress in a musical or comedy for her work in "Being Julia," which was directed by István Szábo, mostly shot in Budapest, and made with the help of financing from the Hungarian state. Far more intriguingly, the award for best actress in a dramatic television series was taken home by one Mariska Hargitay, pictured right.

Hargitay got her Globe for her portrayal of Detective Olivia Benson on the hit show "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," topping a field of contenders that included TV babe-of-the-moment Jennifer Garner of "Alias."

Hargitay isn't actually a full-blooded Magyar. But if anything, her pedigree and story are even more fascinating, so much so that we can't believe we hadn't heard of her until now. The 40-year-old stunner is the daughter of legendary Hungarian bodybuilder-actor Miklós "Mickey" Hargitay and screen goddess Jayne Mansfield, pictured left. Mariska was in the backseat of the car during the famous accident that killed Mansfield in 1967. Mickey's name is bolded because he's still alive, though apparently somewhat frail. In their heyday, Jayne and Mickey were considered the finest physical specimens in Hollywood, if not on the entire planet. And let's say they were slightly ahead of their time in terms of the sexual revolution. Two years before Jayne's death, Mickey starred in a breakthrough Italian S&M/horror schlockfest called "The Bloody Pit of Horror" (aka "The Crimson Executioner," Il Boia Scarlatto).

Mariska - it's short for "Mária" - seems to have followed in her parents' footsteps. Not only is she a knockout (though without, shall we say, her mother's famous Golden Globes) but she is in the entertainment industry's sexual vanguard as well, portraying one of the few network television characters with a large lesbian following.

Best of all, she's Hungarian, or at least sort-of. Either way, congratulations from the old country, Mariska.