Mansfield was killed in a car crash in June 1967. She was going to New Orleans for a television interview when her car crashed into the back of a truck. Her lover Sam Brody and her driver Ronnie Harrison were also killed. Three of her children - Miklós, Zoltán and Mariska - escaped death with minor injuries. An urban legend about Mansfield being decapitated in the crash is untrue. She was buried on July 3 in Pennsylvania. Her gravestone is heart-shaped.