Law and Order: Special Victims Unit is known for having tons of guest stars playing victims, witnesses and perps, among other characters. Sometimes it’s an established actor making a cameo, other times it’s on the first roles for an up-and-comer before their big break, as with Sarah Hyland.
But perhaps no guest star has been as special as Mickey Hargitay, the father of Mariska Hargitay, who has starred as Olivia Benson since the beginning of the long-running show. Read on for all the details.
Mariska Hargitay’s dad Mickey Hargitay guest starred on SVU
The elder Hargitay appeared in Season 5, Episode 9’s “Control” in 2003. The guest starring appearance was a big deal for two major reasons: It was SVU’s milestone 100th episode and also served as Mickey’s final role before his death three years later.
The actor appears in the cold open as a grandfather escorting his granddaughter down an escalator into a subway station, where they encounter a man bleeding and yelling for help. The man falls and dies, and the grandfather gives a statement to then-Det. Olivia Benson. A small role, but that Hargitay-Hargitay conversation must have been fun to film!
Most fans probably remember that Hargitay is the daughter of legendary actress Jayne Mansfield, who tragically died at the age of 34 when Hargitay was just 3 years old. Afterward, Mickey and his third wife Ellen raised Hargitay and her siblings.
“I called her Mom. She really claimed us. She never had biological kids of her own, and to this day we are her kids. So we were blessed that she really embraced us and loved us so quickly. And I was very fortunate to have a maternal figure in my life after such a horrific accident,” the actor told Good Housekeeping in 2012.
Born Miklós Karoly Hargitay, Mickey moved from Hungary to the United States while in his twenties, and won the bodybuilding title of Mr. Universe in 1955. He’s credited with helping to popularize bodybuilding and athletic fitness overall in America. Three years later, he married Mansfield, starred alongside her in four movies: Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957), The Loves of Hercules (1960), Promises! Promises! (1963), and Primitive Love (1964). He died in 2006.
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On Father’s Day 2023, the SVU star posted a touching tribute to her dad, uploading a vintage photo of the two of them together to Instagram and writing, “💞always with me.”
