The act was so popular that the brothers performed throughout all Hungary, including the largest opera house in Budapest.

[5][6] In 1947, aged 21, Hargitay left Hungary to emigrate to the United States[3] to avoid being drafted into military service by the Soviet Union.

[7] He settled in Cleveland, where he worked as a plumber and carpenter and also performed in an acrobatic act with his first wife, Mary Birge.

[5] He was inspired to begin bodybuilding after seeing a magazine cover featuring Steve Reeves, famed for playing Hercules.

[citation needed] Hargitay won the National Amateur Body-Builders' Association (NABBA) Mr. Universe award in 1955.

[6] Hargitay's first film role came when Jayne Mansfield demanded that he be cast in her movie, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

[9] In 2003, Hargitay guest-starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the series in which his daughter Mariska stars, portraying a witness to a violent crime.

[7] Hargitay and Jayne Mansfield met in 1956 while he was performing in The Mae West Show at the Latin Quarter.

When Mansfield noticed Hargitay performing, she allegedly told the waiter, "I'll have a steak and that tall man on the left.

Mariska Hargitay grew up to be an actress, starring on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

[3] Hargitay remodeled much of his and Mansfield's Beverly Hills mansion, known as "The Pink Palace",[11] building its famous heart-shaped swimming pool.

In their divorce decree, Mansfield had agreed to pay child support, as well as to give Hargitay approximately $70,000 ($688,000 in 2023[12]) in cash and property.