bibliography
NNDB
This is a beta version of NNDB
Search: for

Mia Farrow

Mia FarrowAKA Maria de Lourdes Villiers-Farrow

Born: 9-Feb-1945
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA

Gender: Female
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Rosemary's Baby

Born in Hollywood, Mia Farrow's father was screenwriter and director John Farrow, who made The Big Clock with Ray Milland and Hondo with John Wayne. Her mother was Maureen O'Sullivan, who played Jane in Tarzan the Ape Man with Johnny Weissmuller, and owned the sanitarium in the Marx Brothers' A Day at the Races.

At age nine, Farrow was stricken with polio, and spent three weeks hospitalized, several days of which were in an iron lung. She was educated at an English convent, and always wanted to be an actress. At 13 she made her film debut in her father's John Paul Jones with Robert Stack and Bette Davis. At 18, with her parents' connections, she bypassed the "struggling actress" period and was cast in the lead in an off-Broadway production of The Importance of Being Ernest. Mere months later she landed the role of Allison Mackenzie on the prime time soap opera Peyton Place.

At 22, Farrow shot to even high heights of fame when she married superstar Frank Sinatra. Five years younger than Sinatra's daughter Nancy, she became the butt of jokes and the topic of scandalous gossip sheet reports. Their marriage ended at about the time of Farrow's greatest film success, playing the pregnant wife of John Cassavetes and unknowing mother of Satan's spawn in Rosemary's Baby.

She spent the 1970s married to another older man, pianist Andr� Previn, with whom she had three sons. During that decade she starred with Robert Redford in The Great Gatsby, and she was in Robert Altman's ensemble A Wedding, but her star began to dim with a few tedious disaster films, Avalanche with Rock Hudson and Hurricane with Jason Robards.

After divorcing Previn, Farrow took up with auteur Woody Allen, who cast her in many of his films, including Zelig, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Crimes and Misdemeanors. Their relationship came to a very public end after Farrow discovered Allen's affair with her adopted daughter. In the media circus of their break-up, Farrow accused Allen of molesting their daughter Dylan; Allen denied it, and no evidence was offered beyond Farrow's say-so, but the media coverage was so intense that the girl has since changed her first name -- twice -- presumably to escape media attention.

Since ending her relationship with Allen, Farrow's roles have been less frequent and less memorable. Her best post-Allen work includes Widow's Peak with Joan Plowright, a recurring role on TV's Third Watch, and playing nanny to the Anti-Christ in the 2006 remake of The Omen. She also wrote an angry book about her years with Allen, What Falls Away, and she has done charity work with UNICEF in Africa, and tried to draw attention to the genocide in Darfur.

Farrow has 13 living children, including three fathered by Previn and three adopted during their marriage, one fathered by Allen and two adopted during their long relationship, and several more children Farrow adopted through UNICEF as a sole parent. In addition, a 14th child died of heart failure, and a 15th was adopted as a crack-addicted baby, and died in infancy.

Contrary to popular rumors, Farrow did not appear as a child in the Cold War civil defense short Duck and Cover. Farrow and her famous family did, however, appear in a filmed attack drill at their posh Hollywood home, footage of which was used in publicity for Duck and Cover.

In 1968, Farrow and her then-20-year-old sister Prudence attended Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's spiritual retreat in India at the same time the Beatles were there. Prudence took the scene more seriously than her sister, and spent literally weeks voluntarily locked in a hut, meditating virtually around the clock and repeatedly declining John Lennon's invitation to "come out and play." For this reticence, she was immortalized in the Beatles' song "Dear Prudence."

Father: John Farrow (film director)
Mother: Maureen O'Sullivan (actress)
Brother: Michael Farrow (b. 1939, d. 1958 plane crash)
Brother: Patrick Joseph Farrow (artist, b. 1943, d. 15-Jun-2009 suicide)
Brother: John Charles Farrow (b. 6-Sep-1946)
Sister: Prudence Farrow (transcendental meditation teacher, b. 1948)
Sister: Stephanie Farrow (b. 1949)
Sister: Teresa 'Tisa' Farrow (actress, b. 22-Jul-1951)
Husband: Frank Sinatra (m. 19-Jul-1966, div. 1968)
Husband: André Previn (m. 1970, div. 1978, six children)
Son: Matthew Phineas Previn (twin b. 26-Feb-1970 with Previn)
Son: Sascha Villiers Previn (twin b. 26-Feb-1970 with Previn)
Son: Fletcher Previn (b. 1974 with Previn)
Daughter: Soon-Yi Previn (adopted with Previn, later Allen's lover and eventually wife)
Daughter: Lark Song Previn (b. 1973, adopted with Previn, d. 25-Dec-2008)
Daughter: Summer Song Previn (b. 6-Oct-1974, adopted with Previn)
Daughter: Tam Farrow (b. 1979, adopted by Farrow, d. 2000 heart failure)
Boyfriend: Woody Allen (cohabited in 1980s; she was later his mother-in-law)
Son: Ronan Farrow (journalist, b. 19-Dec-1987 with Allen, born Satchel Farrow)
Daughter: Dylan Farrow (b. 1985, adopted with Allen, her name was later changed to Eliza, then Malone)
Son: Moses Farrow (marriage counselor, b. 1978, adopted with Allen, he briefly went by 'Misha')
Son: Isaiah Farrow (adopted by Farrow)
Daughter: Kaeli-Shea Farrow (adopted by Farrow)
Son: Thaddeus Farrow (adopted by Farrow)
Son: Gabriel Farrow (adopted by Farrow)

    UNICEF
    Endorsement of Foster Grant
    Wedding: David Gest and Liza Minnelli (2002)
    Transcendental Meditation
    Hunger Strike (Apr-2009 to May-2009)
    Risk Factors: Polio, Smoking

    TELEVISION
    Third Watch Mona Mitchell (2000-03)
    Peyton Place Allison MacKenzie (1964-65)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Dark Horse (5-Sep-2011) · Phyllis
    Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds (22-Aug-2010)
    Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard (26-Nov-2009)
    Reporter (16-Jan-2009) · Herself
    Be Kind Rewind (20-Jan-2008)
    Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (18-Jan-2008) · Herself
    Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story (8-Nov-2007) · Herself
    The Ex (8-Feb-2007)
    Arthur and the Invisibles (29-Nov-2006)
    The Omen (6-Jun-2006) · Mrs. Baylock
    Samantha: An American Girl Holiday (23-Nov-2004)
    The Secret Life of Zoey (19-Aug-2002)
    Purpose (21-Feb-2002)
    A Girl Thing (20-Jan-2001)
    Light Keeps Me Company (5-Feb-2000) · Herself
    Forget Me Never (3-Oct-1999)
    Coming Soon (17-Apr-1999)
    Miracle at Midnight (17-May-1998)
    Reckless (15-Sep-1995)
    Miami Rhapsody (27-Jan-1995)
    Widows' Peak (13-May-1994)
    Husbands and Wives (14-Sep-1992)
    Shadows and Fog (30-Mar-1992) · Irmy
    Alice (25-Dec-1990) · Alice
    Crimes and Misdemeanors (13-Oct-1989) · Halley Reed
    New York Stories (1-Mar-1989)
    Another Woman (18-Nov-1988) · Hope
    September (18-Dec-1987) · Lane
    Radio Days (30-Jan-1987) · Sally White
    Hannah and Her Sisters (7-Feb-1986) · Hannah
    The Purple Rose of Cairo (1-Mar-1985)
    Supergirl (10-Oct-1984)
    Broadway Danny Rose (27-Jan-1984) · Tina Vitale
    Zelig (15-Jul-1983) · Dr. Eudora Fletcher
    The Last Unicorn (19-Nov-1982) [VOICE]
    A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (16-Jul-1982) · Ariel
    Hurricane (12-Apr-1979)
    Death on the Nile (30-Oct-1978) · Jacqueline De Bellefort
    Avalanche (30-Aug-1978)
    A Wedding (29-Aug-1978) · Buffy Brenner
    The Haunting of Julia (11-Sep-1977)
    The Great Gatsby (26-Mar-1974) · Daisy Buchanan
    Dr. Popaul (29-Sep-1972)
    The Public Eye (1972) · Belinda
    Blind Terror (2-Sep-1971) · Sarah
    John and Mary (14-Dec-1969) · Mary
    Secret Ceremony (23-Oct-1968) · Cenci
    Rosemary's Baby (12-Jun-1968)
    A Dandy in Aspic (2-Apr-1968)
    Guns at Batasi (6-Nov-1964)

Official Website:
http://www.miafarrow.org/


New!
NNDB MAPPER
Create a map starting with Mia Farrow
Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript.

Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile



Copyright ©2019 Soylent Communications