Mia Farrow
Maria de Lourdes Villiers Farrow (born
February 9,
1945), better known as
Mia Farrow, is an
American actress.
Early life
Farrow was born in Los Angeles, California, to
John Farrow (an
Australian film director) and the late
Irish actress
Maureen O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan and John Farrow were practising
Catholics, and Mia had a Catholic upbringing. Farrow was stricken with
polio as a child and spent a year in an
iron lung.
Farrow made her film debut in a 1947 short subject with her mother; the short was about famous mothers and their children modeling the latest fashions for families. In the 1950s, she appeared in the
Cold War educational film,
Duck and Cover.
Career
Farrow screen-tested for the role of Liesl Von Trapp in
The Sound of Music. She began her acting career by appearing in supporting roles in several 1960s films. However, she achieved stardom on the popular nighttime soap opera, Peyton Place, with co-star Ryan O'Neal. Her first leading role was in the
1968 horror film,
Rosemary's Baby, which was a critical and commercial success, establishing Farrow as a leading actress. She was married to Frank Sinatra at the time. Farrow became friends with director
Roman Polanski and his wife
Sharon Tate while filming
Baby.
It was in 1968 that she traveled to India, where she spent the early part of the year at the ashram of
the Maharishi in Rishikesh, Uttar Pradesh, studying
transcendental meditation. The visit gained worldwide media attention due to the presence of all four
Beatles,
Donovan, as well as the lead singer of the Beach Boys, Mike Love, and Prudence Farrow, Mia's sister (who inspired John Lennon to write "Dear Prudence").
Farrow was the person on the cover of the first issue of
People Magazine in 1974. Several of her subsequent films were disliked by critics (including
1972's
Follow Me!, which was given a harsh review by critic
Roger Ebert [
1]), but a number of her 1970s films were notable, including the
1971 thriller
See No Evil and the
1974 version of
The Great Gatsby, in which Farrow played "Daisy Buchanan". Farrow also appeared in a number of made for television films in the 1970s.
Farrow's relationship with director
Woody Allen in the 1980s resulted in a number of film collaborations. Farrow appeared in most of Allen's critically acclaimed films during the decade and the early 1990s, including most notably
Hannah and Her Sisters (playing the title role of "Hannah"),
The Purple Rose of Cairo (in the lead role) and
1990's
Alice, again as the title character. Farrow also played Alura, mother of "Kara" (
Helen Slater), in the
1984 movie
Supergirl.
During the 1990s, Farrow's notable films included
Widows' Peak (an
Irish film) and the
1995 film,
Miami Rhapsody, which has been described by some critics as "Woody Allen"-esque [
2]. Farrow appeared in many lower-budget and
television films throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. She was cast in the role of "Mrs. Baylock", the
Satanic nanny, in the
2006 remake of
The Omen.
Frank Sinatra
Farrow married singer
Frank Sinatra on
July 19,
1966, when she was 21 and he was 50. While she was filming
Rosemary's Baby with director Roman Polanski, Sinatra served her
divorce papers in front of the cast and crew. The move came as a shock to Farrow, who did not think that Sinatra would divorce her because she had refused his prior demand that she quit filming in order to work on his movie,
The Detective. The split was finalized two years later. When
Rosemary's Baby was released around the same time as
The Detective and widely outgrossed it at the box office, Farrow asked producer
Robert Evans to run an ad touting the fact as a way of getting back at Sinatra. Evans obliged her.
André Previn
Farrow married
German-
American Jewish pianist
André Previn in 1970. His former wife, songwriter
Dory Previn, blamed Farrow for his leaving her and wrote a scathing attack in a song entitled "Beware of Young Girls". Farrow and Previn had three biological children (twins Matthew and Sascha, born in 1970; and Fletcher, born in 1974) together and
adopted three children from Korea,
Soon-Yi, Lark Song, and Daisy. André and Mia divorced in 1979, but they remained on good terms. Fletcher Previn appears in one of Farrow's Woody Allen films,
Radio Days; Fletcher plays with the children in a scene set on a rooftop.
Woody Allen
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Farrow spent many years with director
Woody Allen, but did not marry or live with him. The two had a son, Satchel, who was born in 1987 and who now uses the name
Seamus Farrow. They also adopted a son and daughter together. They separated after Allen began a sexual relationship with Farrow's adopted daughter Soon-Yi, whom he later married, which reportedly left Farrow devastated. During the custody battle, Farrow filed
child abuse charges against Allen, involving her other daughter, Dylan. Those charges were dropped.
Farrow is a
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has traveled to
Darfur twice, in November 2004 and June 2006.[
3]
Farrow continued to adopt children as a sole parent. She is active in agencies that encourage adoption, as seen by her involvement with UNICEF. By 1994, Farrow had 13 or 14 children, 9 or 10 of them adopted: 6 from her marriage with André Previn (3 adopted) and 3 from her time with Woody Allen (2 adopted). Farrow is estranged from Soon-Yi Previn since Soon-Yi's marriage to Woody Allen. She called the loss a "tragedy" in the
London Observer and remarked that "she's not coming back" but adds "For a little orphan kid from Korea ... Perhaps she's not to be blamed." Farrow's adopted daughter, Tam Farrow, died in March 2000 at age 19, after a long illness.
Andre Previn
*Matthew Phineas Previn (1970—)
*Sascha Villiers Previn (1970—)
*Fletcher Previn (1974—)
Adopted
*
Soon-Yi Previn, born in South Korea
*Lark Song Previn, born in Vietnam
*Summer Song Previn (also known as Daisy), born in Vietnam
Woody Allen
*
Seamus Farrow (1987—), (also known as Satchel O'Sullivan Farrow, current name is Ronan)
Adopted
*Moses Amadeus Farrow (also known as Misha Farrow)
*Dylan O'Sullivan Farrow (also known as Eliza Farrow, current name is Malone)
*Tam Farrow (1979–2000)
*Isaiah Justus Farrow
*Kaeli-Shea Farrow (also known as Quincy)
*Thaddeus W. Farrow
*Gabriel Wilk Farrow
*Her sister,
Prudence Farrow, inspired
The Beatles song
Dear Prudence.
*
Bella Mia: Mia Farrow Message Board*
Mia Farrow picture site*
Mia & Ronan Farrow Report from Darfur, published on the
Genocide Intervention Network website
*
London Observer interview, printed on
The Guardian
