Tisa Farrow
| Tisa Farrow | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Theresa Magdalena Farrow |
| Born | 1951-07-22 |
| Died | 2024-01-12 |
| Occupation | actor |
| Known for | baby sister of Mia Farrow |
Tisa Farrow (1951-07-22 - 2024-01-12) was the youngest of the seven children born to filmmaker John Farrow and actor Maureen O'Sullivan.[1]
It was Tisa who discovered her father's body after he had a heart attack while taking a phone call, when she was 12 years old.[1]
When she was a teenager, trying to break into film, she said that getting roles was complicated because she looked like older sister Mia Farrow, who was already disliked by industry insiders.[2]
It was while filming her first film Homer, in Canada, that 18 year old Tisa met her first husband, Canadian film producer Terry Dene, 11 years her senior.[1] The pair married on July 25, 1970.
In 1973 she appeared semi-nude in a 1973 issue of Playboy magazine, and appeared in a film called Some call it Loving.[1] Farrow played a sleeping beauty character in a film the The New York Times called a "diffuse fantasy".[3]
In 1977 she appeared in Strange Shadows in an Empty Room.[4]
According to The Farrows of Hollywood: Their Dark Side of Paradise, Tisa had spent the early 1970s working as a waitress and cab driver while continuing to pursue acting jobs, while raising her son, Jason F. Dene.[1]
In 1978 she appeared in The Initiation of Sarah, and Fingers.[1] In 1979 she appeared Manhattan, Winter Kills, The Ordeal of Patty Hearst and Zombie. In 1980, she appeared in her final two films, The Last Hunter and Anthropophagus: The Grim Reaper.
After her last acting gig in 1980 she became a nurse, a job she held for 27 years.[5] In addition to her son, Jason, she had a daughter Bridget.
Her son, a Sergeant, serving on his second hitch in Iraq, died in 2008.[1] Accounts differ over the cause of his non-combat death. According to the Denver Post Dene was still recovering from surgery when he was sent back to his barracks, and died in his bunk.[6] The Farrows of Hollywood said he died in a traffic accident. Both accounts say an autopsy attributed his death to an accidental overdose of an anti-depressant the Army had prescribed for him.
Farrow died in her sleep on January 12, 2024.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Marilyn Ann Moss (2023). The Farrows of Hollywood: Their Dark Side of Paradise. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781510768840. Retrieved on 2023-10-30.
- ↑ Judy Klemesrud. Being Mia's Sister Was Tisa's Burden, New York Times, 1970-01-08, p. 36. Retrieved on 2024-02-05. ““I spent a long time going around town trying out for commercials, and I didn't get one. I would always run into some career woman who disliked me right away because she didn't like my sister Mia.””
- ↑ A. H. WEILER. The Screen:'Some Call It Loving' Is Diffuse Fantasy, New York Times, 1973-11-17, p. O. Retrieved on 2024-02-05. “Since this odd affair was inspired by John Collier's short story "Sleeping Beauty," it should be noted that the setting has been changed from Britain to a baronial mansion on the West Coast owned by Carol White, who not only goes for Zalman King, a jazz saxophonist, but also for Tisa Farrow, the resuscitated "beauty" he brings to that strange household.”
- ↑ 'Strange Shadows in Empty Room' Sheds Little Light, New York Times, 1977-02-12, p. O. Retrieved on 2024-02-05. “Since this odd affair was inspired by John Collier's short story "Sleeping Beauty," it should be noted that the setting has been changed from Britain to a baronial mansion on the West Coast owned by Carol White, who not only goes for Zalman King, a jazz saxophonist, but also for Tisa Farrow, the resuscitated "beauty" he brings to that strange household.”
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Valerie Wu. Tisa Farrow, Actor and Mia Farrow’s Sister, Dies at 72, Variety magazine, 2024-01-12. Retrieved on 2024-02-05. “She was a nurse for 27 years, a wonderful sister to Steffi, Prudence and me, a devoted mother to Jason, who died in Iraq, Bridget and little grandson Kylor – the lights of her life.””
- ↑ David Olinger, Erin Emery. The battle within, Denver Post, 2008-08-24. Retrieved on 2024-02-05.