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Mia Farrow

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File:Mia Farrow cover.jpg
Farrow on the cover of Glamour, 1968

Mia Farrow (born Maria de Lourdes Villiers-Farrow on February 9, 1945), is an American actress. Farrow has appeared in more than 40 films and won numerous awards, including a Golden Globe award (and 7 additional Golden Globe nominations), 3 BAFTA Film Award nominations, and a win for best actress at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.[1] Farrow is also notable for her extensive humanitarian work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Biography

Early life

Mia Farrow was born Maria de Lourdes Villiers-Farrow in Los Angeles, California, to John Farrow (an Australian film director) and the late Irish actress Maureen O'Sullivan. Both were practicing Catholics, and Mia had a Catholic upbringing.

Farrow was stricken with polio as a child and spent a year in an iron lung. She 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

Mia Farrow 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 film role was in 1968's Rosemary's Baby, which was a major critical and commercial success at the time and continues to be widely regarded as a classic of the horror genre.

Farrow's performance in Rosemary's Baby garnered numerous awards and established her as a leading actress. Film critic and author Stephen Farber described her performance as having an "electrifying impact… one of the rare instances of actor and character achieving a miraculous, almost mythical match. If Ira Levin's story shrewdly taps into every pregnant woman's fears about the stranger growing inside her, Mia Farrow gives those fears an achingly real and human force."[2] Film critic Roger Ebert noted that "the brilliance of the film comes more from Polanski's direction, and from a series of genuinely inspired performances… The characters emerge as human beings actually doing these things. A great deal of the credit for this achievement must go to Mia Farrow, as Rosemary."[3]

Following Rosemary's Baby, Farrow starred in Secret Ceremony , opposite Elizabeth Taylor. The film divided critics, but has gone on to develop a devoted following. Farrow's other late 60's films include John and Mary, opposite Dustin Hoffman.

In the 1970s, Farrow appeared in a number of notable films, including the 1971 thriller See No Evil, legendary French director Claude Chabrol's 1972 film Docteur Popaul, and the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby, in which Farrow played "Daisy Buchanan". She also appeared in director Robert Altman's cult classic A Wedding in 1978.

Farrow also appeared in a number of made for television films in the 1970s, most notably portraying the title role in a 1976 musical version of Peter Pan.

In the 1980s and early 90's, Farrow's relationship with director Woody Allen resulted in numerous film collaborations. She appeared in nearly all of Allen's critically acclaimed films during this period, including leading roles in Hannah and Her Sisters (playing the title role of "Hannah"), The Purple Rose of Cairo, Broadway Danny Rose, and 1990's Alice, again as the title character. Farrow also played Alura, mother of "Kara" (Helen Slater), in the 1984 movie Supergirl and voiced the title role in 1982's animated film The Last Unicorn.

Citing the need to devote herself to raising her young children, Farrow worked less frequently during the 90's. Nonetheless, she appeared in leading roles in several notable films, included 1994's Widows' Peak (an Irish film) and the 1995 films, Miami Rhapsody and Reckless. She also appeared in several independent features and made for television films throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Farrow most recently appeared as "Mrs. Baylock", the Satanic nanny, in the 2006 remake of The Omen. Though the film itself received a lukewarm critical reception, Farrow's performance was widely praised, with the Associated Press declaring "thank heaven for Mia Farrow" and calling her performance "a rare instance of the new "Omen" improving on the old one."[4] Filmcritic.com added "it is Farrow who steals the show,"[5] and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer described her performance as "a truly delicious comeback role for Rosemary herself, Mia Farrow, who is chillingly believable as a sweet-talking nanny from hell."[6]

Farrow has completed work on several films slated for release in 2007, including the romantic comedy Fast Track and the first part of director Luc Besson's planned trilogy of fantasy films, Arthur and the Invisibles. In September 2006, she began shooting director Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind, opposite Jack Black and Danny Glover.

Activism

Mia Farrow has been a high profile advocate for children's rights, working to raise funds and awareness for children in conflict affected regions, predominantly in Africa. She is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has worked extensively to draw attention to the fight to eradicate polio, which she survived as a child. She has traveled to Darfur twice, in November 2004 and June 2006, joining her son Ronan Farrow, who has also worked for UNICEF in Sudan, in advocating for Darfuri refugees.[7] Mia Farrow's photographs of Darfur appeared in People Magazine in July 2006 and she authored an article on the crisis, published in the Chicago Tribune on July 25, 2006.[8]

Personal life and relationships

In 1968, Farrow famously 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, Mike Love (the Beach Boys lead singer), Prudence Farrow (Mia's older sister who inspired John Lennon to write Dear Prudence), and Mia Farrow.

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.

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 Ronan 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.

Children

Farrow has been a high profile advocate for adoption since the 1970s, adopting children from poverty stricken regions, many of whom were deemed "difficult to place" due to physical handicaps. She adopted 3 children and has 3 biological children with Andre Previn. She also adopted 2 children and has one biological child with Woody Allen. Farrow went on to adopt 5 additional children as a sole parent thereafter. Her last adoption was in 1995. Farrow has 14 children, 10 of them adopted. She is active in agencies that encourage adoption, as evidenced by her involvement with UNICEF.

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." Farrow said of Soon-Yi: "She was on the streets in Korea when she was captured and brought to the state orphanage. And in a way I can see from her perspective - a very limited perspective - that she's improved her situation. 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

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
  • Quincy Farrow not known as Kaeli-Shea
  • Thaddeus W. Farrow
  • Gabriel Wilk Farrow

Trivia

Selected filmography

Year Title Role Other notes
1968 Secret Ceremony Cenci
1968 Rosemary's Baby Rosemary Woodhouse
1969 John and Mary Mary
1971 See No Evil Sarah
1972 Follow Me! Belinda
1974 The Great Gatsby Daisy Buchanan
1978 A Wedding Elizabeth 'Buffy' Brenner
1978 Avalanche Caroline Brace
1978 Death on the Nile Jacqueline De Bellefort
1979 Hurricane Charlotte Bruckner
1982 A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy Ariel
1982 The Last Unicorn Unicorn/Amalthea voice-over
1983 Zelig Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher
1984 Broadway Danny Rose Tina Vitale
1984 Supergirl Alura
1985 The Purple Rose of Cairo Cecilia
1986 Hannah and Her Sisters Hannah
1987 Radio Days Sally White
1987 September Lane
1989 New York Stories Lisa
1989 Crimes and Misdemeanors Halley Reed
1990 Alice Alice Tate
1992 Shadows and Fog Irmy
1992 Husbands and Wives Judy Roth
1994 Widows' Peak Miss Katherine O'Hare/Clancy
1995 Miami Rhapsody Nina Marcus
2006 The Omen Mrs. Baylock
2007 Arthur and the Invisibles Arthur's Grandmother
2007 Fast Track TBA
2007 Be Kind Rewind TBA
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