Mary Anissa Jones (March 11, 1958 – August 28, 1976) was an American
child actress
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated t ...
known for her role as Buffy Davis on the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
''
Family Affair
''Family Affair'' is an American sitcom starring Brian Keith and Sebastian Cabot that aired on CBS from September 12, 1966, to March 4, 1971. The series explored the trials of well-to-do engineer and bachelor Bill Davis (Keith) as he attempte ...
'', which ran from 1966 to 1971. She died from
combined drug intoxication
Combined drug intoxication (CDI), or multiple drug intake (MDI), is a cause of death by drug overdose from poly drug use, often implicated in polysubstance dependence.
Deaths by combined drug intoxication are relatively rare (one in several mil ...
at the age of 18.
Early life
Jones was born in
West Lafayette, Indiana
West Lafayette () is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, about northwest of the state capital of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette is directly across the Wabash River from its sister city, ...
in 1958 and was raised in
Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...
until the age of 5. Her maternal grandparents were
Lebanese, and Jones' middle name means "Little Friend" in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
. Her parents were divorced prior to the start of her acting career in 1965.
At the time of her birth, Jones' father, John Paul Jones was an engineering graduate and faculty board member at
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
, where her mother, Mary Paula Jones (''née'' Tweel) was a zoology student. Soon after the birth of Anissa's brother John Paul Jones, Jr. (called "Paul" by the family), the family moved to
Playa Del Rey
Playa del Rey (Spanish for "Beach of the King") is a seaside community in the Santa Monica Bay and the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It has a ZIP code of 90293 and area codes of 310 and 424. As of 2018, the community had a populat ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, where John Paul, Sr. took a job in aerospace engineering and Anissa attended Paseo del Rey Elementary School, then Orville Wright Junior High School.
Career
In 1965 at the age of 6, Jones's first TV appearance was in a
commercial
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
. A year later, Jones who was small for her age, was then cast as 6 year old Ava Elizabeth "Buffy" Patterson-Davis on the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
sitcom ''
Family Affair
''Family Affair'' is an American sitcom starring Brian Keith and Sebastian Cabot that aired on CBS from September 12, 1966, to March 4, 1971. The series explored the trials of well-to-do engineer and bachelor Bill Davis (Keith) as he attempte ...
'' (1966) at the age of 8. In the sitcom, Buffy, her twin brother Jody (
Johnny Whitaker
John Orson Whitaker, Jr. (born December 13, 1959) is an American actor notable for several film and television performances during his childhood. The redheaded Whitaker played Jody Davis on ''Family Affair'' from 1966 to 1971. He also originated ...
), and older sister Cissy (
Kathy Garver
Kathleen Marie Garver is an American actress most remembered for having portrayed the teenaged orphan, Catherine "Cissy" Davis, on the popular 1960s CBS sitcom, ''Family Affair''. Before that, she was cast by Cecil B. DeMille in the film ''T ...
) are sent to live with their Uncle Bill (
Brian Keith
Brian Keith (born Robert Alba Keith, November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997) was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his six-decade career gained recognition for his work in films such as the Disney family film '' The Parent T ...
) and his
valet
A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, valet de chambre was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "vale ...
Mr. French (
Sebastian Cabot) a year after the children's parents die in a car accident (the DVD collection notes mistakenly state "plane accident"). In 1969 Jones made her only film appearance with a small role in
The Trouble with Girls with
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
in the starring role. In the same year the TV series had become a hit, and Jones became a popular child celebrity.
When the series ended in 1971, Jones was 13 years old.
Death
Shortly before noon on August 28, 1976, after partying in the beach town of
Oceanside, California
Oceanside is a city on the South Coast (California), South Coast of California, located in San Diego County, California, San Diego County. The city had a population of 167,086 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The city is a popular ...
, with her new boyfriend, Allan "Butch" Koven,
[Blog posts on Anissa Jones’ boyfriend, friends and Jones' death](_blank)
and others the night before, Jones was found dead in an upstair bedroom of a house belonging to the father of a 14-year-old friend named Helen Hennessy.
During the final moments when Jones was alive, others at the party ranged in age from 12 to 22, as police later determined.
The
coroner
A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...
's report listed Jones’ death as a
drug overdose
A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended. , later ruled accidental;
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
,
PCP,
Quaalude
Methaqualone is a hypnotic sedative. It was sold under the brand names Quaalude ( ) and Sopor among others, which contained 300 mg of methaqualone, and sold as a combination drug under the brand name Mandrax, which contained 250 mg met ...
, and
Seconal
Secobarbital (as the sodium salt, originally marketed by Eli Lilly and Company for the treatment of insomnia, and subsequently by other companies as described below, under the brand name Seconal) is a short-acting barbiturate derivative drug that ...
were found in her body during an
autopsy
An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any di ...
toxicology examination. The police report also indicated a small vial of blue liquid next to Jones at the scene, which was never identified. The coroner who examined Jones reported she died from one of the most severe drug overdoses he had ever seen. Jones was 18 years old.
Jones was given a small, private service. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered over the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
.
She left $63,000 in cash and more than $100,000 in savings bonds when she died (equivalent to $ today).
Investigation
The investigation of Dr. Don Carlos Moshos began as a separate matter. Occupants in the same building as Moshos's office had reported the unusual activity of patients waiting in long lines outside of his practice. According to a
Torrance Police Department
The Torrance Police Department is the police department serving Torrance, California.
The department employs 227 sworn officers and 124 civilians. The department is the largest law enforcement agency in South Bay, and is one of the largest polic ...
report, Moshos was writing over 100 prescriptions per day. A
KABC local news team visited his office and found it filled with young people, some whom had been waiting over 3 hours to be seen by Moshos. Wayne Staz, the reporter who initiated the visit alleged that prescriptions could be obtained with $5.00 and "simply showing identification"
Six days after Jones's death, Dr. Don Carlos Moshos was arrested at his office in
Torrance and charged with illegally prescribing Seconal to Jones, among other drugs-for-profit charges from a concurrent undercover criminal investigation. An envelope with Moshos's business address was present at Jones' scene of death, specifying a drug found in Anissa's toxicology report (Seconal), its dosage (1.5 gr), quantity (50), and the recipient's last name (Jones). Moshos was charged with 11 offenses; while awaiting trial, Moshos died on December 27, 1976, four months after Jones.
''The San Bernardino County Sun''
/ref> Although the murder charges were dropped before his death, Moshos's estate was sued by Jones's surviving family for $400,000; in July 1979, the verdict found him 30% liable and Jones 70% responsible for her death, and the resulting judgment was reduced to $79,500 ($ today).
Anissa's father, John Paul Jones, died on March 7, 1974, age 44. On March 15, 1984, Jones's brother, Paul, died of a drug overdose. He was 24 years old. Jones's mother, Mary Paula Jones, died in Detroit, Michigan of natural causes on January 14, 2012.
Filmography
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Anissa
Accidental deaths in California
Actresses from Indiana
American child actresses
American film actresses
American television actresses
American people of Lebanese descent
Cocaine-related deaths in California
Drug-related deaths in California
1958 births
1976 deaths
20th-century American actresses
People from Lafayette, Indiana