Anissa Jones was a child actress who had a rather brief taste for life. Tragically, the talented actress passed the whistle at the age of 18 following multiple drug intoxication. She is best known for her role in the 1960 series, Family Affair as Buffy. Jones began appearing on television at the age of six and began acting full time at the age of eight.
The CBS television series Family Affair was a very popular and successful family sitcom in the years 1960 to 1971 when it came to an abrupt end. It ranked #1 in movie ratings at that time, and its popularity made the characters Buffy Davis and her brother, Jody Davis, household names in the United States.
Anissa Jones – Biography
Anissa Mary Jones was born in the town of Lafayette in Indiana, United States She was born in Mary Paula and died of John Paul on March 11, 1958. She had a younger brother whom she loved so much called John Paul Jr. At the time of his birth, his father was an engineer while his mother was a zoology student. Shortly after her brother was born, the family moved to Playa Del Rey in Los Angeles, California. Her parents later divorced and lived separately.
For her education, she attended Paseo del ReyAs a child in elementary school and later at Orville Wright High School. Anissa spent most of her childhood filming and she is also said to have studied on the job. Buffy, as she is popularly known, also went to Westchester High School. Despite everything, Anissa took the time to take care of her younger brother.
Childhood and achievements
Anissa had an interesting and hardworking childhood. On the one hand, it may have been other children’s dreams, but on the other, it was a nightmare. At the age of 2, Jones was enrolled in dance lessons, and at age 6, she began appearing in commercials for breakfast cereals.
She soon caught the attention of the producers of the television sitcom titled Family Affair and she was cast as AvaElizabeth ‘Buffy’ Patterson-Davis. The sitcom was a comedy series which was loved by many Americans. This brought the child actress into the spotlight instantly. She took pictures, appeared on shows like The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show, among others to promote the series. She also made promotional trips and was marketed worldwide.
Buffy’s image has been used for many purposes. Her face has appeared on everything children’s – cookbooks, lunch boxes, clothing lines, coloring books and more. Her doll named Mrs. Beasley was marketed by Mattel and became the top-selling doll in the United States, Canada, Cuba, Costa Rica, and other North American countries.
The series ended in 1971 after five seasons in the CBS Rural Purge that likely caused the ratings to drop. Although Anissa Jones, who was 13 at the time, seemed to have seamlessly blended into celebrity life, she was relieved the show was over and she could live a normal life. Attempts to land roles in a film project fell through as the directors believed her “Buffy” persona was still attached to her personality.
Anissa started having trouble at home after leaving the show. As she lived with her father after her divorce from her mother, her death from heart disease was tragic news for the young actress. Her relationship with her mother deteriorated further when, instead of going to live with her, Jones chose to live in her friend’s place. Soon, her grades at school were dropped and her enraged mother reported her as a fugitive to the authorities, leading to Anissa being arrested as a juvenile.
When she came out, Anissa Jones took the booze and drugs route that would later end her. Her new habits prompted her mother to throw her out of her home. To make ends meet, she started working at a donut shop while waiting until she was 18 so she could receive her earnings and savings voucher from childhood movie roles.
When she turned 18 in March 1976, she received over $180,000. She used this money to rent an apartment for herself and her brother and bought a car for herself and a more expensive car for her brother. Now that she had money, her partying, drinking and drug use only got worse.
Cause of his death
Anissa had a bright future if only she could let go of distractions and focus on what was important. His lifestyle of drugs, parties and alcohol cost him his life. On August 28, 1976, exactly five months after turning 18, Anissa Jones was pronounced dead from combination drug poisoning.
She died partying at a California beach house owned by her friend Helen Hennessey’s father. An autopsy of his corpse revealed traces of cocaine, PCP (angel dust), Quaalude and Seconal in his blood. It was also concluded that it was not a suicide, but a drug overdose.
She was found naked in one of the bedrooms. Unconscious. Before paramedics arrived on the scene, she was already dead. Unfortunately, years after his death (in 1984), his brother, Paul, died of the same cause – a drug overdose.
