Tisa Farrow dead at 72: Mia Farrow announces actress sister died unexpectedly ‘in her sleep’ in moving tribute: ‘She was the best of us’
Mia Farrow confirmed that her sister Tisa Farrow has died at the age of 72, in an emotional post to Instagram.
Theresa Magdalena ‘Tisa’ Farrow was an American actress known for featuring in the Italian horror films Zombie Flesh Eaters and The Grim Reaper.
She also appeared in Woody Allen‘s classic 1979 comedy Manhattan, just before he embarked on a romantic relationship with Mia.
Mia, 78, heartbrokenly announced that her sister had died ‘unexpectedly’ and ‘apparently in her sleep’ on Wednesday.
‘If there is a Heaven, undoubtedly my beautiful sister Tisa is being welcomed there,’ Mia wrote in her touching social media tribute.
‘She was the best of us – i have never met a more generous and loving person. She loved life & never complained. Ever,’ Mia added.
‘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,’ Tisa’s bereaved sister wrote Thursday.
‘She died unexpectedly yesterday morning. Apparently in her sleep. This is a hard time for all of us who admire and love her so deeply.’
Born in Los Angeles in 1951, six years after Mia, Tia was the youngest of seven siblings born to their Hollywood family.
Their father was John Farrow, who co-wrote the Oscar-winning script for the 1956 film Around The World In Eighty Days starring David Niven and Shirley MacLaine.
Meanwhile their mother was Maureen O’Sullivan, who was the Jane to Johnny Weissmuller’s Tarzan in six movies in the 1930s and 1940s.
Tisa dropped out of high school in her junior year and entered the family business, jobbing around as an actress with limited initial success.
‘I have no advantages,’ she told the New York Times in 1970, six years after Mia shot to fame for her role on the soap opera Peyton Place.
Tisa is pictured aged 18 in a headshot taken in 1969, one year before she made her film debut in the drama film Homer set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War
Born in Los Angeles in 1951, six years after Mia, Tia was the youngest of seven siblings born to their Hollywood family; Tisa and Mia are pictured at the 1980 Tony Awards Supper Ball
Tisa said in 1970 that in her early auditions ‘would always run into some career woman who disliked me right away because she didn’t like my sister Mia’; the sisters are pictured that year
Tisa (center) is pictured at lunch in 1965 with Mia (right) and their mother Maureen O’Sullivan (left), who was the Jane to Johnny Weissmuller’s Tarzan in six films
‘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.’
Mia by that point had become a lightning rod of controversy for her failed marriage to the drastically older Frank Sinatra, as well as her out-of-wedlock pregnancy by the acclaimed composer and conductor André Previn.
Tisa, who in spite of her trim frame dolefully referred to herself as ‘the fat one in the family,’ was 18 when she landed her film debut in the 1970 coming-of-age drama Homer, set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.
Her career proceeded promisingly in the early 1970s, when she acted with French film star Jean-Louis Trintignant in the crime drama And Hope To Die and Richard Pryor in the erotic romance Some Call It Loving.
While Mia went from strength to strength in Hollywood, Tisa took projects abroad, such as the Italian-Canadian picture Strange Shadows In An Empty Room.
At home in America, Tisa acted with Harvey Keitel in James Toback’s feature debut Fingers, and with Morgan Fairchild in the TV horror movie The Initiation Of Sarah.
In Italy, she made a splash in the horror genre with the 1979 film Zombi 2, aka Zombie Flesh Eaters, and the 1980 cannibal movie Antropophagus, aka The Grim Reaper.
Ultimately, Tisa left show business and worked for 27 years as a nurse, according to the obituary posted to social media by Mia.
Tisa, who despite her trim frame dolefully referred to herself as ‘the fat one in the family,’ was 18 when she landed her film debut in the 1970 coming-of-age drama Homer (pictured)
Her career proceeded promisingly in the early 1970s, when she acted with French film star Jean-Louis Trintignant (left) in the crime drama And Hope To Die (pictured)
Tisa also acted in the 1973 erotic romance Some Call It Living (pictured), amid a cast that included none other than comedian Richard Pryor
Tisa acted with Harvey Keitel (left) in James Toback’s feature debut Fingers (pictured), and with Morgan Fairchild in the TV horror movie The Initiation Of Sarah
On the personal front, Tisa married film producer Terry Deane, with whom she welcomed a son called Jason and a daughter called Bridget.
The family was struck by tragedy in 2008 when Jason died of non-combat causes in Baghdad after two decades of military service.
‘He volunteered for every war there was while he was in, whether it was Haiti, Serbia, Bosnia,’ Terry told the Associated Press after Jason’s death.
According to the information available on Find A Grave, an autopsy allegedly found that Jason’s system held high levels of the antidepressant Citalopram, which Terry said he was prescribed for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Although she made her mark in horror films in Italy, Tisa held one ambition in the genre that she was never able to realize.
‘I want to direct a great horror movie before I die,’ she said at the age of 18. ‘It will be shot in New York, with vampires and Central Park in it, and I will be the star.’
