Anissa Jones

Mary Anissa Jones /əˈniːsə/[lower-alpha 1] (March 11, 1958 – August 28, 1976) was an American child actress known for her role as Buffy Davis on the CBS sitcom Family Affair, which ran from 1966 to 1971. She died from combined drug intoxication when she was 18.[1]

Anissa Jones
Jones in 1970
Born
Mary Anissa Jones

(1958-03-11)March 11, 1958
Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.
DiedAugust 28, 1976(1976-08-28) (aged 18)
Oceanside, California, U.S.
Cause of deathCombined drug intoxication
Occupation(s)Actress, student
Years active1966–1971

Early life

Jones was born in West Lafayette, Indiana, in 1958 and was raised in Charleston, West Virginia, until the age of 5. Her maternal grandparents were Lebanese and Jones' middle name means "Little Friend" in Arabic. Her parents were divorced prior to the start of her acting career in 1965.[2]

At the time of her birth, Jones' father, John Paul Jones, was an engineering graduate and faculty board member at Purdue University, 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, California, where John Paul, Sr. took a job in aerospace engineering and Anissa attended Paseo del Rey Elementary School, then Orville Wright Junior High School.[3]

Career

In 1964, when she was 6, Jones' first TV appearance was in a commercial. Two years later, 8-year-old Jones, who was small for her age, was cast as 6-year-old Ava Elizabeth "Buffy" Patterson-Davis on the CBS sitcom Family Affair (1966). In the sitcom, Buffy, her twin brother Jody (Johnny Whitaker), and older sister Cissy (Kathy Garver) are sent to live with their Uncle Bill (Brian Keith) and his valet Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot) a year after the children's parents die in a car accident[4] (the DVD collection notes mistakenly state "plane accident"). In 1969, at the height of her juvenile pop cultural celebrity and of Family Affair's television ratings success, Jones made her only film appearance with a small role in The Trouble with Girls which starred Elvis Presley.[5] Jones was 12 when the series ended in 1971.

Death

Shortly before noon on August 28, 1976, after partying in the beach town of Oceanside, California, with her new boyfriend, Allan "Butch" Koven,[6] and others the night before, Jones, 18, was found dead in an upstairs bedroom of a house belonging to the father of a 14-year-old friend named Helen Hennessy.[5] Others at the party ranged in age from 12 to 22, as police later determined.[6] The coroner's report listed Jones' death as a drug overdose, later ruled accidental;[7] cocaine, PCP, Quaalude, and Seconal were found in her body during an autopsy 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.[5]

Jones was given a small, private service. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean.[7] She left $63,000 in cash and more than $100,000 in savings bonds when she died (equivalent to $838,258 today).

Investigation

The investigation of Dr. Don Carlos Moshos began as a separate matter. Occupants in the same building as Moshos' office had reported the unusual activity of patients waiting in long lines outside of his practice.[8] According to a Torrance Police Department 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 of whom had been waiting over three 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".[9]

Six days after Jones' death, Moshos was arrested at his office in Torrance and charged with illegally prescribing Seconal to Jones,[10] among other drugs-for-profit charges from a concurrent undercover criminal investigation. An envelope with Moshos' 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;[11] while awaiting trial, Moshos died on December 27, 1976, four months after Jones.[12] Although the murder charges were dropped before his death, Moshos' estate was sued by Jones' 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 ($408,800 today).

Family

Anissa's father, John Paul Jones, died on March 7, 1974, at age 44. On March 15, 1984, Jones' brother, Paul, died of a drug overdose. He was 24.[5] Jones's mother, Mary Paula Jones, died in Detroit, Michigan, of natural causes on January 14, 2012.

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1966–71 Family Affair Ava Elizabeth "Buffy" Patterson-Davis Main role; 138 episodes
1967 Dateline: Hollywood Herself Guest
1967 The Hollywood Palace Herself Co-host; S5, EP15 (aired December 26, 1967)
1968 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Herself S1, EP8; 3 cameos (aired March 11, 1968)
1969 The Mike Douglas Show Herself Guest (aired March 6, 1969)
1969 The Merv Griffin Show Herself Guest (aired March 4, 1969)
1969 The Trouble with Girls Carol Bix An Elvis Presley motion picture
1969 The Mike Douglas Show Herself Co-host; "Kids' Week" (aired December 22, 1969)
1970 To Rome With Love Ava Elizabeth "Buffy" Patterson-Davis Episode: "Roman Affair"
1970 The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon Herself Guest
1971 The Dick Cavett Show Herself Guest (aired February 25, 1971)

References
  1. Mansour, David (2005). From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 251. ISBN 0-7407-5118-2.
  2. "Anissa Jones Was Small For Her Age". The Charlotte Observer. October 17, 1976. Retrieved November 4, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "John Paul Jones, Sr.'s LA County death certificate". Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. July 23, 1974 – via Photobucket.
  4. Stephens, John G. (2005). From My Three Sons to Major Dad: My Life as a TV Producer. Scarecrow Press. p. 57. ISBN 0-8108-5279-9.
  5. Brioux, Bill (2007). Truth and Rumors: The Reality Behind TV's Most Famous Myths. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-275-99247-7.
  6. "Blog posts on Anissa Jones' boyfriend, friends and Jones' death".
  7. Benoit, Tod (2009). Where Are They Buried?: How Did They Die? Fitting Ends and Final Resting Places of the Famous, Infamous, and Noteworthy. Black Dog Publishing. p. 163. ISBN 978-1-57912-822-7.
  8. "Doctor May Be Linked To Actress Death". Redlands Daily Facts. September 22, 1976. p. 16. Retrieved November 4, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Beck, Marilyn (September 22, 1976). "Drug death of Anissa is trouble for doctor". Statesman Journal. Salem, Oregon. p. 26. Retrieved November 4, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Doctor Charged in Actress's Death". The New York Times. United Press International. October 14, 1976. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  11. Beck, Marilyn (September 24, 1976). "Overdose Investigated". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved December 23, 2015 – via Google News.
  12. "Books closed on death of Anissa Jones". The San Bernardino County Sun. January 7, 1977. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
  1. rhymes with Lisa, not Melissa
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