Kathy Garver Remembers ‘Family Affair’ Child Star Anissa Jones 50 Years After Her Tragic Death (Exclusive)

Barb Oates 2 minutes ago

AnissaJones and Kathy Garver in Family Affair graphic — Everett Collection

What To Know

Kathy Garver reflects on the life and tragic death of her Family Affair costar Anissa Jones.
Jones struggled to transition from child stardom after the show ended.
The renewed conversation around Jones’ death highlights ongoing issues of inadequate protection and support for child actors in Hollywood.

It was 50 years ago, on Aug. 28, 1976, that Family Affair‘s Anissa Jones, who played the angelic, curly-haired twin Buffy Davis, passed away from combined drug intoxication at age 18. With Hayden Panettiere‘s recent death, and the long list of child stars who are victims of drugs and being exposed to the wrong people, there has been a renewed industry-wide conversation regarding the lack of protection for child stars in Hollywood.

Anissa Jones was just eight years old when she began playing the blond, piggy-tailed Buffy, whose siblings were twin brother Jody (Johnny Whitaker) and older sister Cissy (Kathy Garver), on Family Affair.

For five seasons, fans adored Jones as Buffy (as well as her blue-polka-dot-dressed doll Mrs. Beasley, which she constantly toted about).

Press Handout/King Features Syndicate

When the series ended on March 4, 1971, Jones was just shy of 13 years old — a difficult age for child actors to pivot into other roles. Family Affair would be Jones’ last credited role. Five years later she died, a situation her costar Garver wished she could have helped with.

“She spent the night at my house a couple of times,” Garver said of Jones. “We were good friends.”

Garver remembers that Jones was living in Playa del Rey, and Jones’ mother had invited Garver to her 18th birthday party.

“I’ve said this before, but her mom came up to me and asked me if I would spend some more time with her because she was with the wrong group, and her mom was worried about her going out with this particular group,” Garver explained. “I would have, except I went back East for three or four months to do the musical My Fair Lady. And then it was during that time that she overdosed.”

Jones was found dead in an Oceanside, California, home (2312 Littler Lane), where she was attending a party with her boyfriend, when she fatally overdosed (ruled accidental by the coroner) on a combination of drugs that included cocaine, angel dust, Seconal, and Quaaludes. According to a 1976 article in The New York Times: “Miss Jones, a resident of Playa Del Rey, had been staying at the house of Helen Hennessy in Oceanside. … Her body, lying on the floor beside a bed, was found by friends.”

Garver took time to reflect on her friend, saying she remembers her “as a beautiful little spirit. She tried so hard to be herself. And I think that the people around her wanted to keep her in a certain way, in a certain image. And I felt that about her. She wanted to emerge and really was held back, I think, in many ways.

FAMILY AFFAIR, from left, Anissa Jones, Kathy Garver, Sebastian Cabot, Johnny Whitaker, on-set, 1966-71 (1967 photo).

Gene Trindl/TV Guide/courtesy Everett Collection

“So many child stars are, and they want to be with their friends,” Garver continues. “They see what their friends are doing. They want to be quote-unquote normal. Even Johnny.

“I mean, that was one of the reasons that — and he states in interviews what he has done — after a while, he just wanted to be normal and see what that was like. But she was an especially luminous little spirit. And she was very kind to everybody. She was a kind person. And I related to her very well. And we spent time together.”

When was Anissa Jones’ last televised interview?

The only interview we could find on YouTube was when Jones appeared on The Dick Cavett Show in February 1971, when she was 11 years old. It was an uncomfortable interview for all parties, but Jones surprised Cavett and his guest Sammy Davis Jr. with quite the intelligent remark on feminism. At one point Davis asked her how many freckles she had, as he admired them. Jones told him, “I don’t like them.” When Cavett asked Jones about her own fan mail, she explained that her fans mainly want just photos of her. Cavett asked if she was the one who would send them a photo, and in her sincere and charming way she explained: “This girl does.” Cavett asked if it was her secretary. “No,” she said. “She just gets $5 for every 100.” Complete honesty.

As Cavett squirmed to come up with questions as Jones patiently sat there, Davis was of no help, laughing at Cavett’s awkwardness. Jones shared the most adorable story about using her allowance not only to buy cafeteria food, but she also sent off to buy quail eggs, and to her disappointment, the eggs never hatched. It’s worth checking out this classic interview on YouTube.