My goodness.
Miss Farrow has led quite an interesting life. My intent was to leave this a nodeshell for others, but after reading a bit about her, I felt a good biography was in order.
Mia (born Maria de Lourdes Villiers Farrow) was one of seven children, born into Hollywood Royalty. Her father was writer/director John Farrow, and her mother the actress Maureen O'Sullivan. She survived a bout of polio at age nine, which would eventually inspire her to work to eradicate polio.
When Farrow was seventeen, her brother Michael died, leading to the destruction of her parents marriage. Her father died soon after, leaving a lovely debt burden on the family. So good ol' Mia went out and got herself a job to support the family.
The genes and name helped get her a role on Broadway, then a leading part on the TV series Peyton Place.
So begins the life of a celebrity. Farrow befriended Salvador Dali and his wife, as well as Thornton Wilder, Ruth Gordon, and Garson Kanin.
She became a bit of a flower child in the sixties and went to India to worship at the feet of the Beatles' Maharishi.
She then married Frank Sinatra, becoming his third wife. His two daughters are about her age and she became friends with both of them. This ended in divorce, but they remained close friends. Years later Sinatra offered to break Woody Allen's legs for her.
Then an affair with (married) conductor Andre Previn. She became pregnant with twin boys and was married to Previn. This also ended in divorce.
Farrow began to adopt children from around the world. Currently, she has fourteen children, ten of which are adopted. Many of the children are from Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia, and some have physical or mental disabilities. Much has been said about her large family - some applaud it, others think it somewhat obsessive.
And of course, she had the famous twelve year affair with Woody Allen. They were intellectual soulmates, discussing Plato, Jefferson, Dostoyevsky, fine wine, poetry and philosophy. Otherwise, however, they were somewhat different. She enjoyed the outdoors and her kids, he was a total hypochondriac and had been in psychoanalysis for forty years. He became obsessed with Farrow's adopted daughter Dylan, who he was the adopted father of, and was eventually ordered by the court to stay away from her.
Then, of course, the scandal. Allen's nude photos of Farrow's adopted daughter Soon-Yi were discovered - along with the information that they had been sleeping together for months. Thus ended the relationship. Allen and Soon-Yi have since been married and now have a few children.
She has written an autobiography detailing the ups and downs of her life, entitled What Falls Away. It was not particularly forgiving to Allen.
As for her recent activities, she has joined the United Nations to help eradicate polio, and is a UNICEF special representative. She has travelled to Nigeria and Botswana, and also travelled with Nelson Mandela to support the work of his organization.
Her children are twins Matthew Phineas and Sascha Villiers, and Fletcher (all with Previn), Satchel O'Sullivan Farrow (now called Seamus, with Allen), Soon-Yi Previn, Lark Song Previn, Summer Song (called Daisy) Previn, Moses Amadeus Farrow (called. Misha Farrow, adopted with Allen), Dylan O'Sullivan Farrow (called Eliza, adopted with Allen), Isaiah Farrow, Tam Farrow, Keili-Shea Farrow, and Gabriel Wilk Farrow.
Her movie credits are:
She has led a complicated life. But through all of it she has remained a beautiful person and an amazingly talented actress.