Anissa Jones

Anissa was born on March 11, 1958, in West Lafayette, Indiana, US to an engineering graduate and a Purdue University faculty board member, John Paul Jones, and zoology student Mary Paula Jones (née Tweel). Her middle name Anissa in Arabic means ‘Little Friend’.

She was enrolled in dance classes by her mother when she was two years old.

Her family relocated to Playa Del Rey, California, after her brother John Paul Jones, Jr. was born. At Playa Del Rey, her father started working in aerospace engineering and she started attending Paseo del Rey Elementary School.

In 1964, Anissa, accompanied by her mother, went for an open audition for a breakfast cereal commercial. She clinched the commercial marking her first appearance on television. She later attended Orville Wright Junior High School.

Television producers Edmund Beloin and Henry Garson were looking for cast members for their new television sitcom ‘Family Affair’. They were impressed by acting skills of the eight year old Anissa that got her the main role of Ava Elizabeth ‘Buffy’ Patterson-Davis in the series.

‘Family Affair’ ran on CBS for 5 seasons encompassing 138 episodes starting from September 12, 1966 to September 9, 1971.

Her character ‘Buffy’ was originally created as elder sister of the character of Jody played by Johnny Whitaker. Her role was later re-written as twin of Jody upon insistence of Brian Keith who played Uncle Bill in the series.

Shooting of ‘Family Affair’ or its promotions in public became a full-time job for the little girl, which often became taxing as many a times she had to work seven days a week round the year. However, such hard work paid off as Anissa became a household name garnering fame and popularity when the show became a hit by July 1969.

Meanwhile in April 1969, she suffered a playground accident resulting in a fracture on her right leg. Even that injury was written and included in the script of the series by the producers.

Her career in the entertainment industry literally ended after ‘Family Affair’. She then began her studies at the Westchester High School in Los Angeles and started a new life sans glitz and glamour of showbiz.

Meanwhile, her personal life started getting disturbed with her parents going for an awful divorce in 1965. It also involved the stress over her and her brother’s custody. The custody of the children was finally awarded to their father in 1973.

Her father, however, succumbed to heart disease soon after getting custody of the children following which her brother moved over to their mother’s house. Anissa, on the other hand, went to live with a friend and started playing hooky.

The Police arrested her after she was reported as a runaway by her mother. She had to stay in youth detention center for months under custody of the state following which she was permitted to reside with her mother. With time she became a victim of drugs and started shoplifting.

She dropped out of high school and worked for a while at the Winchell's Donuts shop in Playa Del Rey. As she was a famous child star once, she would often get recognised by customers that only left her embarrassed.