Freddie and Anissa Jones

[scott cokeley]

This is kind of strange, as well as sad to know, but did anyone know this....Anissa Jones (from TV's Family Affair) died 5 months and one day exactly before Freddie on 8/28/76. 5 months and one day later, Freddie left us. Also, they were only about 3 years and 9 months apart in age. I remember vaguely hearing about Anissa's death in 76, as I was only 9. (I didn't watch the show much). But I remember Freddie's well. I had just turned ten and was a fan of the show. My grandfather used to watch it after Sanford And Son._Anissa's story is interesting but also tragic like Freddie's. I wonder if she ever watched Chico before her demise, or if her death had any impact on Freddie. I doubt it. No doubt he probably heard about it, but by 76, he had his own problems to worry about.

[tylersmistress2002]

I looked at some photos of her in her teen yrs.....she reminds me a little of Drew Barrymore....pretty girl she was...what a tragedy.

[hue_mee]

Yeah that is a shame and so young that she died. I am not sure but I believe this was picture of her around the age of her passing

[hue_mee]

sorry I was trying to post this one

[Pitooey]

They kept Anissa's death very hush hush back then because I too never heard when she had died.

[MariposaLKB]

Suz, the pics you posted remind me very much of the way in which Freddie's face changed in a very short time near the end of his life. Anissa's looks fuller and more youthful in the first one, in the second almost unnaturally thin and old beyond her years! I believe she was even younger than Freddie was at the time of her death--about 18 if I remember correctly.

BTW a personal side note--my older daughter's full name is essentially the same as this young actress's, though spelled slightly differently. The choice was not due to any particular interest in her--though I did watch "Family Affair" quite often. Rather, it was because I wanted to call my daughter Annie for several reasons (my own middle name, Ann, and John Denver's "Annie's Song" being the main ones)--but did not want to give her a name that would be "childish" in her adult years. So I consulted several baby name books and discovered that the root of this name is the Greek word "anysia", meaning "fulfillment". It was thus also appropriate because I had waited a looong time to have a child!

[Spats]

There is a great site devoted to Anissa out there somewhere. Can't recall the address. What a waste her death was. I recall that some people thought it was Susan Olsen that died. Susan has mentioned this as well. Because their characters both being blonde and having pigtails.

[Luckymama58]

MHO here, but back in the day when I was young, the thought of a young famous person commiting suicide was something people couldn't fathom. It, like so many other problems in Hollywood at the time (drug use at the top of this list), was kinda kept either hush hush or glossed over. There was the shock value at first, but then Hollywood was almost willing to let these stories die with their owners because they were afraid of giving tinsel town a black eye. I honestly think it was the tragic death of John Belushi that finally made Hollywood wake up and see that the fan's wanted more than a brush under the rug when it came to the tragic death of their beloved stars. I also credit John's friends for making sure his death wouldn't go unnoticed. Since then, if you follow the news, people with problems in Hollywood are more accepted and help is out there. Stars are still dying of these things, drugs and depression, but even more are getting help. Maybe that is the legacy of people like Freddie and Anissa, that if you are having problems, you should be free to seek help without retribution from your work. That is what Freddie and his producers feared, if his problems were exposed by seeking help, it would end his career. But instead, not getting help ended his life. Sooooo sad.