Mia Farrow is 81 years old today. She was born on 9 February 1945.
I really like Farrow. But I don’t like highlighting her here. She hasn’t been in many psychotronic films. Her younger sister, Tisa, is actually much more interesting to psychotronic fans. But some days are like this. And two of the psychotronic films she starred in are iconic.
Farrow is Hollywood royalty. She was the third child of writer-director John Farrow and actor Maureen O’Sullivan. She starred in the prime-time soap opera Peyton Place despite her lack of experience. And audiences loved her in it. So much so, the show never really recovered from her departure even though the show struggled on for a few more seasons.
After this, she starred in a few films. And then she was cast in the title role of Rosemary’s Baby. She is a great actor. But she tends to be typecast as fragile women. That’s definitely the case here. But the the film wouldn’t work without her performance. Almost everyone else in the film comes off as sterile. They’re almost pod-people!
Anyway, I don’t really want to talk about Roman Polanski. My position is that it is a William Castle film with Polanski providing the star power to get a big budget. Regardless, I figure everyone here has seen the film.
So let’s move on to the second big psychotronic film featuring Mia Farrow: The Haunting of Julia (also known as Full Circle). It’s based on a Peter Straub novel and is exactly the kind of thing you expect from him. It’s a classic ghost story. It takes forever to get going. You have to go into it with intention. But it’s great and Farrow is (again) well cast in the title role.
She also starred in Secret Ceremony and See No Evil. Both are worth checking out if you come upon them. But I wouldn’t search.
Let’s celebrate Mia Farrow by watching The Haunting of Julia:
Mia Farrow by Andrew Lih under CC BY-SA 4.0.