Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9409020050
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAL VINCENT LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Nonetheless, she smiles faintly and extends a quivering, white hand. Her flyaway blonde hair rings the waif-like face that appears much younger than her age, which is almost 50. Perhaps it is her youthful attire that makes her look as if she were still the flower child - she's in a worn cotton T-shirt, tennis shoes and Levis. Or perhaps it is her luminous complexion, or her thin, childlike voice.
Pull it all together and you have a woman whom many men would feel honor-bound to protect. It is the persona that has attracted such varied men as Frank Sinatra, Andre Previn and Woody Allen.
At the moment, she's seemingly vulnerable - an unmarried woman with 12 children, three cats, four birds, a hamster and a guinea pig.
On the other hand, Woody Allen's lawyers and friends say she is a steel magnolia who is using the press to portray herself as caring parent - and to degrade him.
Farrow's publicist won't allow questions about her personal life. ``If there are any questions about Woody, I will have to confiscate your tape recorder and ask you to leave,'' the publicist has announced.
It has been two years since Farrow learned that her live-in lover of more than a decade, Woody Allen, was having an affair with her 19-year-old adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. Farrow found photographs of her naked daughter that were taken by Woody Allen. She subsequently accused him of molesting their adopted daughter, Dylan, now 8. A year ago, the case was supposedly settled when the New York State Supreme Court denied Allen custody of his natural son, Satchel, 6; and his adopted children, Moses, 16, and Dylan (whose name has now been changed to Eliza).
An entire generation mourned the breakup. A generation went through Woody and Mia's soul-searching movies - many of which, like ``Hannah and Her Sisters,'' now seem to mirror the couple's own struggles.
In the case of Mia, the pertinent question remains: Is there life after Woody - particularly a professional life? Many critics doubt it.
Farrow seems intent upon beating the odds. ``Widow's Peak,'' her first film in 13 years not directed by Allen, opens today at The Grandin Theatre in Roaoke. Another film, ``Miami,'' written and directed by David Frankel, has not yet been released.
``I haven't been on the open market for a few years,'' Farrow said. ``A year ago, I wouldn't have thought about going to Ireland to make a film. It would have been unthinkable. Now I must think about it. The expenses are quite high.''
``Widow's Peak,'' set in Ireland in the 1920s, was written by playwright Hugh Leonard 10 years ago. Farrow stars as Miss O'Hare, an impoverished middle-aged spinster who is tolerated by the rich widows (led by Joan Plowright) who rule Widow's Peak, a village populated almost entirely by women. The town goes into a dither when Natasha Richardson, a young, glamorous widow, arrives. The characters played by Farrow and Richardson immediately take a disliking to each other. A cat fight develops.
``Ireland seemed a long way from the courts,'' Farrow said. ``It was like therapy. I took the five youngest children with me.''
It is not as difficult as one would imagine to be the mother of 12 and still make movies. ``Oh, I turn my camper, my dressing room, into a nursery,'' she said. ``Actually, I only have six children at home now. The others are older. The oldest is in law school. I would like more. I like parenting. I like being responsible for someone.''
Mia Farrow's children come from varied backgrounds. Most of them are adopted, so keeping score isn't easy.
Her new baby girl, 3-month-old Keili-Shea Farrow, as well as Isaiah Justus Farrow, age 2, are adopted. Satchel Farrow, her child by Allen, has just had his name changed to Sheamus. (``The children at school were kidding him,'' she said. ``A satchel is a thing that is carried. Sheamus is the Irish name for James. It is much better.'').
Then there is Eliza, and Tam Farrow, an adopted, blind Vietnamese girl, age 13. Moses Farrow, an adopted Korean boy, was born with cerebral palsy.
Daisy Previn, 19, and Lark Previn, 21, were both adopted from Vietnam. Farrow has three biological sons with Andre Previn: 24-year-old twins, Matthew, a law student at Georgetown University Law School, and Sascha, who works in electronics in Colorado; and Fletcher Previn, 20, a college student in Germany. Soon-Yi Previn, 19, was adopted from Korea.
Asked how she manages all this, she laughs. ``My mother tells people she doesn't know how many children I have. She loses count. I have just a baby-sitter and a housekeeper who work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. A t night and on weekends, I have no help. But it's all right.''
She married Previn, then a Hollywood composer, in 1970, after she had given birth to his twins. Her marriage to Sinatra lasted only two years, although they remain good friends. Rumors persist that Sinatra's regular cronies hated Mia and pushed endlessly for the marriage not to work.
Currently, Farrow is 200 pages into packaging all this living into an autobiography. ``I'm halfway through,'' she said. ``It's just impressions.'' Although it is certain not to be a Woody Allen tribute, she doesn't want to talk about the contents.
To accompany the network TV announcement that a miniseries will be made about ``the men in Mia Farrow's life,'' Woody publicly announced that ``that would be no miniseries. It would be a maxi-series.''
She has now moved from her Central Park apartment (just across the park from the apartment where Woody Allen lives) to a home in the Connecticut countryside.
Asked why she so often has played seemingly neurotic characters, she said, ``I choose the best of what I'm offered. I don't agree that most of the women I've played have been neurotic. They are just searching. It's good, now, to be available for whatever comes along. I'm in the market again.''
The voice is that of a breathless girl but the resolve is clearly that of a strong, surviving woman.
by CNB