Actress. Mary Anissa Jones was a child actress in the mid-20th century. She is best remembered for her role of "Buffy" on the television series "Family Affair." Born in West Lafayette, Indiana, her parents moved to San Diego County, California, when she was a small girl, settling in Playa del Rey, where she had her childhood. Her father had been on the faculty at Purdue University and after relocating to California, had a position in in aerospace engineering. Her first exposure to acting was in a breakfast cereal commercial when she was only six years old. In 1966 she was cast as "Elizabeth "Buffy" Patterson-Davis" in the CBS television series "Family Affair," playing the role for 138 episodes until 1971, when she was age 13. From this television exposure, she became very popular with her image on lunch boxes, in coloring books, and her television doll "Mrs. Beasley," was successfully sold by Mattel Toys. She had a brief cameo role in 1968 on television's Rowan and Martin "Laugh-In." She was cast in the role of "Carol Bix" in the Elvis Presley film "The Trouble with Girls" in 1969 and also appeared as her "Family Affair" character of "Buffy" in the television series "To Rome with Love" in 1970. She auditioned for the lead role of "Regan" in "The Exorcist" in 1973, but lost out to Linda Blair. She appeared as herself on several television talk shows, such as the "Mike Douglas Show" and "Dick Cavett Show." Although she refused the roles, she was offered a role in "The Brian Keith Show" and "Taxi Driver." She felt that she had been typecast as "Buffy." Continuing with her schooling at Westchester High School from 1973 to 1976, she briefly worked at Winchell's Donut Shop in Playa del Rey. Ending her promising acting career, her cause of death was listed as an accidental drug overdose. Widely covered in the media, her private physician Don Carlos Moshos was questioned about the source of the drugs.