The Only Major Actors Still Alive From Rosemary’s Baby

Few horror movies are as fantastic or as retroactively controversial as “Rosemary’s Baby.” Decades after its release, what are we to make of a movie about a woman’s bodily agency that was made by a man –- Roman Polanski –- who was later convicted of statutory rape? It’s just one of several tricky questions that’s elicited by any thorough look back at the film; in addition to Polanski’s life story, both of the movie’s surviving cast members (see below) have been embroiled in their own complex and traumatic situations in the years since the film debuted in 1968.

It’s a tricky legacy for a phenomenal movie that works on the strengths of all involved, including a powerful young Mia Farrow, who turns Polanski’s already-sharp take on Ira Levin’s great book into something unforgettable. Most of the other actors who made the film a classic are gone now, including John Cassavettes (who played Rosemary’s gaslighting husband) and Ruth Gordon (who played her delightful and devilish old neighbor). Aside from Farrow, the only major cast member who’s still with us is Victoria Vetri, who played an ill-fated young woman named Terry in the film. Here’s what life has looked like for Farrow and Vetri in the years since “Rosemary’s Baby.”

Then-21-year-old Mia Farrow was famously put through a lot on the set of “Rosemary’s Baby,” including being directed to walk into traffic and told to eat raw liver for a scene. Her performance as young, reluctant mother-to-be Rosemary is indelible, and she continued to impress on screen in the decades that followed. In the ’70s, she played Daisy Buchanan in a Robert Redford-led version of “The Great Gatsby,” and appeared in an adaptation of “Death on The Nile.” In the ’80s, she voiced a character in “The Last Unicorn” and became the muse of her then-partner Woody Allen, appearing in 13 of his movies over a 12-year period.

Farrow’s relationship with Allen broke down in the early ’90s when, according to the documentary “Allen v. Farrow,” she discovered that Allen had been having an affair with her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn. Another of her children, Dylan Farrow, accused Allen of sexual abuse later the same year. Dylan Farrow and her mother maintain the abuse allegation to this day, while Mia’s son Moses Farrow defended Allen and published his own account of alleged physical abuse from his mother in 2018. (Previn also made a physical abuse allegation against Mia once.) The actor has a large family that has seen several tragedies, including the deaths of three of 14 children.

After her break with Allen, Farrow continued to act, appearing in the Howard Stern comedy “Private Parts,” the Michel Gondry film “Be Kind Rewind,” a remake of “The Omen,” and the “Arthur and the Invisibles” family film franchise, among other titles. She’s also appeared on Broadway several times, including in the plays “Love Letters,” “Getting Away With Murder,” and “The Roommate.” Farrow most recently appeared in the Netflix thriller series “The Watcher” in 2022 after a six-year break from acting. She also has a second career as an outspoken activist and has done extensive work in Darfur as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. She received the Presidential Medal of Honor in 2007.

Victoria Vetri, who was credited as Angela Dorian in “Rosemary’s Baby,” has had a hell of a life story in the decades since she appeared in the film. On screen, Vetri played Terry, a new neighbor to Mia Farrow’s Rosemary who throws herself from a window (or is killed by Satanists) later in the film. Off screen, Vetri had already made a career for herself by 1968, appearing in several TV shows and modeling for Playboy and elsewhere. The year “Rosemary’s Baby” was released, Vetri also won the coveted Playboy Playmate of the Year title.

The actor continued to work on screen until 1975, taking guest roles on TV shows and making standout appearances in B-movies of the era. She took the lead role in Hammer Films’ “When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth” and is also credited in such wonderfully named films as “Group Marriage” and “Invasion of the Bee Girls.” Unfortunately, though, Vetri’s time in Hollywood was marred by trauma, as according to ex-husband Bruce Rathgeb, she was best friends with Roman Polanski’s wife Sharon Tate. Tate was murdered by followers of Charles Manson in 1969, and Rathgeb told The Daily Mail that Vetri thought it was her fault, as she had allegedly met Manson (along with Tate and others) two weeks before Tate’s death and made a comment she thought he found insulting.

Plenty of apocrypha exists around the Tate case, but this story has real consequences. Vetri was arrested in 2010 after shooting Rathgeb during an argument, per Access Atlanta. The actor and model, then in her 60s, pleaded no contest to an attempted voluntary manslaughter charge and was sentenced to nine years in prison. Eight years later, Rathgeb told the Daily Mail that a haunted Vetri had always feared Manson would send someone after her, and that she shot him while convinced that he was the cult leader. Rathgeb, who said he forgave Vetri and wanted to remain friends, even said that the actor used a gun Polanski himself had given her for protection.

According to Moviemem Posters, Vetri has appeared at fan events and given autographs since her release from prison in 2018. She does not seem to have given any interviews to the press about Tate or the motivations behind the crime.