She plucked out all her eyelashes and her cat’s whiskers. Soon, Judith’s abuse at home began to seep into her day-to-day life. He says József Barsi said: “Remember what I told you before you left.” Judith burst into tears. Weldon remembered overhearing a conversation between father and daughter soon afterward while Judith and Maria visited him in New York. “If you decide not to come back, I will cut your throat,” he said. He smashed the kite into pieces.Īnother time, as Judith prepared to fly to the Bahamas to film Jaws: The Revenge, József threatened her with a knife. When Judith worried he’d break it, József called his daughter a “spoiled brat” who didn’t know how to share. On one occasion, József Barsi grabbed a kite from Judith. According to Kivlen, he said: “I gotta kill her too.” I’d tell him, ‘If you kill her, what will happen to your little one?'” Kivlen said. Her bubbly personality concealed the terrible abuse she suffered at home. YouTube Judith Barsi in Slam Dance (1987). A friend of his named Peter Kivlen recalled that József told him hundreds of times that he wanted to kill his wife. He threatened to kill Maria or even kill Judith so that Maria would suffer. Outside the glare of the spotlight, Judith and Maria Virovacz Barsi suffered abuse at József’s hands.Ī heavy drinker and quick to anger, József focused his wrath on his wife and daughter. Inside Judith Barsi’s Death At Her Father’s HandĪs Judith Barsi’s star burned brighter, her home life grew darker. But Judith’s father, József Barsi, cast a dark shadow on her childhood. Maria’s greatest dreams seemed to be coming true, and Judith seemed destined for success. She made about $100,000 a year, which her parents used to buy a three-bedroom house at 22100 Michale Street in the Canoga Park neighborhood at the western edge of the San Fernando Valley. Judith’s success helped her family thrive. Judith Barsi, she said, was a “happy, bubbly little girl.” “When she was 10, she was still playing 7, 8,” explained her agent, Ruth Hansen. Judith was so small, in fact, that she received hormone injections to help her grow. Hauntingly, Judith played a daughter murdered by her father in the 1984 miniseries Fatal Vision.Ĭasting directors were enchanted by her small size, since it let her play younger characters. She starred in dozens of commercials, made appearances on TV shows like Cheers, and won roles in films like Jaws: The Revenge. Enchanted by the petite blonde girl effortlessly gliding on the ice, they invited her to join their commercial.įrom there, Judith’s career as an actress grew. As it often happens in Los Angeles, where something is always filming, Judith Barsi was spotted by a crew at an ice rink. YouTube Judith Barsi (left) with Ted Danson on Cheers in 1986.īut in a spurt of Hollywood magic, Maria did succeed. “I told her the chances are one in 10,000 that she would succeed.” “I said I wouldn’t waste my time,” Maria Barsi’s brother, Joseph Weldon, recalled. She taught Judith about posture, poise, and how to speak. Maria, dazzled by the stars in nearby Hollywood, was determined to guide her daughter toward a career in acting. József Barsi and Maria Virovacz Barsi, on the other hand, had separately fled the 1956 Soviet occupation of their native Hungary. She was born on June 6, 1978, in sunny Los Angeles, California. From The Child Of Immigrants To A Hollywood Actorįrom the beginning, Judith Eva Barsi seemed destined to have a different life from her parents. This is the tragic tale of the death of Judith Barsi, the talented child actor murdered by her own father. In 1988, József gruesomely followed through with his threats. He abused both Judith and her mother, Maria Virovacz Barsi, and even told friends about his murderous urges toward them. But her rising star dovetailed with her father’s abuse.īehind the scenes, József Barsi terrorized his family. At just 10 years old, she had snagged a number of film and TV roles, appearing in Cheers and Jaws: The Revenge and lending her voice to animated movies like The Land Before Time. On the outside, Judith Barsi seemed to have it all. ABC Press Photo Judith Barsi was only 10 years old when her father murdered her in their San Fernando Valley home.
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