Biografia

Dow and her daughter Jennifer Aniston were estranged for nine years, partially because Dow wrote a book about their relationship, entitled From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir (1999). In 2005, after Aniston's divorce from Brad Pitt, she and her mother reportedly reconciled. Aniston described the gradual progress of her new relationship with her mother:.

Her mother left the family when she was about twelve.

Mother of Jennifer Aniston and John T. Melick

Dow was born in Connecticut, one of six daughters of Louise (née Grieco) and Gordon McLean Dow. Her maternal grandfather, Louis Grieco, was an Italian immigrant; her other ancestry includes English, Scottish and Irish. Dow was also married to John T. "Jack" Melick, Jr., a pianist-bandleader currently based in Dallas, Texas, from 1956 to 1961. The couple had one son, John T. Melick III, an assistant director and second-unit director.

In 2011 and 2012, Dow had a couple of strokes, which affected her ability to speak and walk. On the morning of May 23, 2016, she was taken by ambulance from her home in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles. She died two days later at 79 years old.