Sharon Tate Recollection. (original) (raw)

On August 9, 1969, members of the Charles Manson Family invaded the Los Angeles home of Sharon Tate, savagely murdering the actress and four others. Tate was eight months pregnant. The sanguinary "Helter Skelter" slayings rank as one of the most vicious and notorious crimes in twentieth-century U. S. history.

Among the most beautiful women in Tinseltown, Sharon, only twenty-six at the time of her death, was born in Dallas, Texas, on January 24, 1943. Wed to film director Roman Polanski, she had appeared in a handful of motion pictures, including Eye of the Devil (1966), The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), Don't Make Waves (1967), and The Wrecking Crew (1968). Most famously, Tate starred in Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls (1967), the cult classic for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. Sharon, also a popular model, counted among her friends such Hollywood luminaries as Steve McQueen, Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda, Mia Farrow, Laurence Harvey, Leslie Caron, Peter Sellers, Patty Duke, and Yul Brynner.

Debra Tate has assembled a lavish photographic celebration of her older sister, focusing on Sharon's life and career; her untimely demise is not examined. "I always felt it was very unfair for her life to be remembered primarily for its final moments," Debra contends. "Sharon had a magnificent life." Any fan of cinema and the Swinging Sixties will relish this impressive collection of striking photographs. The author divides her book into eight chapters: The American Dream Girl-Selections From the Tate Family Album 1943-1959; All Eyes on Sharon Tate 1960-1964; The MGM Years 1965-1967; Valley of the Dolls 1967; Portfolio 1964-1969; Roman; Nova 1968; and 1969.

Polanski, who married Sharon on January 20, 1968, in London, contributed a brief foreword to this pictorial biography. He observes, quite movingly, "It is impossible, of course, to imagine what might have been if Sharon had lived. But this book allows me to remember what was." The controversial filmmaker, lionized as the director of Rosemary's Baby (1968) during his marriage to Tate, went on to helm such acclaimed motion pictures as Chinatown (1974), Tess (1979), and The Pianist (2002).

A treasure trove of all things Tate, this remarkable volume includes tributes by those who knew her, quotes and correspondence from Sharon, posters from her films, magazine covers, movie stills, and stunning photographs of the young actress. Legendary photographer Bert Stern called Tate "the most beautiful woman I ever met."

Note: Ironically, one of Tate's attackers was Charles "Tex" Watson, also a native of the Lone Star State. For additional information about the gorgeous, ill-fated star, see Greg King's Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders (Barricade Books, 2000), Restless Souls: The Sharon Tate Family's Account of Stardom, the Manson Murders, and a Crusade for Justice (It Books, 2012) by Alisa Statman with Brie Tate, and Sharon Tate: A Life (Da Capo Press, 2016) by Ed Sanders.