SHARON TATE'S LIFE IN.
A Brief Biography.
Sharon
A Brief Biography.
Sharon
While growing up, the stunning Sharon won several beauty contests and was the Homecoming Queen at the Vicenza American High School in Verona, Italy.
Stagestruck, she found work as an extra in several movies filmed on location in Italy: Hemingway's "Adventures of a Young Man" (1962) and "Barabbas" (1962).
Determined to break into the motion-picture business, Sharon was thrilled when her dad was reassigned to California. Now she would be that much closer to her dream city-Hollywood.
By early 1963, Sharon was based in Los Angeles, living at the Hollywood Studio Club and working occasionally in television commercials. She was introduced to Martin Ransohoff, the president of Filmways, and he cast her in the recurring role of Janet Trego on "The Beverly Hillbillies" (1963-65) and other bit TV parts. Ransohoff also cast the breathtakingly beautiful blonde in several of his productions: "The Wheeler Dealers" (1963), "The Americanization of Emily" (1964), and "The Sandpiper" (1965).
For a short time, she dated the French actor Philippe Forquet, who was then in Hollywood making a picture. But their brief affair was full of heated arguments. More lasting was her relationship with the swinging hairstylist Jay Sebring, who thrived on a celebrity clientele of male Hollywood stars.
While on location in England for Eye of the Devil (made in 1965, released in 1967), Martin Ransohoff introduced Sharon to the Polish-born director Roman Polanski. Ransohoff convinced the offbeat Polanski to cast Sharon in the female lead of "The Fearless Vampire Killers" (1967), as a Jewish inn-keeper's daughter. Polanski reluctantly agreed to use Tate instead of actress Jill St. John. Before they completed the parody clas- sic, this most unlikely pair-the diminutive, cynical, worldly-wise Roman and the tall, cheerful, unsophisticated Sharon-had fallen deeply in love.
When Tate and Polanski returned from making their horror spoof, they shared a house in Santa Monica. For her next role, Ransohoff gave her the flashy part of a curvaceous surfer in the Tony Curtis comedy "Don't Make Waves" (1967). One of the small number of highlights of the rather lacklustre "Valley of the Dolls" (1967) was Tate's appearance as sex siren Jennifer North, who commits suicide after suffering a mastectomy. Unlike her co-stars, Patty Duke and Barbara Parkins Sharon received glowing reviews.
On January 20th, 1968, in London, the 24, year-old Sharon wed Polanski, 10 years her senior. Among those attending the nuptials were Warren Beatty, Leslie Caron, Joan Collins and Michael Caine. After playing one of Dean Martin's girl toys in Matt Helm's spy-movie parody, "The Wrecking Crew" (1969), Tate ended her exclusive contract with Ransohoff. She preferred to freelance now that she was a rising force in the international film industry. Meanwhile, she and Polanski played and dined among the trendy International Hollywood set.
Before Sharon left for London to shoot "Thirteen" aka "12+1" (released in 1970) with Orson Welles & Vittorio Gassman, the Polanskis rented a house a 10050 Cielo Drive, off Benedict Canyon Road, in Bel Air. (The previous tenants had been Doris Day's son Terry Melcher and his girlfriend, Candice Bergen.) Because Roman had preproduction film conferences to attend in Europe, Sharon returned alone to California in July 1969 after finishing her movie. At the time, she was eight months pregnant.
Sharon also had several new movie projects lined up, such as "The Story of 0" and "Tess of the D'Urbervilles", but her real attention was on the impending birth of her child and planning a party for Roman, who was due home sometime before his birthday on August 18. On a hot Thursday, August 7, 1969, the very pregnant Sharon went with several actor pals to a TV episode screening at Universal. The next day, actress Joanna Pettet and another friend came to Sharon's for lunch, and that evening, Sharon was invited by a friend to a small dinner party. But she declined the invitation, mentioning that she was very tired. She decided that she would go out for a meal at El Coyote with Jay Sebring and then spend a quiet night at home.
On Saturday morning (August 9, 1969), when the maid arrived at the house on Cielo Drive, she found a terrifying sight. In the living room were the bodies of Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring.On the lawn were the bodies of a couple who had been staying with Sharon while Polanski was away: Abigail Folger (the 25-year-old daughter of the chairman of the Folger Coffee Com- pany) and Wojtek Frykowski (Roman's 32-year-old childhood pal). Eighteen-year-old Steven Parent was found dead in his car near the entrance gate.
Over two hundred people attended Sharon's funeral at Holy Cross Memorial Park in Culver City. A tearful Polanski had returned for the service. Father O'Reilly eulogized, "Goodbye Sharon, and may the angels welcome you to heaven, and the mar- tyrs guide your way." The casket, containing the bodies of Sharon and her unborn son, Paul Richard, was buried on the cemetery grounds. The marble marker reads, "Beloved wife of Roman ... Sharon Tate Polanski ... Paul Richard Polanski ... Their Baby." A few days later, Sharon's movies were reissued nationwide.
Although the motive will never be known. it seems that a psycotic killer, Charles Manson had targeted the house and sent his followers to the secluded estate for revenge of some sort. All the victims were innocent and had no connection to him at all. It was a tragic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
When Polanski finally made "Tess" (1979) with Nastassja Kinski in the role once intended for Tate, the movie was lovingly dedicated: "To Sharon".
Blonde and Beautiful Sharon Tate is Movies’ Latest “Overnight Sensation” Although Miss Tate has definitely zoomed to stardom, the glamourous blonde insists that there is no such thing as overnight success in Hollywood. And she knows whereof she speaks.
She was coached and groomed for stardom over a period of more than two years and gained practical experience on television, although never under her own name and usually wearing a black wig.
Sharon's "meteoric rise" began in a Los Angeles television studio where, after doing nothing but commercials, she was trying out for a part in "Petticoat Junction." Martin Ransohoff, head of Filmways, the company producing the series, spotted her and signed Sharon to an exclusive seven-year contract.
At that point the rocket ride to stardom that the young hopeful had always heard about began more closely to resemble a roller coaster ride.
A typical day would find her attending a speech class in Hollywood at eight in the morning, after which she would take a bus, (she didn’t own a car), to Pasadena for singing lessons. Next came bodybuilding exercises at a Beverly Hills Gymnasium, followed by a short break for lunch. In the afternoon, she had a session of dance instruction in Los Angeles, then travelled out to MGM Studios in Culver City to spend the rest of the day in a drama class. Most evenings were spent reading plays and learning her lines for the following day's drama training.
When she was working on "Petticoat Junction" and in such other TV series as "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Mister Ed", Sharon would skip classes for the period necessary to do the shows, then work twice as hard to catch up.
"It was hard work," she admits, "and I can't say that I didn't get discouraged at times. Ofton I'd work for long periods thinking I wasn't getting anywhere, then all of a sudden I'd feel that I had made a tremendous advance. So, it was more of a series of big jumps than a collection of small steps".
Now that she had achieved a major role in her screen debut, Sharon had no regrets for all the time spent in coaching and grooming. When she steps in front of the camera she has confidence, although she is aware that her career is just beginning.
"But from now on," she says, "whenever I read about someone rocketing to stardom, I'll know how long it takes to build the launching pad."
Links to other sites on the Web
Sharon Tate
Sharon Tate Remembered
Sharon Tate, A Star on Walk Of Fame
Photo Gallery of Sharon
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