The body of Valley of the Dolls actress Sharon Tate was discovered on August 9, 1969, at the home of her husband, director Roman Polanski. At the time of Sharon Tate's death, the 26-year-old was eight-and-a-half months pregnant with her and Polanski's first child. Then, the murder of such a famous woman—who was stabbed and hanged at the hands of a then-unknown cult leader Charles Manson and his followers—shook Los Angeles to its core. Now, it's being reexamined in Quentin Tarantino's latest film, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie playing Tate.
Perhaps one of the reasons why the actress's gruesome death still fascinates the public is the seemingly arbitrary nature of her victimhood. The motive wasn't personal—and Tate wasn't the only victim. Writer Wojciech Frykowski, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, celebrity hair stylist Jay Sebring, and Steven Parent, a friend of the family's gardener, were all murdered by Manson Family members Susan Atkins, Tex Watson, and Patricia Krenwinkel.
The Manson family murdered Sharon Tate simply to make a statement.
Atkins, when charged with another murder, reportedly told her prison inmate, Virginia Castro, she murdered Tate, "Because we wanted to do a crime that would shock the world, that the world would have to stand up and take notice," according to CNN. From that account, Manson's choice in Tate appears to have less to do with her as an individual and much more to do with what she represented in Hollywood at that time.
In fact, the only thing connecting Tate and her husband to the Manson Family was that they happened to move into the Benedict Canyon home previously owned by record producer Terry Melcher (the son of actress Doris Day). Melcher was originally interested in Manson's music, but eventually declined to work with him.
Tate's husband, Roman Polanski, may know more about her death than he's let on.
The Hollywood couple's living situation might not have been merely an unfortunate coincidence. In an upcoming book, Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties, veteran journalist Tom O’Neill details his 20 years of research into the Manson Family and the Tate murders. He believes Polanski (featured in the book via anecdotes about his behavior following the crime and apparent connections to the LAPD) may not just another innocent bystander.
"I am suspicious of [Polanski] having prior, I shouldn’t say relationships, but some type of involvement," O’Neill recently told Entertainment Weekly. "He’s been keeping secrets for years." (Soon after Tate's death, rumors surfaced about the "sex, drug and witchcraft cults" that some believed had ties to the "offbeat" Hollywood crowd in which Tate and Polanski were involved, per TIME, but that has never been proven.)
Others close to Tate could be hiding something, too.
The author also interviewed friends/acquaintances of Tate, including Jules Buccieri and John Drew Barrymore (father of national treasure Drew Barrymore). These conversations didn't go well— O’Neill says Buccieri threatened to kill him and Barrymore went on a tirade the second he mentioned Tate’s name. "All of those people knew something more, and I think it had to do with Manson," O’Neill added to EW. "Some big secret."
To make matters worse, the investigation into Tate's death was a mess.
According to O'Neill's book description, "he unearthed shocking evidence of a cover-up behind the 'official' story, including police carelessness, legal misconduct, and potential surveillance by intelligence agents." That may explain (at least partially) why even well-known media outlets like TIME got key facts of the murder wrong during their original reporting.
For example, Tate's death was originally attributed to stabbing, and that the rope found around her neck served no real purpose other than tying her to fellow victim Jay Sebring. Later, however, a coroner testified that she was hanged as well.
By TIME's own admission in a 2018 article, "the magazine’s Aug. 22, 1969, description of the crime scene mischaracterized Tate’s wounds and her state of undress." In the publication's original reporting, it said Tate was "clad in a bikini nightgown," which was later corrected to "bikini-style sleepwear."
More importantly, TIME first reported that "[one] of Miss Tate’s breasts had been cut off, apparently as a result of indiscriminate slashing... and there was an X cut on her stomach." Again, that was corrected: the "slashing" did not fully removal one of Tate's breasts, and there was no evidence of an "X" carved on her stomach in any crime scene photos.
The real story behind Sharon Tate's death may never be known, but at least it is some small consolation that, even half a century later, her memory lives on.
Lindsay Geller
Lifestyle Director
Lindsay Geller is the Lifestyle Director at Women’s Health, where she oversees the Life, Sex & Love, and Relationships sections on WomensHealthMag.com and the Mind section of Women's Health magazine. When she's not writing or editing articles about the latest dating trends and pop culture phenomenons, she's usually watching reality TV or playing with her dog, Lucille (Go Fetch That) Ball.
Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a fictional film, but the tale of late-1960s L.A. includes many real-life figures. Among them are actress Sharon Tate, played by Margot Robbie, and cult leader Charles Manson
Charles Manson
In 1971, Manson was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the deaths of seven people, including the film actress Sharon Tate. The prosecution contended that, while Manson never directly ordered the murders, his ideology constituted an overt act of conspiracy.
Reportedly, Tarantino originally intended for Cliff to win the fight outright, but revised the scene after stunt coordinator Robert Alonzo and Pitt himself pushed back against the idea. The scene is based on a real confrontation between Lee and a stuntman named Gene LeBell, who did manage to beat Lee in a scuffle.
The movie assumes some knowledge about the history of Manson's cult, as well as the Tate murders, meaning it's not a bad idea to brush up on the facts before heading to the cinema. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is already out in the US, and will be released in the UK on 14 August.
Director Quentin Tarantino developed the idea over the course of several years, looking to tell a "fairy tale" set in 1960s Hollywood. The screenplay for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was developed slowly over several years by Quentin Tarantino.
Those dynamics set the backdrop for writer-director Quentin Tarantino's ninth film, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (July 26), a loosely historical fiction starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the fictional Rick Dalton, a television Western actor facing a fading career, and Brad Pitt as his trusty stuntman Cliff Booth, who ...
The second wife of film director Roman Polanski, Tate was brutally murdered (along with four others) by followers of Charles Manson at the couple's rented home in Los Angeles in 1969 (see Tate murders).
“I've never met [Tarantino].I don't know what his issues are with my father.Clearly, he thinks my father is cool, because he has borrowed from him quite a bit.” Tarantino's popular action thrillers Kill Bill: Vol 1 (2003) and Vol 2 (2004) were awash with Lee's iconography.
Tarantino did insult Bruce Lee in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. That's not to say the portrayal is as inaccurate as many believe. Before going into the scene, it's important to address the nature of the film.
In developing his art of Jeet Kune Do, Lee studied not only martial arts, but also biomechanics, boxing, fencing, nutrition, self-help books and philosophy. Lee was a man of many talents.
One member of the Tate family who has spoken out about her impressions of the film is Sharon's sister, Debra Tate. And not surprisingly, she initially had some major issues with the movie, and other dramatizations of her sibling's death. "It's been exploitative since day one.
What is the point of the movie "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" by Quentin Tarantino? To give you an idea of what life in Hollywood is like. Brad Pits character was basically meant to show the irony of being the actual action hero in real life, but not being treated like one.
The “twist” ending is a happy one, of course. In this alternate universe, Tate gets to raise her child; her friends will enjoy long lives; Hollywood's innocence won't be shattered, at least for a while longer.
Booth and Dalton defend themselves and kill their attackers, with Booth being taken to the hospital and Dalton receiving an invitation to have a drink with Tate and friends at her house. In Once Upon A Time In Hollywood's fake Wikipedia ending, Tate didn't die either, but was given a very bizarre action scene.
In late 1969 Manson Family member Susan Atkins—a participant in the Tate murders—claimed that the cult murdered Tate “because we wanted to do a crime that would shock the world, that the world would have to stand up and take notice.” Watson made similar claims.
In Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Charles Manson and his family are an ominous presence throughout the film. Like the Boogeyman, Manson (played by Damon Herriman) is briefly seen as he creeps up the home Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski are renting.
Once Upon a Time in America is based loosely on a book called The Hoods, written by Harry Goldberg under the pseudonym Harry Grey. In this autobiographical novel Goldberg recalls his experiences in the Prohibition Era, and attempts to explode the romanticized image of Gangsterism given us by Hollywood.
Quentin Tarantino is known for adding deliberate continuity errors into his movies. There are several examples in this one but the most obvious is as James Stacy comes over to talk to Rick on set. Initially he is bare-headed and his cowboy hat hangs down his back.
For the first year he still stayed on the ranch with some of the women of the Manson Family until it was destroyed in a large wildfire in September 1970. He was eventually admitted to the Sherwood Convalescent Hospital in Van Nuys, where he died on September 22, 1974, at the age of 85.
As usual for Tarantino, there are scenes of extremely shocking, graphic violence, including a woman's face being smashed repeatedly against the wall, vicious dog attacks, characters getting burned by a flamethrower, punching, blood spurts, gun use, fighting, and more.
Introduction: My name is Domingo Moore, I am a attractive, gorgeous, funny, jolly, spotless, nice, fantastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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