Sharon Tate

Sharon Marie Tate (January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969) was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small roles in television, before starting her film career. She appeared in several films that utilised her physical beauty, and after receiving positive reviews as a light comedienne was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers. Tate's celebrity status and role as a style icon of the "Swinging Sixties" increased after fashion magazines began featuring her as a model and cover girl. Married to the film director Roman Polanski, Tate was eight months pregnant when she, along with four others, was murdered in her Benedict Canyon home by followers of Charles Manson.

Legacy

In the early 1980s, Stephen Kay, who had worked on the murder trial, became alarmed that Leslie Van Houten had gathered 900 signatures on a petition which supported her parole. He contacted Doris Tate who said she was sure she could do better, and the two mounted a publicity campaign that led to the collection of more than 350,000 signatures supporting the view that parole should be denied. {{mn|GregKing|1}} Van Houten had been considered as the most likely of the killers to achieve parole; however, following the efforts of Kay and Tate, her petition was denied. Doris Tate became a vocal advocate for victim's rights and in discussing her daughter's murder and meeting with other crime victims, began to assume the role of a counsellor, using her profile to encourage public discussion and criticism of the corrections system.

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For the remainder of her life she strongly campaigned against the parole of each of the Manson killers, and she worked closely with other victims of violent crime. On several occasions she confronted Charles Watson at parole hearings, explaining, "I feel that Sharon has to be represented in that hearing room. If they're pleading for their lives, then I have to be there representing her". Addressing Watson directly, during her victim impact statement in 1984, she said, "What mercy, Sir, did you show my daughter when she was begging for her life? What mercy did you show my daughter when she said 'give me two weeks to have my baby and then you can kill me'.... When will come up for parole? Will these seven victims and possibly more walk out of their graves if you get paroled? You cannot be trusted". {{mn|GregKing|1}}

Related Topics:
Victim impact statement - 1984

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In 1992, President George H.W. Bush recognized Tate as one of his "thousand points of light" for her volunteer work on behalf of victims' rights. By this time Tate had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour and her health and strength were failing, and her meeting with Bush marked her final public appearance. When she died later in the year her youngest daughter Patti continued her work. She contributed to the foundation in 1993 of the "Doris Tate Crime Victims Bureau", a non-profit organization which aims to influence crime legislation throughout the United States and to give the victims of violent crime greater rights and protection. {{mn|DorisTateBureau|14}} In 1995, the "Doris Tate Crime Victims Foundation" was founded as a non-profit organization to promote public awareness of the judicial system and to provide support to the victims of violent crime. {{mn|DorisTateFoundation|15}} Patti Tate also confronted David Geffen and board members of Geffen Records in 1993 over plans to include a song written by Charles Manson on the Guns N'Roses album The Spaghetti Incident. She commented to a journalist that the record company was "putting Manson up on a pedestal for young people who don't know who he is to worship like an idol". {{mn|PattiTate|16}}

Related Topics:
George H.W. Bush - Brain tumour - 1993 - 1995 - David Geffen - Geffen Records - Guns N'Roses - The Spaghetti Incident

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After Patti's death from breast cancer in 2000, her older sister Debra continued to represent the Tate family at parole hearings. Of the killers, Debra Tate has said "They don?t show any personal responsibility. They haven?t made atonement to any one of my family members". {{mn|GregKing|1}} She has also unsuccessfully lobbied for Sharon Tate to be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Related Topics:
Breast cancer - Hollywood Walk of Fame

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Colonel Paul Tate preferred not to make public comments, however he was a constant presence during the murder trial, and in the following years attended parole hearings with his wife, and wrote letters to authorities in which he strongly opposed any suggestion of parole. He died in May, 2005. {{mn|PaulTate|17}}

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Roman Polanski gave away all of his possessions after the murders, unable to bear any reminders of the time he referred to as "the happiest I ever was in my life". He remained in Los Angeles until the killers were arrested and then travelled to Europe. His 1976 film Tess was dedicated "For Sharon", as Tate had read Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles during her final stay with Polanski in London, and had left the book for him to read, with the comment that it would be a good story for them to film together. He tried to explain his anguish after the murder of his wife and unborn son in his 1984 autobiography Roman by Polanski and wrote, "Since Sharon's death, and despite appearances to the contrary, my enjoyment of life has been incomplete. In moments of unbearable personal tragedy some people find solace in religion. In my case the opposite happened. Any religious faith I had was shattered by Sharon's murder. It reinforced my faith in the absurd". {{mn|RomanPolanski|2}}

Related Topics:
1976 - Tess - Thomas Hardy - Tess of the d'Urbervilles - 1984 - Autobiography

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In July, 2005 Polanski successfully sued the magazine Vanity Fair for libel after they wrote that he had attempted to seduce a woman on his way to Tate's funeral. Among the witnesses who testified for him were Debra Tate and Mia Farrow. Describing Polanski immediately after Tate's death, Farrow testified, "Of this I can be sure – of his frame of mind when we were there, of what we talked about, of his utter sense of loss, of despair and bewilderment and shock and love – a love that he had lost". At the conclusion of the case, Polanski read a statement, saying in part, "The memory of my late wife Sharon Tate was at the forefront of my mind in bringing this action." {{mn|Times|19}}

Related Topics:
2005 - Vanity Fair - Libel

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The murders committed by the Manson "Family" have been described by social commentators as one of the defining moments of the 1960s. Joan Didion wrote, "Many people I know in Los Angeles believe that the Sixties ended abruptly on August 9, 1969, ended at the exact moment when word of the murders on Cielo Drive travelled like brushfire through the community, and in a sense this is true. The tension broke that day. The paranoia was fulfilled." {{mn|GregKing|1}}

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Sharon Tate's work as an actress has been reviewed in the years since her death with modern film writers and critics such as Leonard Maltin writing that she displayed potential as a comedienne. A restored version of The Fearless Vampire Killers more closely resembles Polanski's intention, and the film and Tate's performance have received praise with Maltin describing the film as "near-brilliant". Tate's work in Don't Make Waves and The Wrecking Crew have been described by Maltin as containing her two best performances, and the best indicators of the career she might have established. {{mn|LeonardMaltin|18}} Eye of the Devil with its supernatural themes, and Valley of the Dolls, with its overstated melodrama, have each achieved a degree of cult status.

Related Topics:
Leonard Maltin - Cult status

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Tate's biographer, Greg King, holds a view often expressed by members of the Tate family, writing in Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders (2000), "Sharon's real legacy lies not in her movies or in her television work. The very fact that, today, victims or their families in California are able to sit before those convicted of a crime and have a voice in the sentencing at trials or at parole hearings, is largely due to the work of Doris Tate. Their years of devotion to Sharon's memory and dedication to victim's rights... have helped transform Sharon from mere victim, restore a human face to one of the twentieth century's most infamous crimes." {{mn|GregKing|1}}

Related Topics:
Biographer - Twentieth century

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