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What Happened To Sharon Tate? Revisiting The Actor’s Tragic Murder Case 55 Years After Her Death
Exactly 55 years ago on August 9, the Valley of the Dolls star was brutally murdered in her Los Angeles home along with five others.
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of death.
Her rapidly rising fame came to a sudden tragic stop in 1969 when Hollywood actor Sharon Tate became the most high-profile victim of one of the most infamous murder sprees in America. She was eight and a half months pregnant with legendary filmmaker Roman Polanski’s child at the time of her murder over five decades ago.
Exactly 55 years ago on August 9, the Valley of the Dolls star was brutally murdered in her Los Angeles home along with five others. The murder was traced back to be a part of the killings by the followers of the infamous cult leader and musician Charles Manson. The story below delves deep into the murder and the reason behind it that changed Hollywood forever.
Who was Sharon Tate?
Born in 1943 in Dallas, Tate was born to Col. Paul Tate and Doris Tate and possessed star talent since as little as six months old. She was crowned Miss Tiny Tot of Dallas at that age, after her grandmother submitted some of her pictures to the competition. Tate was an army brat who traveled the nation and at the age of 16, she won the titles of Queen of the Tri-City Autorama in Richland and Miss Richland, Washington.
The entire Tate family including the younger sisters Patricia and Debra relocated to Verona, Italy, in 1960. At her American high school, Tate was a popular cheerleader and her senior year prom queen. Tate was pursuing her goals even as a young child, enjoying the attention of an audience.
In 1960, her stepping stone towards glamour and Tinseltown began with her appearance in a Venice-shot episode of The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom and on the cover of the American military publication Stars and Stripes. A year later, Tate had her first movie role as an extra in Anthony Quinn's swords-and-sandals flick Barabbas. At the age of 19, Tate's mother permitted Jack Palance, an actor involved in the movie, to take her out on a date. She also dated actor Richard Beymer for a short while after they met on a Veronese film set.
The 20-year-old received her big break in show business in 1963. Martin Ransohoff, chairman of the Filmways production studio and producer of The Beverly Hillbillies, took note of her during her audition for the sitcom Petticoat Junction. A producer took Tate to Ransohoff's office, where he immediately conducted a film test, fascinated by her attractiveness.
Tate, who had never performed before, was informed by Ransohoff, “Baby, we're going to make you a star.” Finally, after several uncredited roles and commercials, she hit it off in Hollywood in 1967 with her back-to-back appearances in Eye of the Devil, Don’t Make Waves, The Fearless Vampire Killers, and Valley of the Dolls followed by a Golden Globe nomination.
During the shooting of The Fearless Vampire Killers, Tate met Polanski who directed and starred in it. Soon, she moved in with him in his London home following the film’s wrap. The following year, in 1968, the couple tied the knot and the same year she was pregnant with Polanski’s first child.
What happened on the tragic night of August 9, 1969?
During her pregnancy, in February 1969, the couple moved in to 10050 Cielo Drive in Beverly Hills’s Benedict Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains which they rented from talent acquisition manager Rudy Altobelli.
On August 8, 1969, Tate went out for dinner with her hairstylist and ex-boyfriend Jay Sebring, her friends Wojciech Frykowski, and his girlfriend Folger Coffee heiress Abigail Folger at El Coyote Cafe and returned to her Cielo Drive home. Just after midnight, on August 9, D. "Tex" Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins entered Tate and Polanski's Beverly Hills house with fellow Manson cult member Linda Kasabian waiting in the car.
The New York Times reported on Atkins's court testimony that they told Tate, Sebring, Folger, and Frykowski to go into the living room of the home. Watson then shot Sebring and used a rope to bind Tate and Sebring's necks together. Tate was then viciously stabbed by Atkins and used her blood to write “PIG” on the white front door before he left the house.
After Frykowski and Folger managed to flee out the front of the home, the killers pursued them and fatally stabbed them, leaving their bodies on the grass. Watson also fatally shot an 18-year-old named Parent who was leaving the house after seeing Willie Garretson, the caretaker of the house, at the front gate.
Atkins stated in court that she couldn't remember how many times she had stabbed 26-year-old Tate, but Dr. Thomas T. Noguchi, the coroner, kept track and testified that Tate had sustained 16 stab wounds including eight to her back, two to her upper right arm, and one to her right thigh. According to The New York Times, she was also sliced twice on her left forearm, receiving what he described as “superficial” wounds.
According to Dr. Noguchi's testimony, Tate was alive when she and Sebring were hanged by the Manson followers in the living room of the house. Tate suffered rope burns on her face and neck during the hanging, and she passed away soon after.
What is the Manson cult?
Eventually, investigators linked the murders to Charles Manson's followers, who used to write inscriptions on the house’s walls using the blood of the victims. Before he passed away in 2017 at the age of 83, Manson and his “family” of followers were found guilty of nine murders. Manson was also serving nine life terms in prison.
Nevertheless, Debra, Tate's sister, thinks there might be more undiscovered Manson cult victims. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders claims that Manson ordered a series of killings in Los Angeles with the intention of inciting a racial conflict in the country that he called “Helter Skelter.”
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