Tate was eight-and-a-half months pregnant at the time of her death, and her friend Jay Sebring was also one of the victims.
These are the final photographs ever shot of Sharon Tate. Her friend and former boyfriend Jay Sebring along with Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger were all killed by the Manson family in a house on Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California on August 8th, 1969.
In the early 1960s, Sharon was the luminously beautiful daughter of an army intelligence officer who decided to try and make it as an actress in Hollywood. But over the next few years, she would become best known, first, as the girlfriend of well-known Hollywood hair-stylist Jay Sebring and next as the wife of hot-shot director Roman Polanski.
Even a co-starring role in one of 1967’s top box office hits, Valley of the Dolls, did little to boost Tate’s fame outside of being known as one-half of the internationally jet-setting super couple led by Polanski, who was basking in the acclaim of directing Rosemary’s Baby.
And, in the end, Tate would go down in history for her most tragic role of all: as the most famous victim of a grisly 1969 killing spree perpetrated by Charles Manson and his followers. The Manson family’s rampage, with its undercurrents of sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, satanism and Manson’s proposed race war, would terrorize the Hollywood community and the rest of America as the 1960s came to an end.
According to American film critic Karina Longworth, American popular culture of the late 1960s wasn’t just the backdrop for Manson’s crimes but may have been something of an accomplice.
Perhaps because of the eagerness of young Hollywood to embrace the counter-culture in films and music, Manson was able to gain a foothold in the Los Angeles entertainment scene. After the career criminal-turned cult guru learned to play guitar in prison, he became friends with Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys and, more notably, with Byrds producer Terry Melcher, the son of actress Doris Day.
While The Beach Boys covered one of Manson’s songs, Melcher rejected Manson for a record deal. That rejection is considered to be one of the events that prompted Manson to target a certain house in Benedict Canyon, near Beverly Hills, for the start of his murderous spree on that August weekend in 1969.
The house at 10050 Cielo Drive had been Melcher’s house up until February 1969, after which Tate and Polanski moved in. In fact, the traditional-looking, wood-and-glass hilltop home had been Tate’s dream house.
Most people are vaguely familiar with what happened early in the morning of Aug. 9, 1969. Four of Manson’s followers broke into Tate’s house and massacred its occupants, including the 26-year-old actress who was eight months pregnant at the time. The other victims at the house were Tate’s ex-boyfriend Sebring, two houseguests, and an 18-year-old visiting the property’s caretaker.
Polanski was not in Los Angeles at the time but in London, finishing up work on a film script.
These are the final photographs ever shot of Sharon Tate. Her friend and former boyfriend Jay Sebring along with Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger were all killed by the Manson family in a house on Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California on August 8th, 1969.
In the early 1960s, Sharon was the luminously beautiful daughter of an army intelligence officer who decided to try and make it as an actress in Hollywood. But over the next few years, she would become best known, first, as the girlfriend of well-known Hollywood hair-stylist Jay Sebring and next as the wife of hot-shot director Roman Polanski.
Even a co-starring role in one of 1967’s top box office hits, Valley of the Dolls, did little to boost Tate’s fame outside of being known as one-half of the internationally jet-setting super couple led by Polanski, who was basking in the acclaim of directing Rosemary’s Baby.
And, in the end, Tate would go down in history for her most tragic role of all: as the most famous victim of a grisly 1969 killing spree perpetrated by Charles Manson and his followers. The Manson family’s rampage, with its undercurrents of sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, satanism and Manson’s proposed race war, would terrorize the Hollywood community and the rest of America as the 1960s came to an end.
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| Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring, Cielo Drive, 1969. |
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| Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring, Cielo Drive, 1969. |
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| Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring. |
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| Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring. |
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| This is Tate with Voyteck Froykowski, the photo supposedly taken by Jay Sebring. |
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| This is Tate and Frowkowski again. Daddies do this sort of thing, listen for the heartbeat. Of course, Voyteck is not the daddy, but this is Hollywood. |
According to American film critic Karina Longworth, American popular culture of the late 1960s wasn’t just the backdrop for Manson’s crimes but may have been something of an accomplice.
Perhaps because of the eagerness of young Hollywood to embrace the counter-culture in films and music, Manson was able to gain a foothold in the Los Angeles entertainment scene. After the career criminal-turned cult guru learned to play guitar in prison, he became friends with Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys and, more notably, with Byrds producer Terry Melcher, the son of actress Doris Day.
While The Beach Boys covered one of Manson’s songs, Melcher rejected Manson for a record deal. That rejection is considered to be one of the events that prompted Manson to target a certain house in Benedict Canyon, near Beverly Hills, for the start of his murderous spree on that August weekend in 1969.
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| Tate and Polanski’s house at 10050 Cielo Drive. |
The house at 10050 Cielo Drive had been Melcher’s house up until February 1969, after which Tate and Polanski moved in. In fact, the traditional-looking, wood-and-glass hilltop home had been Tate’s dream house.
Most people are vaguely familiar with what happened early in the morning of Aug. 9, 1969. Four of Manson’s followers broke into Tate’s house and massacred its occupants, including the 26-year-old actress who was eight months pregnant at the time. The other victims at the house were Tate’s ex-boyfriend Sebring, two houseguests, and an 18-year-old visiting the property’s caretaker.
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| The five victims: Wojciech Frykowski, Sharon Tate, Steven Parent, Jay Sebring, and Abigail Folger. |
Polanski was not in Los Angeles at the time but in London, finishing up work on a film script.
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