Many called this actress an angel, she was always so kind and sweet. She looked like an angel: blond, beautiful, with open eyes wide-open eyes. Such was Sharon (Sharon) Tate - an actress whose life was tragically cut short precisely when she was so happy. Our biography will tell about Sharon’s biography, work in the cinema, her personal life and the reason for her death.
Short biography of Sharon Tate
The American model and movie star was born in 1943 on August 9 in Dallas. She was a beautiful child and in early childhood she became the winner of several beauty contests. Photo Sharon began to appear in glossy magazines early.
In the early 60s, a grown-up girl begins to appear in unpretentious television series, where she gets very tiny minor roles. Until 1969, the year of her death, she played only thirteen diverse roles, mostly comedic.
During her short life, the actress managed to achieve fame, create several bright images in the movie. She also managed to fall in love and marry a successful American director.
This is a brief biography of a sixties star. Now we will tell you more about the events of her life.
Childhood Sharon
The heroine of our article was the eldest daughter of Colonel James Tate and his wife Doris Tate. When little Sharon was only six months old, she already won the Miss Baby title at the children's beauty pageant held annually in Dallas.
Parents were immensely proud of their little princess, but so far they had no plans for their daughter’s serious participation in show business.
Since the head of the family was a soldier, the Sharon family was forced to move frequently. From the moment of birth to 1959, the girl changed her place of residence six times. Perhaps because of this, Sharon Tate was difficult to get along with other children.
Parents were seriously concerned about her timidity. They believed that the girl was suffering from an inferiority complex and self-doubt.
Young years. First steps to the cinema
To surrounding people, young Sharon often seemed cold and impregnable. In fact, she was not like that, just her innate shyness forced the girl to be restrained.
She was unusually attractive, but the mother had to persuade her daughter to participate in beauty contests. In 1959, at one of these events, Sharon won the title of "Miss Richland." Subsequently, the girl planned to take part in the Miss Washington contest, but her father was unexpectedly transferred to Italy, and young Sharon and her family ended up in Verona.
In a new place, the girl was first able to make friends. Together with a group of peers, Sharon ran to the set of the film “The Adventures of a Young Man” to take part in mass scenes there.
Richard Beimer - an actor who played one of the main roles in the film, immediately noticed a bright young lady. He invited the girl several times for walks and in every possible way convinced her that she must become an actress.
In 1961, Sharon Tate was invited to participate in the filming of a television music show. On the TV screen, the girl looked simply charming. Further, the young beauty is introduced into the extras of the film "Barabbas". The girl makes a great impression on the filmmakers and she is invited to film screenings in Rome. True, these tests brought the girl only disappointment.
However, she was already seriously eager to become an actress. Sharon Tate persuades her parents to let her go to the USA; there she is struggling to find a job in the cinema. When it seems to her that luck is already close, it turns out that the mother was too exhausted in Verona, worrying about Sharon. Loving her loved ones and not wanting to cause them further anxiety, the girl is forced to go back to Italy.
She was able to return to the world of cinema only after her family returned to the USA in 1962. By this time, Sharon already had some connections in the artistic environment, this helped her to start acting in commercials for television. A little later, she was entrusted with a small role as a comedic character in the series "The Beverly Hills Hillbilly", in 1963 Sharon starred in the series "Hollywood and His Stars", in 1964 - in "A.N.K.L. Agents"
Personal life - first love
Sharon Tate was fantastically good. Is it any wonder that many men went crazy over her? But Sharon was inherent in seriousness and restraint. She did not want to exchange for ordinary affairs, waiting for great love.
In 1962, Tate fell in love with the French actor Philippe Fork. This novel ended with an engagement. However, for some reason, the relationship between the lovers did not add up. Sharon and Philip constantly quarreled. In the end, the engagement by mutual consent was terminated.
In 1964, the girl has another chance to get married. She was proposed by Jay Sebring, a Hollywood fashion stylist. Tate really liked this man, he had a soft character, a stable position in the world of cinema, but still she refused to Jay. At that time, she believed that marriage could interfere with her plans to become a famous movie actress.
Film career development
In 1965, Sharon Tate finally managed to get the first notable role in the film “The Devil's Eye”. The film starred such famous Hollywood actors as Deborah Kerr, David Niven and David Hemmings.
Sharon got the role of the witch Odile, who, with the help of witchcraft charms, subordinates to her power a family of one marquise engaged in winemaking.
After work on the tape was completed, David Niven - the lead actor - described Sharon as the "great discovery" of this film. The young actress for the first time felt what success was.
Perhaps it was after participating in the horror film “The Devil’s Eye” that a certain mystical curse loomed over Sharon Tate’s life, and this was one of the causes of her death. Without knowing it, she woke up the forces of evil and attracted their attention to herself. Now, step by step, she moved towards the fateful day, her tragic ending.
Acquaintance with Roman Polanski
Filming "Eye of the Devil" was mainly held in England. After completing the filming process, the actress decided not to return home immediately, but to spend some time in London.
There, she plunges headlong into the world of fashion and night parties of artistic bohemia, where she meets the young director Roman Polanski. Then they did not yet know that this short acquaintance would develop over time into a marriage and creative union.
Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski sometimes called each other, occasionally met. Sharon could not understand why the director is behaving so strangely with her. At meetings he was somehow deliberately unleashed. His appearance also did not impress the girl. The novel was below her height and did not differ in beauty.
The reason for the young man’s cheeky behavior in the presence of Tate was later explained: he was terribly shy of beautiful women, and in addition he really liked Tate.
After some time, Polanski was supposed to start filming the movie "Vampire Ball". In 1967, he was looking for an actress for the role of the main character. At first, he did not even consider Sharon as a pretender. Nevertheless, it was she who was destined to play the red-haired beauty Sarah.
"Vampire Ball"
The 1967 film brought Sharon real popularity and fame. However, the actress experienced many difficulties during the filming period. She lacked self-confidence and experience. Sometimes the director had to do up to 70 takes of the same scene with Sharon. Polanski himself played in the "Vampire Ball" the role of a young eccentric in love with the heroine of Tate. All this contributed to the further development of relations between the actress and the director.
Marriage
Sharon Tate and Polanski got married in England, in Chelsea, in 1967. Subsequently, their couple began to often appear in the scandalous socialite. Having married, the couple moved to live in a villa in Beverly Hills.
They were very in love with each other and happy. Polanski admires his wife and constantly photographs her. He takes it off even when she is sleeping.
Before marriage, Tate once asked Roman what his ideal woman was, and he replied that she was his ideal. Then he was silent for a moment and added that he would like Sharon to remain beautiful and young forever and never change. The girl shared this with her friend.
After Tate died, her friend with horror remembered Polanski's wish. She told reporters: precisely those words could cause the imminent death of his wife. After all, Sharon remained young forever because of her early death.
Creative success
Along with successes in her personal life, Sharon Tate's creative career is also rapidly growing. “Valley of Dolls” - a film that was released in 1967, brought her a nomination for a Golden Globe and world fame.
If earlier the actress played mainly comedic roles, this time she got a dramatic image. Her character is an actress who tries to make her way to fame. The script was so close to our heroine.
Awaiting baby
Sharon quickly became pregnant, and the couple was incredibly glad about this fact. Their firstborn was to be born in the late summer of 1969. Roman and Sharon spent spring in Europe. There are many photographs of a pregnant actress that relate to this period. The husband photographed her constantly. His beautiful wife was so touching with a rounded belly.
However, the time has come to part. Polanski was about to start filming Dolphin Day, and Tate returned to America to prepare for her birth and wait for her husband to return home.
In separation, Sharon was very homesick, constantly called to London, begged Roman to come as soon as possible. She was tormented by bad forebodings.
How did actress Sharon Tate die
The cause of death of a young, promising actress and expectant mother does not need to be sought in a mystical combination of circumstances. The reality was much worse.
On the evening of August 9, 1969, several friends visited Sharon's house. The youth started a small party. Two days later, Roman was finally supposed to return; two weeks later, the birth of Tate was expected.
At night, four outsiders entered the house, armed with knives and firearms. As it later turned out, all of them belonged to members of the sect of fans of Charles Manson, the founder of the cult of Satan. Three of the four killers are girls.
Both Sharon herself and all her guests were brutally murdered. The actress was stabbed 16 times. She desperately fought for her life and that of a child, begging the killers to leave her life. Everything was in vain.
On the same night, the gang visited another peaceful mansion with the owners sleeping in it, and those also suffered a terrible fate. In the 60s, people were gullible and nonchalant, many doors weren’t locked, nobody really cared about protecting their housing, because crimes were extremely rare.
When the Beverly Hills dwellers learned how they killed Sharon Tate, everything changed. From now on, Americans began to turn their homes into impregnable fortresses.
Actress's funeral, burial place
In the morning in London, the telephone rang, Polanski picked up the phone and heard that his wife and child were no longer alive. The director was crushed by this news. Friends were forced to call him a doctor, his mental state was so severe.
At the funeral, the director cried and clung to the hands of Tate's mother and her sister all the time. Sharon was buried in a closed coffin, in her arms she held her child.
Burial Site Sharon Tate - Holy Cross Cemetery in California.
Filmography
During her short life, the actress managed to star in only 13 films, the roles in some of them were so small that her name was not even indicated in the credits. Here is a partial list of paintings featuring Tate:
- TV series "Mr. Ed";
- the series "Beverly Hills Hillbilly";
- series "Agents A.N.K.L.";
- the series "Hollywood and its stars";
- "Barabbas";
- "The eye of the devil";
- "Vampire Ball";
- "Do not drive the wave";
- "Valley of the Dolls";
- "The destroyer team";
- "One in thirteen."
Final word
The cause of Sharon Tate's death was evil, which completely captured the souls of several bastards. We will never know what actress Sharon could later become, how much a person her unborn child would grow up.
The killers of the actress were arrested and sentenced to death. Subsequently, this sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. The organizer of the murder of the actress - Charles Manson - died in prison in 2017, at the age of 83.
In 2004, a film was made about Sharon Tate and the Manson sect. This tape is called "Helter Skelter."