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Books
Sharon Tate:
Recollection
by Debra Tate
Foreword by Roman Polanski.
(Philadelphia: Running Press, 2014)
272 pages. $30.00, hardcover.
Review by Dr. Kirk
Bane
Central
Texas Historical Association
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On
August 9, 1969, members of the Charles Manson Family invaded the Los
Angeles home of Sharon Tate, savagely murdering the actress and four
others. Tate was eight months pregnant. The sanguinary "Helter Skelter"
slayings rank as one of the most vicious and notorious crimes in twentieth-century
U. S. history.
Among the most beautiful women in Tinseltown, Sharon, only twenty-six
at the time of her death, was born in Dallas,
Texas, on January 24, 1943. Wed to film director Roman Polanski,
she had appeared in a handful of motion pictures, including Eye
of the Devil (1966), The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967),
Don't Make Waves (1967), and The Wrecking Crew (1968).
Most famously, Tate starred in Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the
Dolls (1967), the cult classic for which she received a Golden
Globe nomination. Sharon, also a popular model, counted among her
friends such Hollywood luminaries as Steve McQueen, Warren Beatty,
Jane Fonda, Mia Farrow, Laurence Harvey, Leslie Caron, Peter Sellers,
Patty Duke, and Yul Brynner.
Debra Tate has assembled a lavish photographic celebration of her
older sister, focusing on Sharon's life and career; her untimely demise
is not examined. "I always felt it was very unfair for her life to
be remembered primarily for its final moments," Debra contends. "Sharon
had a magnificent life." Any fan of cinema and the Swinging Sixties
will relish this impressive collection of striking photographs. The
author divides her book into eight chapters: The American Dream Girl-Selections
From the Tate Family Album 1943-1959; All Eyes on Sharon Tate 1960-1964;
The MGM Years 1965-1967; Valley of the Dolls 1967; Portfolio 1964-1969;
Roman; Nova 1968; and 1969.
Polanski, who married Sharon on January 20, 1968, in London, contributed
a brief foreword to this pictorial biography. He observes, quite movingly,
"It is impossible, of course, to imagine what might have been if Sharon
had lived. But this book allows me to remember what was." The controversial
filmmaker, lionized as the director of Rosemary's Baby (1968)
during his marriage to Tate, went on to helm such acclaimed motion
pictures as Chinatown (1974), Tess (1979), and The
Pianist (2002).
A treasure trove of all things Tate, this remarkable volume includes
tributes by those who knew her, quotes and correspondence from Sharon,
posters from her films, magazine covers, movie stills, and stunning
photographs of the young actress. Legendary photographer Bert Stern
called Tate "the most beautiful woman I ever met."
Note: Ironically, one of Tate's attackers was Charles "Tex"
Watson, also a native of the Lone Star State. For additional information
about the gorgeous, ill-fated star, see Greg King's Sharon Tate
and the Manson Murders (Barricade Books, 2000), Restless Souls:
The Sharon Tate Family's Account of Stardom, the Manson Murders, and
a Crusade for Justice (It Books, 2012) by Alisa Statman with Brie
Tate, and Sharon Tate: A Life (Da Capo Press, 2016) by Ed Sanders. |
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