The Horrifying Death Of Sharon Tate At The Hands Of The Manson Family
Silver Screen Collection/Getty ImagesOf all famous dead people, the grisly murder of Sharon Tate remains one of Hollywood’s most horrific tragedies to date.
In the summer of 1969, Sharon Tate was living it up in Los Angeles as a rising Hollywood darling following her starring role in the 1967 Valley of the Dolls. She was also eight months pregnant with the child of noted directed, Roman Polanski.
Sadly, Tate is remembered less for her starring roles onscreen than for her famous death at the hands of Charles Manson and his bloodlusty Manson family.
The Horror HoneysSharon Tate stands in the doorway of the new home she is leasing with her husband, director Roman Polanski. She would later be killed just inside.
Born in Dallas, Texas, on Jan. 24, 1943, Sharon Tate grew up an army brat who frequently competed in local beauty pageants. Her titles included Miss Richland and Queen of the Tri-City Autorama in Washington. Her doe eyes and blonde curly hair landed her magazine covers, including the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes.
But Sharon Tate’s real passion was acting. So when her father relocated the family to San Pedro, California, the aspiring actress got started on her acting career. She landed her first big break at 20 when an audition got her noticed by The Beverly Hillbillies producer and head of the Filmways production studio Martin Ransohoff.
From there, the budding star split her days between a grueling work schedule and her numerous affairs, which were frequent fodder for the paparazzi.
Sharon Tate eventually met her future husband, director Roman Polanski, and the two married in London on Jan. 20, 1968. Although their marriage was rocky, nobody could have predicted the horror that would befall the actress a year later.
YoutubePictured is the living room of 10050 Cielo Drive the morning after the famous celebrity death of Sharon Tate.
In the summer of 1969, Sharon Tate had just returned to Los Angeles after visiting her husband abroad. She was only a month away from her due date, so she decided to head home before the filming was finished. She arranged for a few friends to accompany her at their house at 10050 Cielo Drive while her husband was away.
On August 8, Tate went out with her two guests, Polanski’s friend Wojciech Frykowski, his girlfriend and heiress to the Folger Coffee empire Abigail Folger, and her ex-boyfriend and celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring. The four went out to dinner and then hung out back at Tate’s house.
But when the maid arrived at the quiet house the next morning, she found all four had been brutally murdered. Sharon Tate, eight months pregnant with her unborn child, had been stabbed 16 times before she was strung up on a living room rafter by a rope tied around her neck. The three others suffered similarly horrific deaths.
At first, the police suspected the bloody massacre was the result of a drug deal gone wrong, but later investigations revealed that members of Charles Manson’s cult had broken into the house that night and slaughtered the occupants one by one. They’d even written “Pigs” on the door and on the walls in Tate’s blood.
The exact motives of the cult continue to be the subject of debate. One prevailing theory is that the Manson fanatics meant to kill a different target, who was supposed to be renting out the house at that time. Instead, they found Sharon Tate and her friends and murdered them anyway.
The brutal and famous death of Tate, which took place during the peace and love era of the 1960s, has since become one of the most infamous Hollywood tragedies of all time. While many famous dead people are rumored to be murder victims, Tate is one of the few who conclusively is.
