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​HAUNTING CHARLES MANSON

 

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By

Mick Davis

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If your wife or husband were to be brutally murdered by a serial killer would you want revenge.  It is human nature.  But if revenge is to kill then that is wrong.  But if you were an artist, and you could exact revenge in an artistic fashion, how would you do this?

This was the question I asked myself when I thought of Roman Polanski and how his beautiful Pregnant wife, the actress Sharon Tate, was murdered by Charles Manson and his infamous Manson Family.

 

And so the idea came to me, what if Polanski could haunt and terrify Manson into confessing his guilt, the best way an artist could. 

After having written and directed the likes of Modigliani and The Invisible I wanted to do something that was a social statement about people we know.  Roman Polanski is an academy award winning director and Charles Manson is the most famous serial killer in modern American history. 

 

These two men are linked for eternity, but they had never met each other, until I made this movie.





WHO IS CHARLES MANSON?



Charles Manson was an unplanned, illegitimate child born to a 16-year-old mother, Kathleen Maddox. The young girl could not cope with her son and often left baby Charles with his grandmother or aunt.

Manson spent some of his early years with an aunt and uncle in West Virginia, while his mother was in jail for auto theft, but the couple were fervently religious and very strict. After the freedom he had had with his mother, he found this regime difficult to abide, and was constantly in and out of boys’ homes and detention centers.
It would appear that Manson preferred life inside institutions. At one point, as he was due for parole, with his aunt ready and willing to care for him, a teenage Manson was found sodomizing another boy with a razor blade held to his throat. He was then sent to the Federal Reformatory in St. Petersburg, Virginia, before being transferred to a more secure institution in Ohio.
Manson was paroled at age nineteen and soon married a waitress who bore him a son, Charles Jr. He soon re-offended, however, and on his release from prison in California he began a new career as a pimp.
His next crime was to con a young girl out of $700 before drug-raping her roommate. For this he served time in a penitentiary in Washington.
In 1967, Manson was released and went to San Francisco where he met up with a group of hippies. Being musical, he blended in well. The "Manson Family," as they became known, traveled around by bus and on their travels, Charles met Dennis Wilson, of the Beach Boys, through mutual friend Gary Hinman. Through him he also met Terry Melcher, the son of Doris Day.
By this time, Manson had developed a racist philosophy, stating that there would be violent race riots beginning in the summer of 1969, in which black people would overthrow white people, performing hideous crimes in acts of retribution. He believed that he and his family, by hiding out in the desert at a place called the Spahn Ranch, could avoid this violence.
He told his followers, many of whom were impressionable girls from disturbed backgrounds, that they could reach paradise through a cave underneath Death Valley where they could stay until black people, due to their innate inferiority, relinquished their power.
By that time he estimated that the family would have grown to 144,000, and preached that when they all returned to earth, he - Jesus Christ - would lead them as the fifth angel (the other four angels being The Beatles).
In 1969, when the race riots had not begun, Manson claimed that the black people needed to be shown how to kill, as they were too stupid to work it out for themselves. He and his followers slaughtered five adults including Roman Polanski’s wife Sharon Tate who was eight months pregnant, at Terry Melcher’s Hollywood home, as well as another couple in Los Angeles, and Gary Hinman. The murders were horrifically gruesome, and around the crime scenes were messages, relating to Manson’s "philosophy", scrawled in blood.
Charles Manson and other members of the family were tried in 1970, and Manson was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He was given the death penalty, but this was later commuted. He is currently being held in Corcoran Prison, California.



WHO IS SHARON TATE?



Sharon Marie Tate was born on January 24 1943 in Dallas, Texas one day before her parents' first wedding anniversary.  She was indeed a beautiful child, her mother, Doris, recalled in later years how passers-by would stop and gaze at Sharon as a baby and in July 1943, aged only six months, she won her first beauty contest when she was crowned Miss Tiny Tot of Dallas, Texas.  Sharon was the oldest of three daughters born to Paul and Doris Tate.

Paul Tate was a Colonel in the United States Army and due to his position in Army Intelligence, the Tate family, who were very close, moved all over the United States and Europe, they moved from Dallas to Houston, El Paso, Tacoma, Washington DC and finally to Verona, Italy.  In 1958, Sharon was crowned Sophomore Princess at her school, in 1959 she was crowned Miss Autorama while working at a car show and in 1960 she was crowned Prom Queen at her high school, that spring she appeared on the front cover of Stars And Stripes, an American military newspaper.  Colonel Tate was reassigned to Verona, Italy in 1962 and Sharon attended Vincenza American High School and became a popular student, she became a cheerleader, a baton twirler, a basketball player and even played Juliet in the school's play of 'Romeo And Juliet' (a play written by Scottish playwright, William Shakespeare).

After graduating from high school, Sharon did a few bit parts in films where she caught the eye of actor Richard Beymer, over lunch he suggested that she seriously consider taking up acting and modeling and gave her the business card of his agent, Hal Gefsky.  Sharon's father, Paul, did not want her to become a star.  In 1963, Sharon hitchhiked her way to Hollywood to go and see Hal Gefsky, when Hal first met Sharon he was floored by her beauty, he introduced Sharon to Herb Browar who in turn would introduce her to movie producer Martin Ransohoff, the chairman of Filmways.  "She was absolutely beautiful", Martin later claimed, "Sharon was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen".  Because she was under 21, she had to be made a ward of the court to be under contract in Hollywood, Martin signed her to a 7 year contract earning $750 a month.

In time Hal introduced Sharon to french actor, Phillipe Forquet, and a relationship developed between them.  Sharon's parents and Martin Ransohoff were unhappy about the relationship as they believed Forquet would stand in the way of her career, the relationship lasted over a year and was turbulent, once Sharon was even rushed to UCLA Medical Center for medical treatment.  They became engaged, Sharon was said to be proud to be engaged to a real French Viscount, but Forquet ended the relationship before returning to France.  While they were dating, Forquet did bit parts in movies, but was never successful in his career as a movie star.

In November 1964, Sharon was introduced to Hollywood hairstylist Jay Sebring at a Thanksgiving party, they hit it off right away, almost immediately becoming inseparable, in time she would leave him for Roman Polanski, but Jay's heart was always with Sharon.  There was an intimate bond between Sharon and Jay, some even implied that she was closer to Jay than she was to Roman.  Sharon's parents were very impressed by Jay, he was a very handsome and refined gentleman and they both knew he treated Sharon very well.  He gave her emotional support when she needed it and she confided with him her personal feelings.  It was no secret that Jay was in love with Sharon up until the moment he died, and although she was married to Roman, Jay died trying to save the woman he loved.
Martin Ransohoff was producing the movie "The Fearless Vampire Killers", which was to be directed by Roman Polanski and starring Sharon as Sarah Shagal, the inn-keeper's beautiful Jewish daughter.

On the set Roman was a perfectionist which drove Sharon crazy, in the beginning they did not hit it off at all.  During the filming, Roman took some publicity stills of Sharon which would be featured in the March 1967 issue of Playboy magazine.  As filming continued, Roman and Sharon became close and fell in love, Sharon immediately informed Jay and their relationship ended, but Jay remained very close to Sharon and became friends with Roman.  On January 20 1968, Sharon and Roman were married at Chelsea Register Office in London, the star-studded wedding was followed by a reception at London's Playboy Club.  That summer Roman introduced Sharon to his friend from Poland, Voyteck Frykowski, who had just moved from New York to Los Angeles with his American girlfriend, Abigail Folger (the heiress of the Folger coffee fortune), although Sharon could barely tolerate Voyteck, she became close friends with Abigail.  Apparently Roman was never faithful to Sharon, not while they were dating or even after they married, she always told him she did not want to change him, but hoped that he himself would change.  On the surface, they were the perfect Hollywood couple, but Sharon was terribly hurt on the inside and had even considered divorcing him.

Later on in that year, Sharon discovered she was pregnant, it was an accidental pregnancy as she was using an IUD, later to be named the coil, she was thrilled with the news but kept it to herself at first as Roman did not want to have children, however, he became excited upon the idea of becoming a father with much reassurance and love from Sharon.  In January 1969, Sharon viewed a property at 10050 Cielo Drive in Beverly Hills, which was a beautiful ranch-style home with a pool and a guesthouse.  Sharon loved the house, it was quiet and secluded, away from the glitz of Hollywood, Sharon and Roman moved into the property in February, the guest cottage was 100 feet away from their home which was occupied by William Garretson, who was employed by the owner as a groundskeeper.

Sharon finished filming her last movie and went to join Roman in London where he was working on his next movie.  Sharon left Roman in London on July 20 to head back to the states to prepare for the birth of their child, Roman had to stay behind to complete his movie.  At the moment they parted, Sharon hugged Roman pressing her very pregnant belly against him, they would never again see each other in this life.

Friday August 8 1969, was Sharon's final day on earth and started as any normal day, it was a hot day reaching 90 degrees, Sharon got up around 9.00 am, at around 11.00 am she talked to Roman on the telephone who later said Sharon sounded 'nervous and edgy', no doubt due to heat.
Shortly after noon, Voyteck and Abigail arrived back and had lunch, they were currently living with Sharon and Roman, but had been away.  Later on in the day Jay arrived and that evening Sharon, Jay, Voyteck and Abigail dined at El Coyote Mexican Restaurant and left there at 10.00 pm and returned home to Cielo Drive.  Voyteck fell asleep on the living-room couch, Abigail retired to her bedroom to read and Sharon and Jay sat together in Sharon's bedroom talking.  At around 12.30 am, Saturday August 9, three intruders entered the house.  Sadly, the four friends were never to see the sun rise again.

On August 13 1969, Sharon was laid to rest at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, Los Angeles, her baby cradled in her arms. There were over 200 people who attended her funeral including Kirk Douglas, Warren Beatty, Yul Brynner, James Coburn, Peter Sellars and John and Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and Papas, a tearful and devastated Roman returned for the service.  Apparently, actor Steve McQueen did not attend Sharon's funeral which disappointed Roman.  At the cemetery, he stared at the silver casket then leaned over and kissed it in a farewell to his beloved wife.  Sharon was due to give birth to their son only fifteen days after the murders.



WHO IS ROMAN POLANSKI?



Roman Polanski is one of the most controversial contemporary directors in Cinema History. His name has become synonymous with events from his personal life, which in fact have at times detracted and taken precedence from his work as a filmmaker.
Roman has created films that unnerve and horrify the viewer such as "Rosemary's baby" and "The Tenant", as well as the masterpiece "Chinatown" starring, Jack Nicholson. He also directed the comedy vampire movie "Dance of the Vampires (also known as The Fearless Vampire Killers) and the period drama "Tess" based on the novel by Thomas Hardy starring, Nastassja Kinski. Both of these films exude a haunting yet luminous beauty.
As a filmmaker he is exceptional in his ability to produce works with a disturbing mood and atmosphere of suspense that is impossible to replicate. His hallmark is to utilize seemingly everyday events and situations and then expose the undercurrent of evil that lies beneath; he explores the thin line between madness and sanity with compelling expertise and intuitive mastery.

Roman Polanski was born to Polish parents in Paris 1933. They moved to Krakow, Poland, when Roman was still a toddler. Roman grew up in a constricted communist environment; however, he had a highly creative intellect and created his own exceptional world of fantasy. His imagination was the key that helped him overcome the horror of War in Europe.
Whenever Roman had a chance to visit the theatre he had no uncertainties that one day he would appear on centre stage or behind the camera as a director, Roman was an incredibly confident child with grand aspirations.
Roman's father owned a plastics business in Krakow, although his parents were not rich they provided Roman with everything he needed. He was a child who in his own words "wanted everything his own way". His childhood would soon be shattered as War began in Poland.
The changes to the Jewish community began slowly and unpleasantly when Roman's parents were told to wear white armbands with the Star of David stenciled on them in blue. Roman was told it was because they were Jewish, although his parents did not practice their religion and his mother was only partly Jewish.

They were forced to move home by the Krakow Municipal Authorities. Soon after moving, Roman's sister pointed outside the window and Roman looked out to see men building a wall, he and his family were being imprisoned in a Jewish ghetto. During this time both his parents were taken to concentration camps, his mother was never to return. Roman always believed he would see her again as he had no knowledge of the Third Reich's 'Final Solution' and he never had the opportunity to say goodbye to her.
His father had paid a family to look after Roman and he was moved from one place to another doing anything he could to survive. There were times of play amongst the ruined buildings of Poland with other children, yet he would always be a witness to brutality and depravity as the war continued witnessing scenes of inhumanity.
At the end of the World War II he was reunited with his father and began to pursue his dreams of having a career in the film industry, he started by working on a Children's radio program called "The Merry Gang". He soon acquired a lead role in "The Son of the Regiment" the story of a Russian peasant boy. He attended Art School and finally with the help of Andrzej Wajda the great Polish director he applied to and was accepted at the Lodz Film School, the world of film and fantasy and the door to his dreams. At the film school his talent was readily apparent in his first student film "Two Men and a Wardrobe". He longed to escape Poland and travel abroad to America and Paris.

The first film he made that received significant attention was "Knife in the Water" made in 1962, this was nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign language film. He then directed three films in England including "Cul de Sac" and "Repulsion" starring Catherine Deneuve as a young woman suffering from a mental illness.
He married the gentle, and talented actress Sharon Tate who starred in "The Dance of the Vampires", who was brutally murdered in 1969. His next film "Macbeth" is notorious for it's violent and bloody adaptation of the play by the English playwright, William Shakespeare.
In 1977 he was involved in an American sex scandal, he fled to France where he has lived a rather reclusive life with his wife the gifted and skilled actress Emmanuelle Seigner and their two children. Polanski is admired by many other filmmakers all over the world for his genius as a director.

His most recent productions have been "The Ninth Gate" starring Johnny Depp, and "The Pianist", based on the book by Wladyslaw Szpilman's - a memoir of the author's experiences growing up in the Warsaw ghetto and surviving concentration camps during the second world war, this film will be released soon.