STONE TULIPS - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Director of Eye of the Devil

J. Lee Thompson, director of Eye of the Devil, was at first doubtful of Sharon's abilities. He felt that the role of the enchantress Odile was a difficult one for a newcomer to play, fearing it could so easily become campy or cheap if not played with the right subtlety. Thompson decided that if he saw Sharon floundering after the first two weeks of work, they would "put her back into cold storage." However, as soon as work began, a wave of relief washed over him and the crew: "We all realized that there was a girl who was tremendously exciting. She had that thing you can't really explain-star projection. I think this girl is going to be a big, big star". While in London in the summer of 1966, filming Eye of the Devil, Sharon was introduced to the young Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski. She was cast in his upcoming film The Fearless Vampire Killers. Before filming had wrapped, he and Sharon became lovers, and on January 20th, 1968, the pair were married in London. Sharon wore a minidress of cream taffeta, which she designed herself, and Roman sported an olive green Edwardian jacket. The largest of the several parties which followed their mod ceremony was held at the Playboy Club, with all of London and half of Hollywood in attendance.

Joan Didion writes of a "mystical flirtation with the idea of ‘sin'-this sense that it was possible to go ‘too far, and that many people were doing it" in the Los Angeles of '68 and '69. This sepia-tinted decade of free love and the rose-colored glasses of counterculture contained a tense undercurrent of violence. On August 9th, Didion writes, "I remember all of the day's misinformation very clearly, and I also remember this, and I wish I did not: I remember that no one was surprised." In the aftermath of the murders, there was a sense that grim, dreaded expectations had been fulfilled. The glitzy dreams of 1960's Hollywood were over; a new evil was loose in the Hills.

Sharon Tate was born on January 24th, 1943, in Dallas, Texas. Her childhood marked her as someone who seemed destined to be a star-she won her first beauty contest at six months old, was crowned Miss Richland at sixteen, then Miss Autorama. Before Sharon graduated from high school, her father's military career moved the Tate family all around the United States, then to Verona, Italy. "I guess you could say that I was somewhat withdrawn from my classmates," Sharon is quoted as saying, "I spent a good deal of time being a loner. I suppose that had something to do with the way we lived-always on the move, never living in one town very long. It's very hard to make lasting friendships that way". Her great beauty and charm made her popular in school, but it's not surprising that Sharon may have felt lonely and isolated by her family's nomadic lifestyle.