Sharon Tate

Here are two wonderful songs performed by the great Della Reese, chosen to illustrate the rare beauty of the sublime Sharon Tate, who had a tragic destiny.
Sharon Marie Tate (1943-1969) was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Valley of the dolls (1967). She also appeared regularly in fashion magazines as a model and cover girl. Married to the film director Roman Polanski in 1968, Tate was eight and a half months pregnant when she was murdered in her home, along with four others, by followers of satanist Charles Manson.
Even if her career was short, she played in many films, including Eye of the devil (co-starring David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Donald Pleasence, and David Hemmings), Polanski's The fearless vampire killers (Polanski had first chosen Jill St. John for the role), Don't make waves (with Tony Curtis), Valley of the dolls. Then Tate began to place less importance on her career, until Polanski told her that he wanted to be married to “a hippie, not a housewife”. The couple returned to Los Angeles and quickly became part of a social group that included some of the most successful young people in the film industry, including Steve McQueen, Warren Beatty, Mia Farrow, Peter Sellers, Jacqueline Bisset, Leslie Caron, Joan Collins, Joanna Pettet, Laurence Harvey, Peter Fonda and Jane Fonda, older film stars like Henry Fonda, Kirk Douglas, Yul Brynner and Danny Kaye, musicians such as Jim Morrison and the Mamas and the Papas, and record producer Terry Melcher and his girlfriend Candice Bergen. Tate's next film was The wrecking crew (1969, with Dean Martin and Elke Sommer). She performed her own stunts and was taught martial arts by Bruce Lee. The film was successful and brought Tate strong reviews, with many reviewers praising her comedic performance. She later starred in The thirteen chairs.
Roman Polanski gave away all of his possessions after the murders, unable to bear any reminders of the period that he called “the happiest I ever was in my life”. His 1979 film Tess was dedicated "For Sharon", as Tate had read Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles during her final stay with Polanski in London, and had left it for him to read with the comment that it would be a good story for them to film together.
Mia Farrow said Sharon Tate was as “sweet and pure a human being as I have ever known”, while Patty Duke remembered her as “a gentle, gentle creature. I was crazy about her, and I don't know anyone who wasn't”.
Sharon Tate once discussed the type of contemporary actress she wanted to emulate and explained that there were two in particular that she was influenced by: Faye Dunaway and Catherine Deneuve. Of the latter, she said: “I'd like to be an American Catherine Deneuve. She plays beautiful, sensitive, deep parts with a little bit of intelligence behind them.”
Enjoy Sharon Tate's fabulous beauty!