What star(s) today have a comparable level of fame?
Was Tate an A-lister at the time? B-lister?
My understanding is she was just getting to the point where she was getting leading roles (such as Valley of the Dolls), after several years of bit parts and TV roles (she had a recurring role as Mr. Drysdale’s secretary on The Beverly Hillbillies). Bear in mind that she was only 26 when she was killed.
After appearing in Valley of the Dolls, she was called “the most beautiful woman in Hollywood,” so she definitely had a bright future ahead of her. Why Manson and any of his followers escaped execution is beyond me.
Many of them were sentenced to death but the death penalty was briefly abolished and all death sentences were reduced to life in prison.
He and several of his followers were sentenced to death, but the Supreme Court (the US, I think; it may have been the state supreme court) ruled the then-death penalty was unconstitutional, and their sentences were commuted to life in prison.
Sorry, see hajario ninja’d me.
Yeah, I was aware of the ban, but it still amazes me.
Well, Charlie and Susan are dead, theres no doubt the rest will die in prison.
Somehow I missed hearing that Manson is dead. Good riddance.
It was the U.S. Supreme Court - and not only that, but under California law at the time, the sentences were reduced to life with the possibility of parole. This is why you occasionally heard about Charles Manson and Sirhan B. Sirhan getting parole hearings. (Sirhan gets his next hearing in 2021.)
Here’s a recent update on some of the figures involved in the matter.
Leslie Van Houten has been recommended for parole several times but then overruled by two different governors. She is long overdue for release. Ditto Bruce Davis.
The politicians bowed to the worst of the crowd mentality who thinks that everyone ever involved in a murder always does life. Not remotely true. So these people are stuck with their actions of long ago and if they weren’t associated with Manson would have been released years ago.
My ass bleeds for them.
I’m against the death penalty, but all for murderers spending the rest of their lives in prison. These people murdered over and over again with no hesitation. Think it was just the Tate-LoBianco murders? What about Gary Hinman? Shorty Shea? Ronald Hughes? One of them tried to assassinate a president. Let 'em rot.
Hell, one of the defense lawyers during the trial ended up dead. These people had abandoned all respect for life by the time they were rounded up.
As a reference to Ms. Fromme, it is more accurate to say she was convicted of attempting to assassinate the president, though her actual intent seemed otherwise.
As for Ms. Tate, I think this video related to the movie Don’t Make Waves (1967) does a good job of summing up her career in Hollywood up to that point. Although this movie is almost inconceivably awful, its legacy apparently includes Ms Tate’s character being the inspiration for Malibu Barbie.
Actually being the most beautiful woman in Hollywood doesn’t last all that long before she is replaced by someone else called that. There have been a lot of beautiful women who have made a splash in Hollywood–then quickly disappear into very minor roles.
And google tells me that Ronald Hughes, who Two Many Cats mentioned, was that very lawyer. :smack:
There’s no way of telling of course, but Sharon was by all accounts blissful about having a baby. She may have just given Hollywood up completely to be a Mom.
I read recently a tawdry story that said that Polanski forced her into threesomes, and he didn’t want the baby. It makes me wonder if she would have stayed with him.
Sort of a side note: I’m not old enough to remember the Ford Administration (I was still in utero at the time of the Tate/LaBianca murders). Does anyone who is old enough to remember know why he seemed to anger women so much? He’s the only US President to have women try to assassinate him, and two tried in under a month.