Remembering Sharon Tate

Nobody should meet the cruel end that Sharon Tate did at only 26. She was a victim of the Manson gang's "Helter Skelter" murder spree, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her birthday was January 24th.

Tate was 8 months pregnant when she was murdered. She was married to director Roman Polanski at the time.

Sharon became a major gay idol when she co-starred with Patty Duke and Barbara Parkins in the camp classic Valley of the Dolls. "Toooony! Toooony!

I adored her in The Fearless Vampire Killers or Pardon Me but Your Teeth Are in My Neck. She could obviously handle serious and comedic roles alike. And she fell in love with her director.

After his wife's death, Polanski directed the very dark and bloody (though brilliant) screen version of Macbeth to try to exorcise himself of his experience.

Sharon Tate is a true beauty gone too young, too soon. If she were alive today, I wonder what she'd look like in her early 70s. I somehow think she'd age gracefully over the years.

She made a film, 12 + 1, with Orson Wells, released shortly after her death.

RIP, Sharon Tate.

Video Beaverhausen: Polanski's Fearless Vampire Killers

Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers or Pardon Me but Your Teeth Are in My Neck is both funny and scary, kind of like Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.

My brother and I loved this film. My Mom took us to the Totowa, NJ drive-in to see this. I remember it was very cold, so we were all bundled up in the backseat in our pjs. We also had the drive-in's heater on in the car.

The film features Jewish vampires and gay vampires to comic, though not offensive, effect, Quite progressive for the time I think. I just watched the film today and loved it all over again.

Sharon Tate is in this. She and Roman fell in love on the set. The film has a light-heartedness about it. After Sharon's untimely death, Polanski's films turned much, much darker. His next film would be the bloody MacBeth.

The film was originally entitled Dance of the Vampires but I think the more comic name suits it best. The climactic vampire ball is still chilling to me. Oh, those damned mirrors!

Rosemary's Baby's Lullaby on My Halloween Countdown

Approaching the bassinet with a butcher knife. Now that's a lovely image for starters, no? "Pray for Rosemary's Baby" read the ads at the time of the film's release. See why?

1968. Mia Farrow was best known prior to that time for her role as Allison MacKenzie on ABC-tv's Peyton Place. There was much publicity surrounding the shearing of her famously long, hippie-like locks in favor of a Carnaby Street/Twiggy-like 'do for the Roman Polanski film, Rosemary's Baby. On tonight's Halloween Countdown, listen to Mia guilelessly sing the theme song. It's a lullaby; an eerie, effectively creepy little lullaby, very appropriate to sing to your demon spawn should you have one. It was written by Krzysztof Komeda, the brilliant composer who frequently scored films by fellow Pole, Polanski.

Produced by William Castle ("Strait-jacket"), adapted from a novel by Ira Levin ("The Stepford Wives") and shot at Manhattan's The Dakota apartment building. Farrow received divorce papers from Frank Sinatra while filming there. Polanski's pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, would be murdered the following year by Charles Manson and his followers, who titled their death spree "Helter Skelter" after the 1968 song by The Beatles, one of whose members, John Lennon, would one day live (and in 1980 be murdered) in The Dakota, where Rosemary's Baby had been filmed. In December 1968, in Los Angeles, composer Komeda had a tragic car accident which led to a haematoma of the brain that caused his death. He was 35.

Now, is this song going to lull you off to sleep? You will have pleasant dreams, I hope. Our madonna, Rosemary, wouldn't want it any other way,... babies!