Bright Starlet
Sunday, August 10th, 1969
LOS ANGELES, Aug 10 – At the age of 26, Sharon Tate was considered one of Hollywood’s most promising young starlets, even though her television and film appearances were not primarily in leading roles.
A tall, slender woman with blond hair and brown eyes, Miss Tate appeared in the television series “Beverly Hillbillies” and “Petticoat Junction,” and in a number of films, including “The Valley of the Dolls.”
In an acting career that began in 1963, she also had roles in “The Americanization of Emily,” “The Sandpiper,” “Fearless Vampire Killers,” “The Wrecking Crew,” “The Wheeler Dealers” and “13.”
Last year, in a poll of movie exhibitors taken by the Motion Picture Herald, Miss Tate was named a runner-up to Lynn Redgrave as the top “Star of Tomorrow.”
Born in Dallas, the daughter of an Army officer, Miss Tate traveled extensively with her family, residing in San Francisco, the state of Washington, Washington D.C., and Verona, Italy, where she attended high school.
As a teen-ager, she won a number of beauty contests, claiming the titles of Miss Richland, Wash., at 16, and Miss Autorama at 17. At Vicenza America High School in Verona, she was chosen Homecoming Queen and Queen of the Senior Prom.
Miss Tate went to Hollywood in 1963 and, after making several television commercials, was signed to a seven-year acting contract by Martin Ransohoff, head of Filmways, Inc. She later studied under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York.
Her first film appearance was in the French-made “13” in which she portrayed a chillingly beautiful but expressionless girl engaged in witchcraft.
After her second film, “Don’t Make Waves,” in which she played a deadpan skydiver, she was introduced to the Polish director Roman Polanski, who put her in “The Vampire Killers,” a spoof of horror movies.
Miss Tate and Mr. Polanski were married in 1967.
Miss Tate co-starred with Dean Martin in “The Wrecking Crew,” which was released last year. The film received bad-to-moderate notices, but Vincent Canby, in a review for the New York Times, wrote, “The only nice thing is Sharon Tate, a tall, really great-looking girl who, for most of the movie, wanders around wearing glasses.”
In “The Valley of the Dolls,” the 20th Century-Fox film made from the best-selling novel by Jacqueline Susann, Miss Tate portrayed Jennifer, one of several women unsuccessful in show business.
Miss Folger, who attended Santa Catalina School for women near Carmel, Calif., and was graduated from Radcliffe College, had become active in social welfare causes in the Los Angeles area about six months ago, according to her father.
Miss Folger was a business partner of another of the victims, Jay Sebring, and international hair stylist who had salons in Hollywood, New York, London and San Francisco. He was 35.
Miss Tate was one of Mr. Sebring’s customers, and the two had been engaged to marry a number of years ago. In an interview in 1966, Miss Tate said that she had not married Mr. Sebring because she was “not organized” and “not ready for wifehood.”
The fourth victim identified by the police yesterday, Voyteck Frykowski, 37 was a Polish writer and photographer associated with Mr. Polanski. He worked on the latter’s film “Knife in the Water.”
The macabre character of the killing held a tragically ironic parallel in the themes of Roman Polanski’s films, known for their suspense and shockingly macabre quality. The films included “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Knife in the Water,” and “Compulsion.”
Abigail Folger, another of the victims, was the 26-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Folger, of Woodside, Calif. Her father is president of the Folger Coffee Company, a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble, Inc.
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