Rare French Sharon Tate Article Translated, Chuck Norris and "The Wrecking Crew" and that particular song by the Beatles...

Here is one of the translated articles I had done recently.  It looks to be from a French magazine but not sure which one.  It must be around the mid sixties.

I was sad for Kim Novak...

 

The other day when I was talking about Sharon Tate, one of my friends told me:  She would make a perfect Juliet, don't you think?  I'm not sure of her talent as an actress yet but she does have the body to bend over a balcony!

Anyway, Miss Tate didn't wait for that role but she has had a nice career so far.  Just after finishing the film "13",  she began work on her new thriller, "The Fearless Vampire Killers."

She discussed this and more when I interviewed her at the Ritz.  Miss Tate is an outstandingly beautiful girl with big brown eyes wide open like radars, with long blond hair and legs that won't quit, she appears ready for anything. 

Since our last meeting, I notice that her voice seems to be lower and the bottom part of her skirt seems to be higher.

"It's true," she answered.  "I'm taking voice lessons and it has become deeper now but as for my skirt," she says, jumping to her feet and turning to look at herself in the mirror, "I have many more that are way shorter."

"They're going to arrest you," was my reply.

"Not me," Sharon said, "I'm an Aquarius and Aquarian's get along with everyone."

I said, "I'm pretty sure you were engaged to someone the last time I saw you."

"With Jay Sebring," was her answer.  (Mr. Sebring is 33.  He's a Hollywood hairdresser who get paid 15 pounds for a haircut.)  "Now it is finished.  He was trying to dominate me too much.  When I was filming a nude scene in 'The Vampire Killers' he telephoned me and tried to dispute it.

"However, we have stayed friends.  I called him the other day to find out how he was doing.  He told me that now he was going out with a 15 year old girl.  I found that totally immature.

 

"I told Jay he should be ashamed--a 15 year old! When I was 15 I was still looking for red and white striped flannel nightgowns.  I was dead scared of men.  Jay told me, 'But she's very much advanced for her age.  She knows just about everything.' "

Miss Tate sighs thinking of the strangeness of life as she emptied her cup of coffee in one shot.

"I'm dating Roman Polanski now," Sharon said.  "I have to admit that I never thought that one day I would date someone so intelligent.  He is teaching me a lot of things and shares confidences with me."

She starts biting her nails with an absent look and suddenly she notices what she is doing and looks guilty.

"I should stop doing that.  It's edginess or something like that.  I have a mass of energy inside me that I'm not using."

Do you feel you have gained some maturity in dating Polanski?

"Oh yes, absolutely.  When I arrived in London last year I was terribly shy.  Leslie Caron invited me to a party and I was thinking: What can I say to people that would be interesting?"

"I feel a lot better today.  I'm taking new vitamins from America.  They are big green ones. They're fantastic.  Without them I couldn't make it."

The nude scene that you and your exfiance got into an arguement about, was it really necessary?

"Absolutely, there isn't just one in the movie but three.  I had nothing on me but bubbles (from a bubble bath) but they covered me.  We even evacuated the stage.  The technicians are not peeping toms.  Roman told me: 'You could walk all nude in front of these men and they would not be embarrassed.  They would be embarrassed only if you are yourself.' "

And you were not?

"Exactly," she answered. 

Have you seen any shots of your first movie, "13"?

"Only a few shots," she said.  I felt disappointed for Kim (Novak) that she had to leave the film."  (Novak was replaced by Deborah Kerr in the middle of shooting because of an accident.)

"That (role) would have opened a new door for her career because she can't play an innocent girl anymore and here she had a fantastic role that was made for her.  But at the same time, it hurt her to play a mother when she used to play the type of role I was playing now.  In the beginning she didn't know I was going to be playing in the movie.  She had made herself a star playing these kinds of roles and seeing me now doing them instead of her made her sad.  A few times I noticed she was looking at me and I felt embarrassed.  However, she was always very nice to me.  I really loved her.  Her accident happened at a very bad moment."

I left her on the corner of the street and saw Sharon walking in the direction of the Piccadilly.  Her black eyeglasses on and showing her blonde hair.

--By Roderick Mann

 

Happy belated birthday to Chuck Norris who turned 70 yesterday.  He was an extra in "The Wrecking Crew" and good friends with Bruce Lee.  Here is an article on him:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/popcandy/post/2010/03/norris/1

 

What do you think of when you hear the song "Helter Skelter"?  I agree with this man's quote:

http://www.crawdaddy.com/index.php/2010/03/09/opening-the-book/

When I listen to the song “Helter Skelter”, I do not think of Sharon Tate or her murderers; in fact, I try to not think at all—thinking is the road to ruin when it comes to art. If I end up thinking while listening to “Helter Skelter”, it’s usually of Bono with his perennially open yapper telling the crowd he’s stealing the song back from another crazy asshole rotting away in prison. The thing is, that song was never stolen. Maybe it was given up by Beatle fans distraught over the news that day, but it can’t be stolen—only abused and poorly adapted.

Next Part of Translated Article: Things were not great with Ransohoff and Bronsan talks about Polanski and More

L'Europeo August 21, 1969


My meeting with Sharon Tate


by Adriano Botta

Continued from yesterday...


The contract she signed was for seven years. Sharon exacted a million pounds a week without shooting a meter of film. Martin was creating his character, he made her look like a diva, mobilized around her make-up experts, dietetics, riding, fencing, and tennis. They came up with slogans like these: "Nothing is more exhilarating for a 'tete-a-Tate'", "It's not the one you are admiring Sharon Tate, but the Tate Gallery: Only in the famous British Museum there is such beauty."


"I had great confidence in my own producer," Sharon says. "I loved him. And I put up all his nonsense. Practically lived in a prison. I was forbidden to go out at night, forbidden to go to the movies, forbidden to go to the theater, forbidden to be photographed. Forbidden everything. Martin said that the public should not see me before I was ready. I become the puppet that he wanted. Trained for three years. I recommended to him that I wanted to take acting seriously.  He said didn't like the idea of acting! I asked him to let me take a course at the Actors Studio in New York and you know what he answered? 'Wretch! You're just an accident! You have not yet realized that you're a force of nature. Acting as understood at the Actor's Studio will kill your beauty, take away any flavor.' Instead I realized that he had decided to make me a 'dumb blonde.'  And one day I had a screen test. I was in the anteroom of the principal. The door of his office was still open. Martin spoke on the phone. 'In a couple of months I can give you something great,' he said, 'now it is not yet possible. She needs to gain some weight, at least a couple of pounds: even her teeth need a little work and it will be necessary, but then how can you complain?  She is a niave and an inferior airhead and will do fine. She will be a hit, you'll see. We will make plenty of money on her.' Yes, this is the way he saw me. I loved him. I believed in him as a second father. In order not to disappoint him I had been made up to look like a prostitute who does tricks in Soho: layers of foundation, lipstick, big hair.  It made me feel dirty. I had agreed to wear ostentatious clothing, like corsets squeezed to show my breasts and jewelry that looked ridiculous. I would puff up my hair, and stick out my bottom lip and say invented idiotic jokes for advertising as an example of the Tate Gallery.  I was good, obedient. He always told me so. And he was still smiling when I felt like crying. Sure, I was paid handsomely. But money is not everything. I have my pride."

After she heard the call Ransohoff had made Sharon exploded. She told Martin "No, I will never be a whore moron!" To appease Sharon, Martin pulled in the reins and he sent her to study at the Actor's Studio for a while.  Sharon had to turn a blind eye on her romance with the prince of Hollywood hairdressering, Jay Sebring, and she was inserted into a movie with grim tones. The Eye of the Devil with David Niven and Deborah Kerr. It was a film about witches. The farmers are at a feud in the French Bordeaux region where they are mesmerized by a medium and try to kill the husband of the Marquise to remove the curse that weighs curse to their fields. Kerr played the Marchioness, Niven portrayed the Marquis, Sharon Tate was the visionary girl who unleashes fear and hatred from peasants, a modern witch who is mysterious, with a devilish charm. The film was not a particularly warm welcome to the film world but Sharon was pleased. It pleased her body, if not its soul.

More coming tomorrow....

Pierce Brosnan talked about Polanski in a interview saying: "There will be people who say he deserves everything he gets," Brosnan says. "I think forgiveness, compassion, some dignity — he hasn't murdered anyone. What he did was terribly wrong in a time that was terribly wrong in many ways. There's forgiveness on her side. You just hope there's closure for his family and her family. He's a brilliant fellow and a very fractured man in many ways."

For Brosnan, the reason for doing the film was simple: Polanski. Brosnan met Polanski in Paris over lunch during Mamma Mia!'s European promotional tour two years ago.

"We talked about this and that, lives, life lost, movies," Brosnan says. "We didn't talk about the motivation of my character or any of the politics."

For more on Brosnan and the rest of this interview:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2010-02-18-Brosnan18_ST_N.htm

Also, the stars regreted that Polanski was absencent at Berlin premiere.  This article offers some great quotes from the cast of "The Ghost Writer" and some insights into Polanski as a director:

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/brosnan-regrets-polanski-absence-at-berlin-premiere-20100213-nxsy.html

Sharon Tate: New Sex Goddess Handle with Love

Here is an article I found among clippings.  It is probably around 1967-68.  It looks like it was in one those Screen Stories magazines or that type of magazine.

New Sex-Goddess Handle with Love by Bill Marks

Sharon Marie Tate was born in Dallas, Texas, and since both her parents are natives of Houston, she claims to be a Texan. Her father was (and still is) an officer in the U. S. Army, and the Tates, like most Army families, never remained in one place for very long.

When Sharon was six months old and already a beauty, she was chosen Miss Tiny Tot of Dallas. When she reached her teens, she was elected Miss Richland, Washington. Later she was named Miss Autorama in a beauty contest there. At the time, she had no aspirations for a career in films, and no one could have guessed that a few short years later she would become Hollywood's newest sex-goddess and most talked-about overnight movie star.

She attended high school in Verona, Italy--her father was stationed there for four years. She was a cheerleader and a baton twirler and--of course--Homecoming Queen and Queen of the Senior Prom.

"When I was in school," she recalls, "I dreamed about becoming a psychiatrist or a ballerina. Like most girls I would dream about being a movie star too. But those dreams are the impossible kind, the kind you don't really set your heart on.

"I guess you could say that I was somewhat withdrawn from my classmates. 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. And my father was rather strict with me and my two younger sisters. He insisted on proper behavior and very often vetoed our choices of boyfriends. There was always a curfew whenever my sisters or I would go out on a date--we had to be home on time or else. But I never resented his authority. In fact, I'm thankful for my strict upbringing; I feel it has helped me learn discipline--and that's very important in this business."

But how did the pretty Texas girl become Sharon Tate, ready-made star? It all started just two and-a-half years ago. Sharon returned to California with her parents. Then 18, she felt it was time to be on her own, to be independent. She took an apartment and any job that would help pay the rent.

Her newfound friends persuaded her to try to break into modeling. And Sharon did do a few commercials for Chevrolet and a cigar company. She worked for a wine company by dressing up in Irish costume to serve free samples to patrons of Los Angeles restaurants.

"When I was in Rome," Sharon says, "I met Richard Beymer. He was there shooting a picture. He told me that if I ever wanted to be an actress, that I should contact his agent in California. That's how I came to meet Harold Gefsky. Harold introduced me to Herb Brower, who was connected with the television show, 'Petticoat Junction'...

"At the time, I was hoping that I might be able to get a bit part on the show--I would have been greatful even for a walk-on, anything to tide me over till my next job. But he just looked at me and then he grabbed my hand and the three of us went running off to Martin Ransohoff's office."

During that first meeting with movie maker Ransohoff, Lady Luck must have been standing next to the beautiful but frightened and bewildered Sharon. Ransohoff sat at his mamouth desk, studying the young girl who till then only dreamed about being a movie star. Then the silence broke like thunder.

"Draw up a contract," he shouted. "Get her mother. Get my lawyer. This is the girl I want." Later Ransohoff said, "I have this dream where I'll discover a beautiful girl who's a nobody and turn her into a star everybody wants."

Sharon Tate walked into that dream. There was no delay for a screen test, not even a still photograph was taken. She immediately signed a seven-year contract and Ransohoff personally took charge of his dream-girl. Sharon's impossible dream became a reality.

When Sharon wasn't filming bit parts for various TV shows, she studied acting with the best coaches, including the master himself, Lee Strasberg.

In very short order, Ransohoff sent her off to France for her first movie, '13', which stars Deborah Kerr and David Niven. In the film, she plays a chillingly beautiful, expressionless girl who has a witchy talent for putting the hex on people. (Completed last year, the film should be released soon--the delay possibly due to the Ransohoff strategy and sales pitch.)

Next came 'Don't Make Waves' with Tony Curtis--the first of her four completed movies to date which has already been seen by the public. She has also completed 'Your Teeth in My Neck' and 'Valley of the Dolls'.

But even before the public saw one foot of screen film, they saw her face on a dozen magazine covers across the country and in Europe. (All part and parcel of the Ransohoff ready-made star image.)

During the filming of 'Your Teeth In My Neck' (previously called 'The Vampire Killers'--a spoof of horror films) Sharon fell in love with the film's director, Roman Polanski. He also stars in the picture with her.

"Marty Ransohoff had to sell Roman on the idea of even considering me for the film," Sharon said. "He arranged for the two of us to have dinner. Roman never said a word to me--we just sat there and ate and he just looked at me. Then we had a second dinner meeting and the same thing happened. Later he took me to his apartment. He lit some candles and then excused himself and left me standing there alone. A short while later he came storming into the room like a madman and he was wearing a Frankenstein mask. I let out a blood-curdling scream and while I was still crying from the scare, he was calling Ransohoff to tell him that the part in the film was mine."

Since then, Sharon and Roman have been inseparable and close friends say that the two will marry. "She's very much in love with Polanski," confides a close friend. "He's the first man she has ever loved. People have always done things for her--ever since she was a child, someone always took charge of her. It's been her life's pattern. She's miserable when she has to come to Hollywood and Polanski can't be with her. She prefers London--or anywhere else as long as they are together.

"I think Sharon is a little embarrassed by her beauty--she feels that the public won't accept her simply because she has been turned into a Hollywood sex-goddess. She wants to be able to prove herself as an actress, too.

"Most of all she needs love--the love that only Roman can offer. I think she would give up her career--even though stardom is in her reach--if it meant losing the man she loves."

Sharon Tate's success as Hollywood's newest golden girl could very well depend on whether or not she gets that happiness in her private life.

Note: I apologize as for the last few months my scanner has not been working and I haven't had time or money to fix it. Anyway, a friend let me borrow his digital camera so I took a couple of shots of the photos that were in the article.  Hopefully, soon I can get things taken care of to show off better photos.

Photo Comparison of the Week & I Nominate Sharon Tate for Stardom

Here is are photo comparison of the week.  It's Hillary Duff and Sharon looking similiar.  Duff's hair looks great here and it reminds me of Sharon. 

Here is another short article I found on Sharon that I thought everyone would enjoy:

Modern Screen Magazine, December 1966

by Dorothy Manners

I Nominate for Stardom:  Sharon Tate

Yes, she’s the one I told you about in the bikini on the Don’t Make Waves set. Remember the name – she’s going to be BIG. Under contract to Marty Ransohoff’s Filmways Productions, Sharon has more rival producers bidding for her than any new girl in town. The word is out. But she’s not bolting. “I’d be pretty ungrateful if I did,” said the blonde bombshell when we chatted between scenes before I bolted. “The Filmways people picked me off a bench in the MGM casting office waiting for an interview. They tested me, spent a lot of money giving me dramatic lessons and singing and dancing lessons – the works. They brought me along carefully for 30 months before I was trusted with a major role in 13, with David Niven and Deborah Kerr. I’d be some kind of ingrate if I didn’t appreciate the investment.”

That’s the kind of girl Sharon is, grateful. Also humorous. Drawing an orange robe across the bikini, she chuckled suddenly. “I’ve appeared in three pictures, 13, followed by Roman Polanski’s The Vampire Killers in Europe, and now this one. The public has yet to see me. Who knows that I won’t be a bomb?” I’ll take that bet.

Sharon was born in Dallas, Texas the daughter of a colonel in Army Intelligence. Because of her father’s assorted missions, the family traveled a lot. Even spent two years in Italy where she learned to speak like a native. “But I always had my fingers crossed that we’d eventually land in Los Angeles because I had my heart set on being a movie actress,”Sharon said. They did. And she did. And this is just the beginning of Sharon Tate. There’ll be a lot more to tell.

Under the photo it reads: On the way to being a big star, Sharon Tate isn’t likely to forget old pals.

More From Yesterday, Rare Magazine Covers, Rare Movie Poster, & Another recommendation for "Eye of the Devil"

Speaking of Deneuve from yesterday, here are two nice photos I found of her and Roman Polanski:

The one below features Gene Gutowski:

And here are three photos of Catherine's daughter, Chiara Mastroianni (also daughter of non other than the great Actor Marcello Mastroianni).  Makes you wonder what Sharon's daughter would have looked like if she had one?

Here are two very rare Sharon Tate magazine covers I found:

And here is a very rare foreign poster for "Fearless Vampire Killers" that I have never seen before:

Here is another blog that discusses "Eye of the Devil" and has a photo:

http://www.itsdeadlicious.com/2009/11/deborah-kerr.html

Sharon Tate had to remake "Eye of the Devil" after Novak's departure and more

Here is another article I found on Sharon.  It is American but I do not know what newspaper it is from?  It looks to be about 1965-66:


She Gets Break in Remake: Same Role Twice for Sharon Tate

Hollywood-- (UPI) The opportunity of an actress' lifetime has befallen a fragile, blonde beauty who co-starred in her first movie with David Niven and Kim Novak and now must do it all over again.

She is Sharon Tate, 23, who spent three months filming "13" in London and France after which Kim Novak injured her back and was unable to continue.  Producer Martin Ransohoff was forced to start from scratch with Deborah Kerr replacing the ailing Novak. 

Sharon is now in the process of redoing all her scenes for the second time allowing her to correct the mistakes and awkward moments of the first time around.

* * * *

"I'm really lucky," she said on a brief trip to Hollywood.  "The first time my attention and concentration were easily diverted.  I was destracted by the mechanics of the camera and moves I had to make.

"Now I am much more at ease.  I've been taking voice lessons and I have more confidence in myself.

"The most important thing is working with Deborah Kerr.  I learn something new everyday just watching her perform.  And Mr. Niven goes out of his way to make me feel comfortable."

Few screen performers in history have been able to run through the same role twice, and when it happened, the actor has the advantage of having seen himself in the first version.

Not so for Sharon.

"I haven't seen a single foot of the first film," she said.  "I don't want to because I'm sure it would make me self-conscious.

"But there's no question in my mind that doing the picture a second time will improve my performance 100%.  What's more, they've enlarged my role."

Shron is the daughter of a career army officer and is engaged to be married to Jay Sebring, the man who restyled the Hollywood haircut.  She's also under long term contract to Ransohoff who signed the slender beauty when she read for a role in one of his television shows. 

* * * *

Her previous acting experience was limited to three small roles in sequences of "The Beverly Hillbillies."

"Mr. Ransohoff came on the set, saw me and said, 'Sign that girl!'  I thought he meant somebody else.  I could not believe he was talking about me.  I looked so awful.  I was wearing an orange dress with big patch pockets and my hair was all over the place.

"I still can't believe all this is happening to me.  It seems like a dream," she said.

Okay so was she doing a cigarette commercial or trying out for a part on one of Ransohoff''s tv shows?  I've seen it printed both ways? 

I didn't know that Sharon's part was enlarged when she had to remake "Eye of the Devil."  It looks like Sharon took everything in stride and was thankful for what she had.  A very admirable trait in a girl so young.  But then again, I wouldn't expect anything less from Sharon. And I bet Sharon looked exquisite in that orange dress. ;)

In other news, I've been linked now by another blog.  I have linked others but have not been linked by another blog until now.  The great thing is that it is a nice and fair blog that has many articles on Roman Polanski.  Here is the link:

http://dankprofessor.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/roman-polanski-on-sharon-tate/

Thanks to dankprofessor for this! :)