For Sunday, December 26, 2010: Quote of the Week, Recent Rare Sharon Items on Two Different Sites

Quote of the week:

This is actually a quote by Marilyn Monroe but it sounds like something Sharon could have also said with the way the studios built both of them up:

"An actress is not a machine, but they treat you like a machine. A money machine."

Here is some recent rare items that have appeared on Movie Goods for "The Wrecking Crew":

I don't recall ever seeing this cartoonized version of Sharon.

See more at this link and scroll down:

http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_poster/the_wrecking_crew_1969.htm

And some rare items on Sharon on Ebay:

Great stuff!!!

For Thursday, December 23, 2010: Another mention of Sharon as Marilyn, Sharon and Paul Bern and Roman Wins Award

Another mention of Sharon as Marilyn.  This digital photo really seems to be making the rounds these days:

http://paraphernaliainyourcloset.blogspot.com/2010/12/sharon-tate.html

More about the Jean Harlow-Paul Bern-Sharon Tate connection here, although many of you have probably already heard this story:

http://www.suite101.com/content/sharon-tate-encounters-harlow-house-ghost-paul-bern-a323940

And sorry if this is old news to you but I found this on Roman from December 4:

Roman Polanski wins best European picture award

(AP) – Dec 4, 2010

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Roman Polanski's "The Ghost Writer," a story of a journalist hired to write the memoirs of a British prime minister, has won the prize for best film at the European Film Awards.

Polanski, who was awarded the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlin Film Festival, also took five other key prizes at the ceremony held in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, late Saturday.

Nominated in seven categories, the movie won the best director prize, best actor for Ewan McGregor, and best screenwriter went jointly to Robert Harris and Polanski.

"You have awarded a truly European venture. This is too much ... thank you very much," Polanski said in an acceptance speech through a Skype connection from an unknown location. "I wish to thank — before anything — this wonderful crew I had, a truly European crew."

It was not the first time that the Polish-born director has received recognition from the European Film Academy.

The 77-year-old Oscar winning director of movies like "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown" was honored with a lifetime achievement award in 2006 in Warsaw, Poland.

In Tallinn, French composer Alexandre Desplat was awarded for best composer while his compatriot film editor Herve de Luze won the production designer prize for Polanski's movie, which was mainly shot in Germany.

"The Ghost Writer," about the memoirs of a politician, played by Pierce Brosnan, is loosely based on former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Its production was a tangled tale for Polanski.

As he was finishing the movie in September 2009 Polanski was taken into custody at Zurich airport by Swiss police at the request of U.S. authorities to face prosecution in a 1977 child sex case. He had to finish editing the film while in Swiss prison before being released on house arrest.

In July, Polanski was freed after the Swiss government declined to deport him to the United States. But he still faces an Interpol warrant in 188 countries. Most European nations, including Estonia, have an extradition treaty with the United States.

McGregor, who played the ghostwriter, said he had a "fantastic time" while making the film.

"More than any other part I've played I feel like the director Roman Polanski had his hands really on my performance and is as worthy of this award as I am," McGregor told the audience through a video message from Thailand, where he is currently shooting a film.

Among other prizes at the academy's 23rd annual awards ceremony, Swiss actor Bruno Ganz was honored with a lifetime achievement prize handed out by German director Wim Wenders.

Ganz, 69, with a screen career that spans five decades with memorable performances in Wenders' "Wings of Desire" and "The American Friend," in which he costarred with Dennis Hopper. He is also remembered from his acclaimed performance as Adolf Hitler in the 2004 German drama "Downfall" that portrays the last days of the Third Reich.

French actress Juliette Binoche presented the European achievement in world cinema award to Lebanese composer and musician Gabriel Yared, who has written scores for "The English Patient" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley."

The prizes — the European equivalent of the U.S. Academy Awards — have been presented since 1988 by the European academy to celebrate the continent's film industry as a European counterweight to the Oscars.

For Wednesday, December 22, 2010: New Sharon Tshirt, Rare Magazine and Rare Signature Auction coming up...

Sorry, the holidays were a little more hectic than I expected.  Anyway...

Here is a new Tshirt of Sharon on this site:

http://allthatisheavy.com/info.asp?item_num=ATH-8292

You have to scroll down the page here to view a very rare Sharon Tate Cover magazine:

http://whatgetsmehot.posterous.com/hebrew-sharon-tate-marilyn-monroe-brigitte-ba

(Above magazine looks like it was originally on ebay).

And here is a very rare autograph by Sharon:

http://www.icollector.com/Sharon-Tate_i10100661

Photo of the Week, Kerstien Matondang has new Halloween Homepage Layout! Sharon's friend, Barbara Lewis is back, A New Sharon Blog, and Sharon and Craig's List?

Photo of the week:

A great photo of Sharon by Milton Greene, who also most notably photographed Marilyn Monroe as well as other great stars:

The great artist Kerstien Matondang has come up with a new layout for her Sharon in Art page for Halloween.  Be sure to check it out and keep an eye on her news and updates page:

http://www.kerstien.se/sharoninart.htm

This is a wonderful drawing Kerstien did of Sharon as Sarah in "The Fearless Vampire Killers" a few years back.

If you would, please also leave Kerstien a message in her guestbook. It takes a lot of time and talented artistry to do what she does.  I'm sure she'd love to her any comments? :

http://99419.netguestbook.com/

Sharon's friend, Barbara Lewis is back singing:

http://947thewave.radio.com/2010/09/23/why-hello-stranger-barbara-lewis-is-back/

Why, “Hello Stranger”: Barbara Lewis Is Back!  by BILL DUDLEY


The WAVE has been playing Queen Latifah‘s version of “Hello Stranger” recently, but did you know the song was first written and recorded by a legendary soul singer in the 1960s named Barbara Lewis ? Now in her 60′s, Barbara still has the voice that made her famous.


Barbara appeared at The Gibson Amphitheater last weekend as part of The Ladies of Soul tour along with Deniece Williams, Dorothy Moore, The Emotions, Shirley Brown and more featured.


I loved them all, but I primarily went to see Barbara. As a young kid back in ’63, I went into Studio Records in downtown Oakland looking for new sounds. The knowledgable man at the counter, Guy McKee, turned me on to what he called “a very talented teenager,” being Barbara Lewis. I bought “Hello Stranger” immediately, never knowing it would soon be a national hit and #1 song in the Bay Area. Her big voice was backed by a Hammond organ, and a not yet famous group, The Dells. Barbara soon followed up with “Make Me Your Baby” and “Baby I’m Yours” which are all now considered pop classics.


Barbara slipped out of the music business after an untimely incident in her life back in 1969. She was having dinner with Sharon Tate, just a few hours before she was murdered by The Manson Family. She’s back now touring with the Ladies of Soul around the U.S. and still sounds great. Her voice on ”Make Me Your Baby” and “Hello Stranger” are still two of my all-time favorite female vocals. What are your favorites ?


It must have really devastated her about Sharon's death... So sad...

Another blogger has started their own Sharon blog here:

http://sharon-tate-memorial.blogspot.com/2010/09/did-you-know.html

And Sharon on Craig's List?  Yes, someone is selling a couple of pictures of her there in Kentucky:

http://lexington.craigslist.org/bks/1960324213.html

Sharon Tate Compared to Jean Harlow, Kerstien Matondang and New Video, Rare Sharon Photo, Sharon's Style and More on Polanski

I haven't done one of these for awhile so I thought I'd do another comparison article on Sharon and Jean Harlow:

Jean was born at 5: 40 pm-CST time while Sharon was born at 5:47 pm-CST time (close), but on a different date.

Both were part of the studio system and were designed to show off their sex appeal even though they really could act and do more if the role called for it. 

Both were very close to their mothers who were in turn, very protective of their children.  Their mothers were never the same after their children's deaths.  In addition, both had their mother's laid to rest with them.


Both had kind natures and would give you the shirt off their backs if you needed it.


Both were generous to fans, happily signing autographs and answering fan mail--sending autographs.


Both worked for MGM and 20th Century Fox studios.


Harlow dated Max Baer, Sr while Sharon dated Max Baer, Jr though the second couple were actually more like good friends.

Other sex symbols/blonde bombshells have followed (including Sharon and Marilyn Monroe), but it is Jean Harlow who all others are measured against.


Both adored animals and had dogs.

Both were beautiful and married older men.


Both have been mentioned in song, for instance, Harlow was mentioned in Madonna's 'Vogue' song and Sharon was mentioned in The Aluminum Group song "Miss Tate."  Others have mentioned them in their music as well.


Both starred in bit parts in movies eventually leading to larger roles.


Harlow's first film, "Hell's Angels" was shot twice. Once with another actress as a silent film, then with Harlow as a talkie film.  Sharon had a similiar incident with her first major film when, Kim Novak backed out of filming "Eye of the Devil" and it had to be shot twice, the second time with Deborah Kerr in Novak's role.


Both displayed a talent for comedic performances and had a great sense of humor off camera as well.


Both were continuously on the ascendant in their careers, parts were starting to get better and show more range.


Neither wore underwear; Jean never did and Sharon stopped because she said Polanski didn't want the mark lines to appear on her beautiful body.  In addition, both were photographed in the nude.


Both smoked, Harlow's brand was Fatima while Sharon preferred Tareyton.

Both also appeared in fashion magazines and were cover girls on many of them.

Both lived at a time at the Chateau Marmont, the famous Los Angeles Hotel.  And both lived on Easton Drive in Benedict Canyon: this is where Harlow's husband Paul Bern committed suicide and years later, Jay Sebring bought the house and supposedly Sharon had a premonition there according to this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ow3uOnkwcg

Both died tragically at the age of 26 and were buried in California. 

At the time of their deaths, everyone commented on how loved they were by so many and that neither had any enemies.

Do you have any to add?  Feel free to comment.

Kerstien's new video is ready!  Exciting! Here it is...

http://www.kerstien.se/sharoninart.htm

A rare lovely new photo of Sharon here:

http://rubenigga.tumblr.com/post/519070089/bohemea-sharon-tate

Sharon's style:

http://www.polyvore.com/sharon_tate/set?id=17972654

And can't Polanski have a nice afternoon with friends without being critized for it?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1267240/House-arrest-looked-better-Shamed-director-Roman-Polanski-enjoys-sunny-lunch-friends.html

New Vintage Translated Article: The Tragedy of Sharon, More Screencaptures from FVK, and More New Books on Polanski

Here is another old article I have gotten translated. It is from our great contributor Andrea!  Thanks so much for this!

Sharon Tate: Her Fate Dealt Death

from Manchette August 1969 (A Portuguese magazine)

It was a beautiful day when the Tate family were joined together to discuss the future of the oldest daughter, Sharon, who had announced the choice to become an actress. The father, Colonel Paul Tate, was against it. The mother, Gwendolyn Tate, accepted it. The two younger daughters, Deborah and Patricia, were divided between whether or not to support the sister but at the same time, wanted to respect their parents.  Sharon insisted between all this that her friend, the actor Richard Beymer, thought she had talent.  Shortly afterwards, with the permission of her family, Sharon Tate began the great travel of her life.  The destiny was success, which surely was near.  But everything happened much too fast.  Sharon--lovely, famous and happy--would become a character of a tragedy that no filmmaker could ever have imagined.

The sexy image that was fabricated was soon to be changed for that of a young mother.

It took little time for Hollywood to start applying the actress for success.  She was the American Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe 's successor.  In synthesis, a new star.  Fox spent two million dollars to promote her.  But this was not exactly the reward Sharon was needing.  Besides her career, her marriage to Polanski had a big influence on her.  The rich hippie culture of Hollywood would also be present in the final chapter of her history. 

Sharon in front of Paul Bern and Jean Harlow's former home.

A Scenario of happiness would lead to the sad tragedy.

The first meeting with Polanski might not have been stranger.  The young director was in London, preparing to make his film "The Dance of the Vampires"--for which he had not chosen the principal actress yet--when he knew Sharon was walking towards the studio, he looked at her in fashion magazines.  He immediately called the producer of the film: "This is no Hollywood here.  In my movies, I choose the actresses.  Miss Tate must go."  So Sharon left.  But within two hours later, she was called by the director.  Some months later she was receiving another proposal, this one of marriage.  Her life was running with the speed that young persons always pursue.  And happiness would come, after marriage with a baby to be born in September.

At her funeral, hundreds of young people and Hollywood stars went to the cemetery to say a last goodbye to Sharon Tate.

"She was a good person," the Reverand Peter O'Reilly said while she lay in her coffin at the Church of the Sacred Cross, in Inglewood, Los Angeles, opposite to the mausoleum where it would be buried within moments.  "What can we do to make this death have meaning?  We can try to create a better world, for which that this never happens again. Sharon, may the angels take you to Paradise, and the martyrs help to show you the way. " Many friends of the celebrity couple gave the ultimate goodbye to Sharon Tate, like Yul Brynner, Peter Sellars, Kirk Douglas, Joan Collins and Warren Beatty, and great number of other men and women. Inconsolable, Roman Polanski cried during the whole ceremony, he stood beside the mother of Sharon, Mrs. Paul Tate, and of two younger sisters, Patricia and Debra. They all kissed the casket, and each one deposited on her a rose.

Her are the captions by the photos:

This photo so dramatic since the murder of Sharon shows the fact that she was pregnant of eight months and a half. Standing (in the photo, in front of the studio of Fox) she was never so happy as while be preparing to become a mother.

When making "Valley of the Dolls" director Mark Robson said she had great quality on film and was going to be an terrific actress one day. But Sharon cared more about having a family and could care less about the quality of the movie, even though she gained much publicity and had originally had a definite impulse to become actress.

Wearing dark glasses, Roman Polanski cried for the entire length of the funeral and had to be assisted by a doctor. 

Beside the mother and two younger sisters of Sharon (Patricia and Debra), Polanski was comforted by his doctor, Dr. Peter Thomas. He was in Europe when the tragedy took place.

Sharon looks a lot like Catherine Deneuve here.

And here are some more screencaptures from Micaela:

http://media.photobucket.com/image/sharon+tate/omgxsharontate/Sharon%20Tate/vlcsnap-2010-04-03-22h04m30s112copi.jpg?o=4&filter=newest

Tammie, another wonderful contributor told me about this new book on Roman:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0313377804/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=0V289AAMZXYV3Y3GEX5T&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938811&pf_rd_i=507846

Here is another strange one I found:

http://www.amazon.com/BURDEN-BEING-POLANSKI-MOMENTARY-REASON/dp/0557142946/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_2#noop

Has anyone read these books?  Any comments?

Photo of the Week, The Last Part of the Translated Article: Sharon Tate wanted to eventually have a baby girl, and More on Polanski

Photo of the Week:

Sharon looking as beautiful as ever.

Here is the last part of the Translated Article:
L'Europeo August 21, 1969
My meeting with Sharon Tate
by Adriano Botta

(Warning: take some of this part with a large grain of salt...)

Photos from the actual magazine I got this article from.

Sharon Tate caught her breath, as the "bunnies" continued to deploy rose petals that they knew had hashish and brought a giant wedding cake on which was written: 'Enough with stripping, Elda!' There was a laugh by contortions. Roman Polanski stopped drinking whiskey and promoted an investigation. He learned as he copied the voice of Groucho Marx that the pastry chef had mistaken the cake by sending it to them.  Instead it was intended for a stripper at the Playboy Club that was retiring. "I have only now begun to perform in stripping," said Sharon, making a joke of it. "That will become increasingly good at becoming essential in my eroticism. Could I really become the Marilyn Monroe of the seventies?  Not in the Martin Ransohoff way. I want to be a type of Monroe who, with her eroticism set the world on fire without burning it.Yes, I will continue to undress. In a I could be undressed forever. If only to die soon in a satanic way*. I adore the way of working and living that has Roman's genius written all over it. There is an absolutely horrible sense of hypocrisy in the world. I am shocked.  Too bad for them. I and Roman have been a pair for about three years and we did not get married and it did not bother me at all. Marriage is a bourgeois convention. How important is marriage? If two people love each other and do get along well together why should they have to marry to make everyone else happy? For three years I've been with Roman and Hollywood is shocked? To bad for them.  They don't understand.  I stay away from Hollywood as best I can.  I've had it with the whole of Hollywood and its false puritanism. It is no longer the Mecca of cinema but more of a graveyard of the past studio system. I prefer London and Rome to Hollywood. "

"Why did you get married then?" someone asked. Sharon replied, "We said why not have a wedding?  The idea of it was fun. And the wedding reception at the Playboy Club was well worth the effort of a formal ceremony like marriage but it does not change anything. We are like a middle class couple, we strive to make sacrifices for each other and to encourage each other. There is no duty or restriction imposed on each other. And we often forget even to be married. I want to have children, yes. I'd like a girl. And I wish that she inherits my looks."

 
Sharon Tate is dead in Hollywood, in the cemetery of the old studio heads from which she was intended to flee. And she died like in a film by Roman Polanski, hanging from a cord of nylon, the beautiful body pierced by daggers.  And she died with four others, one of whom was also her ex-lover, the hairdresser of the stars, Jay Sebring.  He was stabbed and his head wrapped in a black hood. A morbid aggression, a crime that is crazy and repeated two days later, a few miles away, in another villa, two Italian spouses killed with the same ferocity and the same technique, with the same left written on the walls, 'pigs.' Two crimes like the demonic films inspired by the fantasy reminiscent of Polanski.  The face of America now bitter and dark. Sharon Tate was twenty six years old. She was to give birth to a baby in four weeks. Even Polanski has fallen to such a degree of shame with his cruel curse of literature.

*This sentence makes no sense with the rest of what Sharon is talking about.  And why would anyone say that anyway?  The only thing I can think of is that the reporter heard about the rumors of a possible santanic murder and added that comment to go along with it. I think a lot of reporters added this kind of thing for sensationalism. 
 
And it sounds like the reporter also went along with the Polanski makes macabre films so it imitates his life.  Like it is his fault for making movies like "Rosemary's Baby" that is the reason why he deserves this suffering in real life. 
 
Like I said, this kind of thing must be taken with a large grain of salt.
 
On a better note, here is a person who is trying to watch 1001 Greatest Movies of all time and reviews Polanski's "Chinatown." :
 
http://1001plus.blogspot.com/2010/02/separating-man-from-his-art.html
 

More on working with Polanski by The Ghost Writers stars Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor:
 
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/18/earlyshow/leisure/boxoffice/main6219911.shtml
 
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/ewan-mcgregor-praises-ghost-writer-director-roman-polanski/story?id=9873344
 
http://insidemovies.moviefone.com/2010/02/18/pierce-brosnan-interview-the-ghost-writer/
 
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Interview-Ewan-McGregor-17134.html

http://wonderwall.msn.com/movies/polanski-picked-on-mcgregors-accent-1538837.story

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Translated Article from Italian Magazine: 'No need to be embarrassed about being nude' and More on Polanski

L'Europeo August 21, 1969

My Meeting with Sharon

by Adriano Botta

Producer Martin Ransohoff wanted to make her another Marilyn Monroe, the 'sex symbol' of the seventies. But Sharon reacted and got to attend the Actor's Studio. The meeting with Roman Polanski, Sharon called it 'a drug', radically changed her life.

I was one of six hundred and forty invited to the wedding of Sharon Tate in London on 20 January 1968, which was performed in place less for married couples than any place in the world, the Playboy Club. Roman Polanski, the husband, called 'genius and profligacy' by British film critics, dashed down streams of whiskey and told stories that nobody seemed to listen to. The 'bunny' club had distributed rose petals that they knew had hashish. The lights were low, like from a cabaret. On the tables there was no shadow of dishes, so I buy food. Her husband, extolling her, the bride, who looked out of the modern novel of a masochist. She appeared sheathed by Elizabethan costume: lace, high collar and starched puffed sleeves of silk, and a skirt that barely covered her bottom. After alluding to the guests to smile, Sharon Tate sat at the center of the room, in a large bed with black sheets. On her legs that black shining white, long and thin, as in a framework designed for antolgia seduction. We all looked at those legs, our eyes were riveted.  We also watched Polanski--who appears to have a taste for suffering--together with a Raymond Chandler film style, the director who turns a cocktail of seduction-perversion-bloody cruelty in a commercial product with a large circulation. "A drop of blood at the spectacle of the wedding would have been in Polanski film fashion," said one of the critics present. Seduction and perversion were squandered, spurting from the contrast between the violent beauty of Sharon and her features delicate and innocent, like the Madonna of Siena, between his hard and sterile voice to hers an icy, sexy, girlish, rich, soft one.

Suddenly Sharon Tate picked up her white panty-hosed, long, and beautiful legs that bewitched so many of us, and came over to me and held a conversation with me for most of that extravagant banquet:

"I'm in love with Roman Polanski because he is beautiful and a genius to the bone and he has the unruliness of a man who is truly wise.  My father always told me to cover my legs and never to button my blouse too low.  And he scolded my mother since I was two years old when she sent my photographs to newspapers. With my husband, however, I was taught that nudity is not shameful but a way to be free, happy, full of life, and that we have only one duty, to be ourselves.  We do only what we want to do, ignoring the opinions of the world. We especially have fun. Roman has taught me that when women like me show themselves nude and beautiful that it is the most pure thing a woman can do. When we were going to shoot our first film together, The Fearless Vampire Killers, Polanski did not want me. The producer had to impose himself and put his foot down to get me the role. I had to shoot three sequences completely naked. I arrived on the set wrapped in a sheet like a ghost and when I opened it I was terribly embarrassed. I bent over and tried to cover my breasts and the rest.  Then Polanski told me: 'If you do that it attracts even more attention from the technicians and the matter becomes sordid and dirty. They are embarrassed if you yourself are embarrassed. You must learn to be naked in a natural sort of way, given that you're beautiful, with pride. This is the right attitude.'


"Roman was right. His talent subdues me. And the week after that he photographed me in color for Playboy, naked and natural. By this point I was already at ease. I had already forgotten the stupid complexity of modesty. The nude body has become the symbol of an era, or at least is becoming one. Like the sound of a new era and a new moral--morality naked--without the veil of hypocrisy. The morality of pleasure sought by the soul and the light of the sun. Body and soul: is that not the title of a popular ballad?"



To be continued tomorrow...

Polanski has some good news come his way:

Roman Polanski in Pole Position at Berlin Film Festival

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9838779

By Mike Collett-White

BERLIN (Reuters) - Roman Polanski can enjoy a break from sensational headlines about his arrest and misdemeanors and bask in the glow of mostly positive reviews for his latest movie "The Ghost Writer."

The 76-year-old director, under house arrest in his chalet in Gstaad, is among the early frontrunners for prizes at the Berlin film festival this year, although the 10-day competition has yet to reach halfway.

The political thriller based on a novel by Robert Harris is one of 20 movies vying for the Golden Bear for best picture, which Polanski won in 1966 for "Cul-de-Sac."

The fact that it is among the favorites is remarkable given that post-production was completed while Polanski was in a Swiss prison and, later, under house arrest.

"With this immensely enjoyable, satisfyingly convoluted thriller he demonstrates exactly why he is still a force to be reckoned with," Wendy Ide wrote in the Times newspaper.

"From the opening scene it is clear Polanski had complete control, whether or not he was behind bars when he finished it."

The United States is seeking to extradite Polanski to face justice after he fled the country in 1978 on the eve of his formal sentencing for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian said: "This is his most purely enjoyable picture for years, a Hitchcockian nightmare with a persistent, stomach-turning sense of disquiet, brought off with confidence and dash."

Hollywood trade publications were more circumspect, however.

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter described the film about a disgraced British prime minister loosely based on Tony Blair as "sleek" and "hypnotic," "but once the credit roll frees you from its grip, it doesn't bear close scrutiny."

Derek Elley of Variety was one of the few dissenting voices in Berlin:

"All the ingredients are here for a rip-roaring political thriller ... but ... Polanski simply transfers Harris' undistinguished prose direct to the screen and ... there's little wow factor in the revelations as they appear."

GRITTY DRAMAS ALSO SHINE

The Ghost Writer stars Ewan McGregor as a writer brought in to spice up the memoirs of an ex-premier (Pierce Brosnan).

The politician soon becomes embroiled in a bid to have him tried for war crimes, while the writer, who remains nameless, begins to uncover uncomfortable truths about the former leader and his wife, played by Olivia Williams.

Polanski is not alone in impressing critics in Berlin this year, with two other competition entries scoring strongly.

"If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle" is part of the "new wave" of Romanian film-making that has wowed festivals around the world in recent years.

It follows an 18-year-old young offender who is days away from being released from a correction facility. He discovers his mother, who abandoned him as a child, plans to take his brother to Italy, forcing him to take dramatic measures to break free.

Screen International wrote of its "outstanding quality," and the same publication was even more positive about "Submarino," a tough Danish drama which contains scenes of domestic abuse.

"Rarely has there been such a downbeat feel-good movie, but feel-good it is: Submarino works like an emotional massage, leaving the viewer pummeled but invigorated," Screen wrote.

The Berlin film festival awards ceremony is held on February 20.

More of the Translated Article Discussing Sharon's Career and a Great Article on Actor Ferdy Mayne Who Remembers Sharon Fondly

Novella 2000 August 21, 1969

The terrible death of Sharon Tate, the most beautiful of Hollywood (part III)

By Paolo Pietroni

Sharon Tate was born in Dallas, Texas, twenty-six years ago. Her father was in the U.S. Army and attended the service of safety signs (counter, then a sort of 007) when Sharon was only six months away, her mother sent some pictures to a beauty pageant and to baby foods. Sharon won the proclaimed Miss Baby of Texas.

She was pretty young, beautiful and she was to become great. At sixteen, she was elected to Miss Richland of Washington, and then "Miss Autorama."   A year after that her father was elemental in the technology in Italy, at the NATO base in Vicenza: Sharon was proclaimed High School Homecoming Queen.

In Verona one day she saw a film crew from Fox shooting a film. The director was occasionally impressed by the beauty of Sharon. Two years later, when the Tate family returned home, the director remembered her. And one fine day Sharon was taken almost bodily into the office of Martin Ransohoff, director of Filmways, who sealed a deal and made her sign a contract for seven years.

Sharon early in her career.

The first three years (so stated in the contract) Sharon was studying. Forbidden to do photography, film making prohibited except some minor bit part with wig, and fake name. The 'system' of Hollywood was once again put into motion to build, piece by piece.  She was to take the place of Marilyn Monroe, whose presence had been too long empty now.

What they said about her
 
Singing lessons, acting lessons, diction, carry oneself, exercise, nutrition, classical ballet. These three years of 'school' cost the producer Ransohoff the beauty of three hundred million.  But he was sure to have them invested in a fertile soil. They had coined slogans to launch the young actress. Here's one: "Nothing is more exhilarating for a tete-a-Tate."
 
At the end of three years of study the "doll-blonde-sexy-all" was ready to begin her first film, starting as the female lead. The first film is titled "Thirteen" (the same title of the last film!). Sharon personifies a fragile country girl with psychic powers and witchcraft. And she was so good as a witch that director Roman Polanski put her in his film writing about vampires (Italian title: Please do not bite on the neck) with Christopher Lee.* During the making of the film (even between Polanski and interpreters), Sharon and Roman fell in love.
 
Third movie: Plan, Do not Make Waves with Tony Curtis and Claudia Cardinale. The fourth movie: The Valley of the Dolls.  Fifth and final film, as we have said was Thirteen with Gassman. But the title was changed : we will call it One out of thirteen, or 12 + 1. Sharon embodies a rich heiress. But her montary legacy has been hidden by her grandmother inside one of thirteen chairs that were unfortunately sold. Gassman helps Tate helps to find them one by one--the thirteen chairs--through a thousand vicissitudes.** One becomes yellow-pink, in fact.

Sharon with Ferdy Mayne in The Fearless Vampire Killers.

*There must have been a goof in this article as it was Ferdy Mayne and not Christopher Lee that appeared in the film, "The Fearless Vampire Killers."

Sharon's final film, "12 + 1"

**I thought it was Gassman who was to inherit the money in the chairs and that Sharon helped him.  Sorry, I have still not seen the film "12 + 1".

Speaking of Ferdy Mayne I found a great interesting article on him where he mentions Sharon.

Mayne says of Tate: “Sharon was a very kind and sweet person in life and of course Roman adored her and that was obvious from the first day of filming.”

He talks more about Roman and Sharon in the article here:

http://www.filmsinreview.com/2009/04/02/camp-david-april-2009-ferdy-mayne/

New Sharon Tate Article, Polanski Wins Some Damages, and Love Story Author Passes

I found a few interesting things in this otherwise rather dramatic, gossipy magazine called Screenplay for December 1969. 

Hollywood's Reign of Terror -- The Tate - Lennon Murders.

(The vintage magazine discusses both the Tate murders and that of the Lennon Sisters family murders.  I'll focus on Sharon for obvious reasons and because the article is rather lengthy and you have to take a grain of salt when you read it.)

"I love America, and I love working, but I am frightened by the violence.  Nowhere else in the world--Italy, France, England--do you see such violence!"

These were the words of Roman Polanski, the brilliant 36 year-old Pole who directed Rosemary's Baby.

Roman Polanski's beautiful movie star wife, 26-year-old Sharon Tate, was stabbed to death, along with their unborn son and three of their closest friends, in their Benedict Canyon Hollywood Mansion, early on Saturday morning, August 9th.  Sharon (as were the Lennon Sisters' dad) were buried at Holy Cross Roman Catholic Cemetery.

The Polanskis enjoyed all the wild excitement of Hollywood's hip youth scene.  In fact, he was almost too exciting for her, and their first encounter in London in 1965 was almost their last.  He invited her to dinner in his home, when she came to him for a part in his horror-comedy, The Fearless Vampire Killers.  In part of a screen test, he suddenly reared up behind her, wearing a Frankenstein mask and making horrible monster noises in his gloomy, shadowy dining room.  Naturally, she screamed hysterically.  He decided that she had expressed just the right reactions for the role.  She, in turn, decided that the long-haired director was the craziest nut she'd ever met!

But soon she realized that his eccentricity was that of genius.  They fell deeply in love, and by the time she went back to Hollywood to star in Valley of the Dolls, she was telling everyone about the affair.  "He is my first real, serious romance!" she exclaimed.  "He is so strong, so true, so honest.  But at the same time he leaves me free to be myself.  He's also very sexy, because what makes a man sexy to me is vitality and intelligence."  They had a beach house in Hollywood, where they lived together, and they enjoyed going into the desert to race his car.  They always kept a home in London, too.  Sharon loved the new freedom and tolerance there.

For the first time in three years, Sharon insisted, "I'm not going to spoil a great affair by turning it into a mediocre marriage, for convention's sake."  She had been born in Texas, but as the daughter of a career army officer, Colonel Paul Tate, she was educated in Europe.  She explained, "I have the European attitude towards sex and life in general.  Everything is so much more liberal and open over there."

By January 20, 1968, they had decided they could have a great marriage too.  The wedding was held in a London registry office, with a star-studded reception in the Playboy Club.

Instead of competing with each other, the Polanskis were always trying to help each other succeed.  Sharon often visited the set of Rosemary's Baby, the movie which made him America's most famous director.  Valley of the Dolls failed to make her an equally-famous star, even though she'd been built up before hand as "the next Marilyn Monroe," and possessed a perfect, immaculate beauty.  But Roman always had enthusiastic faith in her.  He tried to get her the role of Rosemary, then encouraged her to appear in The Wrecking Crew with Dean Martin, and he sent her to Rome to make 13 Chairs.  They celebrated her return with a gala party; all the guests noticed how happy the Polanskis were and how much in love.

She went with him to London, where he was working on The Day of the Dolphin.  He ran into a problem there.  When her little Yorkshire terrier, 'Saperstein,' was run over by a car, Roman couldn't find a way to break the sad news to the tender hearted girl.  He finally told her that her pet had run away, as he handed her an identical dog.  After Sharon died, Roman kept repeating, "She was such a good person."  That wasn't just a husband's opinion.  Even a notorious woman-hater like Mort Sahl described her, during her lifetime as "a very nice girl."

Sharon and Roman were looking forward very eagerly to the birth of their first child.  They hardly ever talked about anything else.  Sharon left London a few days early, by boat, because she didn't want to fly during her eighth month.  Roman planned to be home in time for the birth, and he hired an Irish nanny for the child.  He was also looking forward to his own birthday on August 18, because Sharon was planning another big party for him.

Because he didn't want her to wait for him all alone, he asked some friends to come and stay with her, Voytech Frykowski, who'd been his movie partner in Poland, and Frykowski's girl friend, Abigail Folger, who was doing social work in Watts, even though she was the heiress to the coffee company.  The famous men's hairstylist Jay Sebring, who had been Sharon's boy friend before she met Polanski, was also visiting them on the fatal night.  They became her companions in death. 

(There is a complete rundown of the murders and how the victims were found.  There is also a mention of drugs and black magic and the article says: "Roman had a brilliant, original, searching mind and his movies all showed a strong interest in the macabre.  At the Polanski's last party, Sharon had wore a transparent white gown... While Sharon and Roman were a very devoted couple, they were also a very unconventional one."  I'd take some of that with a grain of salt.)

The shocking facts gave rise to rumors.  Roman had to defend his dead wife's honor in the midst of his own grief.  Through his partner, Gene Gutowski, he sternly told the press, "Jay Sebring was a close and dear friend of both Sharon and Roman.  It was wrong to suggest that there was any romantic involvement at this time between Sharon and Jay.  Sharon and Roman were a storybook couple, deeply in love.  She was very devoted to him, and he was very protective of her."  Jay originally planned to bring his own girl, Connie Kreski, a starlet and Playboy Magazine Playmate of the Year.

Gutowski also insisted, "There was no party going on, and Sharon and the others were rational, nice people, not Hippies or cultists.  What happened to them could have happened to anyone, as it did to the Clutters in Kansas."

(There is more falseness in the next part about mutilated bodies that are just not true, so I will not include them here.)

Roman Polanski was obviously in no condition to say anything to the press himself.  It was hours before he was composed enough to talk to the police.  He had taken the first plane from London, but he was under deep sedation from the time Gutowski gave him the news, and he cried, "They have killed my wife and baby!"

The drugs did not dull his grief.  He sobbed through Sharon's funeral, and knelt to kiss the casket, as Sharon's mother tried to comfort him by sadly patting his head.  By the time he arrived at Jay's funeral, he ws so near collapse that he needed two friends to support him.  In his bitterness and heartbreak, his is now planning to leave Hollywood forever, and stay in London. 

Both his love and his fear (of America) have been justified.

He came to us as an immigrant, bringing his talent and energy--they won him a beautiful movie star wife, exciting friends, and a Hollywood mansion--and thus he helped prove that our cherished American dream can still come true.  How shameful it is that for Roman Polanski, the great American dream has ended in a nightmare.

(The next part is all about the Lennon Sisters and their family and their father, who was shot to death.)

(The article also mentions the LaBianca's murders and how Garretson had been taken into custody but since there was no evidence to be found against him, he was released.  Speaking about the LaBianca's the article says, "So a third family--not related to show business at all--helped to prove the dreadful moral of Hollywood's reign of terror--that violence can strike anyone, anywhere, regardless of his character or way of life.")

The Polanskis and the Lennons--the most modern and the most conventional--the most daring and the most devout--the most glamorous and the most typical--neither were spared.

If you want to write condolence letters to the bereaved, expressing your own sympathy, you can send them to Roman Polanski, c/o Rogers, Cowan & Brenner Public Relations, 250 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, California, and for the Lennon Sisters, c/o Jay Bernstein Public Relations, 9110 Sunset, Beverly Hills, California.

Apparently, Roman Polanski won some damages in his case against the press but not as much as he had hoped:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jan/19/polanski-wins-privacy-damages

Not sure if Roman and Sharon knew him but another great from the Sixties has passed away.  "Love Story" Author Eric Segal dies at 72:

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9604208