Sharon Tate

The broken leg, the polka dot dress, Chanel bag on the floor, and doing her makeup on the floor of a Paris hotel room? That’s Sharon Tate for you. 🖤 photos by @jeanclaude.deutsch October 1968.

"The baby had become the focal point of her life. She read every available book on childbirth and baby care and went on a marathon buying spree for baby clothes. Quite unabashed by her appearance, she didn’t object to being photographed; in fact, she reveled in it. Our conversations revolved around the unborn child. I wanted a girl, but she was convinced it would be a boy and debated what name to give him. She asked if there was anyone I’d particularly admired as a boy. Only half-joking, I told her that my hero between the ages of twelve and fifteen had been the founder of the Boy Scouts, Robert Baden-Powell. She doubted if it would be fair to saddle our child with a name like Baden Polanski. It had always been taken for granted that Sharon would have the baby in America. No airline would fly her across the Atlantic—she was in her eighth month by now—so I booked her a stateroom on the QE 2. In due course, forwarding agents came to remove several massive trunks filled with things for her and the baby, and we paid farewell visits to our favorite London haunts. We spent our last evening together at Harry Saltzman’s newly opened restaurant overlooking the Thames. Sharon had never looked more beautiful. The last picture I have of her, taken only a few days before she sailed, is a little Polaroid test for a photoportrait due to appear on the cover of Queen magazine. Another legacy from her is the book she left behind in our bedroom: Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles. She’d just finished reading it and said it would make a wonderful movie.” - Roman Polanski, 1984. Photos by Terry O’Neill, London, June 1969.

“People expect so much of an attractive person. I mean people are very critical on me. It makes me tense. Even when I lay down I’m tense. I’ve got an enormous imagination. I imagine all kinds of things. Like that I’m all washed up, I’m finished. I think sometimes that people don’t want me around. I don’t like to be alone though. When I’m alone my imagination gets all creepy.” - #SharonTate

Sharon Tate by @william_helburn for @esquire - New York, 1967 ☆

Sharon Tate shopping at a market in France during some downtime from filming her first film, Eye of the Devil, September 1965. "The first day that David (Niven) walked on the location I, when I was younger, thought this is the man I’m going to marry. So, when he came up, I told him, I said you know I had plans for marrying him for many years. Oh, gee, he’s so suave and so elegant and so handsome and witty and the funny thing about it is I did my first film with him." — Sharon Tate on working with costar David Niven on the set of Eye of the Devil.

Sharon Tate, Roman Polanski, and Jay Sebring pictured on the spiral staircase at the @mrchow restaurant shortly after it opened in London, 1968. This was the hottest place to be in the late 60s/70s, with visitors such as The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Federico Fellini, and the Rolling Stones frequenting the place. “The impact of the original Mr Chow restaurant cannot be understated, let’s not forget [London] was not a city whose jaw dropped easily… But when Mr Chow opened in Knightsbridge in 1968, it was something different altogether. It was always just so terribly good and glamorous, and he seduced us all.” - excerpt from the book "Mr Chow: 50 Years” (2018) All photos by Bill Ray.

"Dear God, she was beautiful. Sharon was more beautiful as a teenager than she was in her twenties; in Europe people would turn around on the street just to look at her." - Sharon’s mother, Doris Tate. All photos taken late 1950s/early 60s.

“Sharon Tate was such an amazing person, worldly, but not in any negative ways. She was so grounded, still seemed to show such delight in the little things. A good waiter or waitress in a restaurant, a terrific sunset, ANY animal, little tiny things never lost their magic for her. She had the world at her feet, but never lost touch with who she was, or became blasé about how fortunate she had become. The superficiality of the movie world didn’t fool her one bit, she often said, ‘If I start to believe I’m as good as they keep telling me I am, I’ll get out, there’s still so much to learn.’” 🧡🧡🧡 — Claudia Cardinale, who starred in 'Don’t Make Waves' (1967) with Sharon. Photos by Peter Basch, 1966.

“What I want out of life is happiness. I don’t want money. I get $350 a week. I drive a Buick Riviera. I have all the clothes I want. I like myself. I’m glad I’m me. I’d like to have a baby.” - Sharon Tate 🎀 Photos taken in Los Angeles, 1968, photographer unknown.

Sharon Tate with her iconic braided hair at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival. ✨

“There’s one thing some people have wondered about. Whether or not the baby could have been saved if the police had come in time. I don’t know about that, but all I can tell you is that Sharon wanted that baby more than anything else in the world. That baby belonged to her. Now he will always be with her.” — Sheilah Wells, one of Sharon’s closest friends, November 1969. All photos taken by @terryoneillofficial at Sharon’s home in London, July 1969. Her mini dress is by Rudi Gernreich.

Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski photographed together at Heathrow airport in London, heading to Paris, January 26th, 1967. She’s wearing her fur coat, black boots, Chanel purse, and her floral luggage, which is monogrammed with her initials “ST”.