Withhis early account of the Manson clan, The Family (1971), 1960s musician EdSanders developed a second career as an author. In his latest book, SharonTate: A Life (published by DaCapo), Sanders returns to the scene of the crime.Tate, the young actress who became the focus of public attention surroundingthe Manson murders, was on the brink of becoming known in her chosen field butwill forever be known instead for her death, not her life.
Sanders’biography endeavors to change that, but as the author more or less admits, hishill is a steep one to climb. Tate kept no diaries and wrote few letters. Atone point, Sanders resorts to using a recent posting on the Tate family websiteby one of Sharon’s long ago friends to fill a gap in the timeline. Repeatedly,when interviewing people who knew the starlet, he is confronted by therealization that those people can’t remember.
Beforeher marriage to director Roman Polanski, Tate had established herself in smallroles on television (she played a secretary on “The Beverly Hillbillies”). Fatethrust her into an interesting if troubled production about a cult practicinghuman sacrifice, Eye of the Devil (1967). Tate’s witchy character was grantedfew lines, but she set “an otherworldly, cultic ambience,” as Sanders puts it.The author ignores the irony connecting the subject of Tate’s first significantbig screen role and her chilling demise at the hands of a cult.
