1969 SPECIAL REPORT: ROMAN POLANSKI SPEAKS OUT ON THE MURDER OF SHARON TATE

In February 1969 Polanski and Tate began renting a Los Angeles home. In August, while Polanski was in Europe working on a film, Tate remained home, eightandahalf months pregnant. The Manson Family cult broke into the home late the evening of August 8 and proceeded to murder Tate and four others. Tate s unborn child was posthumously named Paul Richard Polanski. Charles Manson, along with members of the cult, was arrested in late 1969, eventually tried, and found guilty in 1971 of firstdegree murder. Polanski has said that his absence on the night of the murders is the greatest regret of his life. He wrote in his autobiography: Sharon s death is the only watershed in my life that really matters, and commented that her murder changed his personality from a boundless, untroubled sea of expectations and optimism to one of ingrained pessimism. .. eternal dissatisfaction with life.