Sharon Tate: Cinderella is a Colonel's Daughter and Another Part Sharon Would Have Been Good For...

I found this while going through some old Stars and Stripes Military Newspaper Archives:

The Stars and Stripes Sunday, January 1, 1967

Cinderella Is a Colonel's Daughter

By Harold Heffernan, NANA Staff Writer

Yes, Virginia, once there really was a Hollywood where magic happened almost every day.  That was when the movies were young and romantic and their wide-eyed audiences would buy glamourized waitresses for goddesses, and fumbling producers lately come from the garment trade found themselves endowed with princely wealth--and power--overnight.

Now the movies are as cannily industralized as General Motors, and audiences are wiser, and between them they seem to have lost the magic somewhere along the way.  Then comes a story that can almost make a fellow believe in Hollywood legend all over again. 

The story, for instance, of Sharon Tate, the "instant star."

Sharon doesn't look like any waitress, but exactly like a princess--golden-haired, slim, and lovely, with wide-apart, believing eyes and a voice that makes her sound like she came right out of the blue.  And, sure enough, she did!

Julie Newmar, co-starred with Tony Curtis and Claudia Cardinale in a movie called "Don't Make Waves," had suddenly bowed  out of the cast for the oddest reason.  She couldn't lift Tony Curtis. She'd been set to play "the Diana of Muscle Beach" in the story, but strained her back in a dance routine and withdrew.  So, Producer Martin Ransohoff, in charge of the Filmways-MGM movie, announced he was flying Sharon Tate from London to take Julie's place.

And who, everyone wanted to know, might Sharon Tate be?

"I'm a girl," said Sharon, "who met Richard Beymer in Italy, where my father was stationed.  He's an Army colonel.  Richard was making a film, and I was 18.  And he thought I could do something in pictures, so when we came back to America and settled in Los Angeles, he put me in touch with his agent.

"And I used to hitch-hike to the studios to try out for parts.  One day I went by milk wagon to audition for a bit in 'Petticoat Junction,' the TV show, and well, I got it.  But when they took me in to see Mr. Ransohoff, he said 'No.'  He said, 'I'm going to make this girl a star,' and put me under long-term contract.

"But for 30 months nobody outside of Filmways knew I existed.  I was told I was a secret.  I was being taught speaking, walking, dancing, fencing, calisthenics, and, of course, acting.  And sometimes Mr. Ransohoff would give me a TV bit, but always in a black wig and under another name.

"Finally, he said I was ready.  So I was shipped off to London to co-star with David Niven and Deborah Kerr in '13' ."

What about the co-star arrangement?  Here was a girl who'd never faced a movie camera before in her life, or even been billed on TV under her own name.  She went from complete obscurity to star status overnight.  And do you think she flopped?  Not at all.  Ransohoff liked her performance well enough to hand her the co-starring role in "The Vampire Killers," also made in London.

Then, with '13' and 'Vampire Killers' unreleased, and Sharon still totally unknown in the United States, our girl was brought home to replace Julie Newmar--and on a flying red carpet, with fanfare, a sure-enough Hollywood star the moment she touched ground.

"I'm a trick," Sharon laughed, explaining herself, "done with wigs, aliases, teachers, and, I guess, a lot of money."

Of course, she couldn't lift Curtis, either.  That made no difference in her charmed life.  The script somehow got rewritten so all she had to do was drag him up to the beach from the surf by the heels, and then the camera crew and the property department conspired to give her an unseen hand.

Magic and trickery, of course.  But the main thing is that once more in a subdued Hollywood, Cinderella rides again!

Here is another blogger who says Sharon would have been better for a part in 1966 film "The Oscar" in the Elke Sommer role.  She says:

Kay Berdahl could have been played by Sharon Tate. Kay needs to be beautiful yet vulnerable. Tate had that quality of being insecure and tender despite her gorgeous face and figure. Unfotunately, Kay was somewhat of a cold fish as played by Elke Sommer.

To see her other recasting pix for the film check here:

http://randomramblingofabroadwayfilmtvfan.blogspot.com/2010/04/do-you-ever-start-recasting-movie.html

So possibly that would have been another interesting part for Sharon ...

Quote of the Week, Coppertone & Sharon, and "12 + 1" Producer Says that Film was Jinxed from the Start

Here is our quote of the week:

By Warren Beatty:


"I had never seen a woman who could stop traffic with her beauty like Sharon ... and that in a town like Hollywood known for its gorgeous girls."

Kerstien Matondang has made a website for Sharon and her Coppertone ads:

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

I found this article in the Stars and Stripes Military Newspaper for Saturday, November 29, 1969:

Tate Film Producer Tells of Jinx


LONDON (AP) -- Canadian Film Producer Claude Giroux said Friday that, unless the murderers of Sharon Tate are found, he will release her last film next April.


"If the murderers are discovered then the movie is finished," he said in an interview.  "It's a comedy, and, let's face it and no one wants to watch a comedy when the star has been wiped out in a real-life drama."


Miss Tate and four others were found murdered at her Bel Air home in California last August. 


(Recap of the murder and names of the victims here).


Producer Giroux said the movie had been jinxed from the start.


He said the film, originally titled 'Thirteen,'  had been renamed "12 plus 1" for superstitious reasons.


"Miss Tate said that her first movie had been called 'Thirteen' and she hoped this was not going to be her first and last film," he said.


"We laughed and assured her otherwise, but I changed it to '12 Plus One,' " Giroux said.


Then Giroux related a series of mishaps that hit his movie before he changed it's title.


Giroux said the camera crew when an actor's foot slipped off the break to the accelorator and his car plunged into them. 


Then a young actress fell down steps and broke her jaw. 


An assistant director suffered a heart attack and Italian Actor Vittorio Gassman fell ill with hepatitis.


"You could say that the whole business ceased to be a joke when Miss Tate told me she was pregnant," Giroux said. 


Giroux was in London for his film "Sweet Hunters," at the London Film Festival friday.


"I used to not be superstitious.  But I certainly am now," he said.

Breathless Article on Sharon Tate Plus Fearless Vampire Always a Top Ten Favorite, Polanski sequel? Photos & more

Here is another great article and interview with Sharon from Stars and Stripes Military Newspaper.  I dedicate this one to Rossman, a wonderful fan of Sharon, I think he will get a kick out of it ;)  :

Sharon Tate Leaves You Breathless

Read her exciting story here:

By Robert Musel

For some years now a certain producer of television commercials in Hollywood must have been wondering what happened to the teenage blonde who arrived to audition for a cigarette advertisement.  They gave her a cigarette, she inhaled deeply with the proper look of ecstasy on her fabulous features--and passed out cold on the floor.

Well, time has turned that young blonde into a ravishing 22 year old.  Her name is Sharon Tate and she has been studying hard ever since in as concentrated a campaign for film stardom as any in the recent annals of the movie industry.  Now, after all the acting lessons, the dancing lessons, the singing lessons, the vocal lessons, the moment of truth has arrived. 

She is starring in her first film "13" in a cast headed by David Niven and Kim Novak.  And producer Marty Ransohoff may win what amounts to a $50,000 gamble that she is star material.

She showed up at her first ever interview to tell all.

"Where do I begin?" she asked, trying to pull down a skirt short even by the latest Paris standards.

She was advised to start at the beginning and this is the biography that emerged:

She is 5 feet 5 1/2 inches tall, a natural blonde with hazel eyes that change color.  She weighs 112 pounds.  She was born in Dallas but has never lived long in one place because her father, Maj. Paul Tate, now of San Pedro, California, is a career soldier.  They were stationed in Verona, Italy, when a friend in television suggested she ought to try Hollywood.  And there she went after an unsuccessful attempt to study as a beautician in Houston, Texas.

"You must remember," she said continuing this breathless tale, "that I was shy and bashful when I reached Hollywood.  My parents were very strict with me.  I didn't smoke or anything.  I only had just enough money to get by and I hitchhiked a ride on a truck to the office of an agent whose name I had.  That very first day he sent me to the cigarette comercial job.  A girl showed me how it should be done, you know taking a deep, deep breath and look ecstatic."

Miss Tate demonstrated the deep, deep breath.  At this point the waiter, who was serving tea, apologized for rattling the cups but there may be no connection between these two events.

"I tried to do as she said," Miss Tate explained, "but the first breath filled my lungs with smoke and I landed on the floor.  That ended my career in cigarette commercials."

Miss Tate, who smokes quite expertly now, said her agent later decided she needed experience to overcome her shyness and took her along for a minor role in the 'Petticoat Junction' tv series.  Enter fate in the form of Ransohoff, who is producer of the series. 

"Marty saw me there," Miss Tate recalled, "and he said 'Baby'--you know how Marty talks--'Baby, we're going to make you a star.'  He took me to his legal department and he said, 'Sign this girl.'  I'd only been back in the states for three weeks when all this happened.  What do you think of that?"

We agreed that America is the land of opportunity and Miss Tate went on:

"Up until then, I had been living on a tight allowance from my folks and what with my sheltered life and all I had never even driven a car.  But when I signed with Marty the contract provided for a car and that was the first thing I got.  That and a dog.  These little things count you know.  The very first night I got the car I wrecked it.

"Later I was on a bus and a boy of about 16 said to me, 'There's been a terrible crash on Sunset Boulevard.'  I said, 'I know, it was me.' He looked at me.  Suddenly he kissed me and jumped off the bus."

We agreed this was an encouraging display of initiative by American youth. 

Just when she thought she could really act she played a test with Steve McQueen, the first time she had ever appeared with an actor of his power.  "I was in shock for three days afterwards," she said.  "But he taught me a lot.  He showed me how to really act."

Miss Tate's boyfriend is a Hollywood hairstylist.  Her hobby is people.

"They'd have flipped in Hollywood if they knew what I was doing for amusement," she said.  "About once a month I'd have an 'experience.'  By that I mean I would go somewhere on my own and just look at and listen to people.  I went to a bar once at midnight and a woman said to me, 'Why drink here when you could have men buy you drinks for nothing at other bars?'

"I used to do the same sort of thing in Italy by taking different trains.  Once I met six men from Moscow, Russia.  They were fascinating too."

'13' is the screen version of the novel The Day of the Arrow.  Ransohoff is so sure of his protege he has already cast her for a comedy.

I never knew Sharon studied to be a beautician in Houston, Texas.  I have heard that she had family there so I would suppose she stayed with them possibly? 

I bet it was funny when she demonstrated that 'deep, deep breath' she used for the commercial and the waiter was taken aback and accidently rattled the cups he was filling.  Somehow, I can see a connection between the two, can't you? ;)

And that young man who kissed Sharon?  I imagine he quite enjoyed that kiss with a beautiful stunner like Sharon! :)

Onto other news:

Even though Halloween has past there is still talk of Vampires on the web.  Maybe it's because the Twilight New Moon sequel is coming out on the 20th?  

Anyway, here is another top ten list that includes "The Fearless Vampire Killers."  It seems that Polanski's film is always showing up on these:

http://www.filmshaft.com/martyns-top-ten-vampire-films/

A sequel to Polanski Unauthorized?  um... apparently:

http://www.mmdnewswire.com/polanski-unauthorized-6209.html

More great stuff from Keith on his blog here:

http://lotsofsugarandspice.blogspot.com/2009/11/sharon-tate-is-all-american-beauty.html