Sharon Tate's Sister Debra Wrote a Book About Her, But Doesn't Want to Talk About It

By Samantha Bonar
Mon, Aug 4, 2014 at 4:16 AM
Categories: Books, Celebrity, Fashion, History

Running Press

The exquisite Sharon Tate makes today's starlets look like the lukewarm leftovers of a half-hearted meal. Yet no matter how much we want to focus on the perfection of her beauty, the warmth of her personality or the effortlessness of her style, her horrible end, at just 26 years old and eight and a half months pregnant — 45 years ago this week — looms like a deadly, dark tsunami about to re-crash into our consciousness. It never goes away.

It never goes away for her younger sister Debra Tate, either, but in her gorgeous new photography book, Sharon Tate: Recollection (Running Press), she manages to hold that monster wave at bay for just a little while. Leafing through the pages of what is meant to be "a celebration of Sharon's life and career," you become so engrossed in Sharon Tate's brief life and stark physical perfection that, for an hour or so, you forget about that little brute named Charles Manson.

And yet, oddly, Debra Tate doesn't want to talk about Sharon Tate. She had originally agreed to an interview with the Weekly, but bailed at the last minute for unknown reasons.

Back when the interview was still a possibility, her publicist sent us "suggested interview questions," and instructed us not to ask about another book about Sharon Tate, Restless Souls (It Books, 2012) by Alisa Statman and Brie Tate, or to ask more than one question about Manson or Mad Men (which included some subtle Sharon Tate references this season). (While Recollection is more of a tribute to Tate's film and fashion career, Restless Souls describes what the publisher calls "the gruesome slayings," the hunt for the killers, the drama of their trials and the long-lasting effects on the Tate family.)

In questions submitted to Tate's publicist we did ask, however, about Sharon's widower Roman Polanski and his rape conviction, and about why Debra Tate cares what nominal starlets such as Kelly Osbourne think of her sister today (Osbourne is quoted in the book). We asked how she felt about Sharon Tate being reduced to some sort of t-shirt icon for the Millennial generation, and if she felt that cheapened her memory. We asked if her book was an attempt to counteract that. And, since we couldn't ask about the Statman book, we asked Debra what she thought of the biography by Greg King, Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders (Barricade Books, 2000). We wanted to ask how the murders had affected her family, but Debra's publicist asked us to delete that question. In the end, Debra did not answer the questions.

But as the publishing of her book shows, Sharon Tate is "in" again, an odd position for the victim of one of the grisliest murders of the 20th century. Models walk down the catwalks in looks inspired by her most famous film, Valley of the Dolls. Celebrities like Madonna, Drew Barrymore, Blake Lively, Jessica Pare, Lohan and Adele reference Sharon's style – forever frozen in the heyday of the ‘60s, yet anchored by a timeless beauty that could leapfrog backward or forward into any decade. (She was a Coppertone girl and the inspiration for Malibu Barbie.) She had "It": People called her the next Marilyn Monroe or Liz Taylor. Whether that was wishful thinking we will, of course, never know.

Debra Tate refers to Sharon's brutal murder in Los Angeles in August 1969 by followers of Manson only once in the book, calling it "an event that changed the country in ways that still resonate," and adding, "I always felt it was very unfair for her life to be remembered primarily for its final moments." Indeed, Sharon Tate has been the subject of nearly 400 books, most focusing on the sordid details of her murder.

Of the most recent of those, Restless Souls, subtitled The Sharon Tate Family's Account of Stardom, the Manson Murders, and a Crusade for Justice, Debra Tate wrote in 2012  "I reject this book. I regard it as an insult to the memory of my parents and my two beloved sisters, filled, as it is, with un-attributed conversations, imagined thoughts, and demonstrably false incidents. It represents merely the latest in a long string of efforts by Ms. Statman to insinuate herself into my family's life and history, present herself as an expert on the subject, realize her long dream to write about my family's tragedy, and diminish my continued role as guardian of our family's legacy. Soon I will make the full story of my family and our tragedy public in a definitive way."

Statman, who was in a lesbian relationship with Debra's late sister Patti, appears to have tromped on hallowed territory. Debra Tate, who at one time worked as a Hollywood makeup artist, seems to have forged an identity for herself through her glamourous, tragic  sister, creating and maintaining the fan site sharontate.net. Even her Twitter handle, @trustedsister, references herself only through connection to Sharon; in her profile photo she looks like some sort of bizarre high priestess, forever tending the flame of her immortal goddess sister.

Debra Tate's own book opens with a brief but touching forward by Polanski, who calls Sharon "the love of my life" and directs the reader to his favorite photo of her (on page 263). Following are original and retrospective quotes and recollection essays by such notables as David Niven (who starred with Sharon in Eye of the Devil and called her "a great discovery."), Jane Fonda, Mia Farrow, Orson Welles, Warren Beatty, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, Kirk Douglas and George Harrison.

"Sharon had a fragile, incandescent quality that brought oxygen into the room," Yul Brynner said. "She was such an innocent, and unspoiled by her success," said George Harrison.

We also hear from Sharon herself, who tells us: "I'd like to be an American Catherine Deneuve. She plays beautiful, sensitive, deep parts with a little bit of intelligence behind them," and "I'm very sensitive to ugly situations. I'm quick to read people, and I pick up if someone's reacting to me as just a sexy blonde. At times like that, I freeze."

But mostly, there are photographs, from Sharon's beauty pageant-filled childhood in Texas, her discovery in Hollywood, her years at MGM and her brief, troubled marriage to Polanski. An entire chapter is devoted to the cult classic Valley of the Dolls, with never-before seen or published images.

The few interviews we found that Debra Tate has done for Sharon Tate: Recollection are puff pieces, such as one for InStyle magazine that consists of questions like, "What were Sharon's favorite things to wear?" (antique camisoles, big hoop earrings) and "What were Sharon's favorite beauty items?" (Vaseline). This is Debra Tate's book and this time, she is controlling the way her sister is portrayed — even if that means not talking about her at all rather than answering difficult questions.

In the short story "Venus Is Blue" by Mary Hood, Hood writes: "Imagine a photograph album, with a bullet fired pointblank through it, every page with its scar. Murder attacks the future; suicide aims at the past." Despite the ravishing beauty shown on every page of Sharon Tate: Recollection, in the bigger picture, you realize that, 45 years after Sharon's murder, this family is still very damaged. There is a phantom bullet hole piercing every photograph.

Original Article HERE

Raising a Style Icon: Does Sharon Tate Hold a Clue to the 'Mad Men' Finale?

From the New York Times Today. Unfortunately, it's kind of a mélange of disjointed connections to Sharon.  Young 'uns  discovering Sharon for the first time, throwbacks to the '60's in TV  and they mention both Restless Souls and Debra Tate's upcoming "book"! Restless Souls mentioned first!!! It also touches the glamour of the clothes and mod vs hippie style, subjects that bore us to pieces. There are just a lot of little bits thrown together almost haphazardly.

We suppose it all comes down to being an article on the show Mad Men though and I guess if we were to approach it from that angle it kinda makes sense.

I guess we're not the only ones sometimes trying to shift the focus from the killers to the way more pleasant subject of Sharon Tate, in fact it we may started a trend!

Good luck Debra. Sounds like you're trying to sell chicken scraps as pheasant under glass. Can't wait. Tick tock...

More on "the missing link"

If you have not read Part 1 of this series, it is located HERE.

Patty has a sneaking suspicion that PJ Tate actually DID know what happened at Cielo in August of 1969, but that he couldn't do or say anything about it, because there was a federal investigation going on into the workings of The Brotherhood of Eternal Love (aka "The Hippie Mafia" or BEL). Up until a few years ago, nobody talked much about this huge federal investigation because it was, and perhaps still is to some extent, being actively pursued.

Supposedly, the federal investigation into the BEL is "wrapping up" now: The last BEL-related arrest was Brenice Lee Smith (pictured at right) in 2009. Another member was recently located near Lake Tahoe, but since he is a "family man" and has stayed out of trouble for many decades, he was not prosecuted.

You probably know that Colonel Tate was retired, but that he had been fairly high up in army intelligence. There is a passage in Restless Souls where Alisa Statman writes that PJ staked out Cielo for weeks until some "bikers" showed up and taunted the dogs there from behind the fence. PJ then purportedly followed them back to Spahn Ranch. Why didn't PJ go any further with his investigation? He had suspects, he had experience, he had connections. Patty does not wish to trivialize his pain: she has only the greatest respect and admiration for this man whom she never met. Surely, he must have been PISSED: Sharon's acquaintances' involvement with drugs put her in the worst possible place at the exact wrong moment in time. Because he was a man of honor, he would not have been able to divulge details to which he may have become privy if indeed a federal investigation was ongoing. Viewed in this cold, hard fluorescent light, the look on Colonel Tate's face (above, left) screams "monkey trial" to Patty.

In 1972, there was a large law enforcement conference in a "hotel ballroom" somewhere in San Francisco, according to Tendler & May's BEL and Schou's Orange Sunshine. At this conference, a list of 750 known associates of the BEL is said to have been revealed. These associates were loosely organized into maybe 40 separate distributorships up and down the coast. Where is that list now? Perhaps lead investigator and professional creepy crawler Neil Purcell has a copy of the list, because he was supposedly there. Neil was not only instrumental in breaking up BEL operations in California, he is also the officer who arrested Tim Leary, his wife and his son Jack on 12/26/68 in Laguna Beach. The Learys were in possession of a rather small amount of weed for which Tim was sentenced to ten years in prison. You know the rest of that story, right? Anyhow, that list may end up being the holy grail if Patty can find a copy.

It was this document that Patty was searching for when she found copies of the 1972 and 1974 US Senate Hearings on the "Marijuana and Hashish Epidemic," instead. Patty was interested to learn that the BEL was heavily involved in a passport fraud operation in order to mask their comings and goings abroad. This, the hearings read, was confirmed by Interpol, who once investigated Bruce Davis' presence in London at the time of Joel Pugh's death (above). This statement in the Interpol letter caught Patty's eye: "The local police...understand that he has visited our country more recently than April, 1969. However, this is not borne out by our official records." Interesting, no? Patty was also interested to learn that Bruce (pictured below in 1961) was also an early adopter of LSD, as per his parole hearing from October 4, 2012:

"PRESIDING COMMISSIONER FERGUSON: And you say other psychedelic drugs, did you use LSD? 
 INMATE DAVIS: I started in 1965. 
...PRESIDING COMMISSIONER FERGUSON: Other psychedelic drugs as well? 
INMATE DAVIS: Mescaline...Psilocybin.
...PRESIDING COMMISSIONER FERGUSON: Okay...You've mentioned hallucinogens, how about depressants or stimulants? 
 INMATE DAVIS: Very seldom. Sometimes some stimulants. 
PRESIDING COMMISSIONER FERGUSON: What kind, like cocaine?
INMATE DAVIS: No. Methamphetamine."

These are the drugs that Patty was talking about in her first post, which bring us back to Gary, and to Patty's stalker having another cow. Why have the 48 color photographs associated with the investigation into Gary's murder (here) been lost to us? CieloDrive has promised to keep his eyes peeled for the photos, but at last report, there has been nothing. WHY?

Patty believes that drugs figure very heavily into the overall motive, and apparently Sandy Good does too. Friend of the blog "Giselle" found Sandy's old ATWA site on the wayback machine (see here). Sandy, pictured above right with an (evil-)lizard, stated on her website as late as 2000 that although "seriously flawed," the Shreck book is the closest account to what really happened. The Shreck book is very pro drug motive, as you know.

Kimchi at lsb3.com shared that the LASD arrest report of 5/2/68 states that "Suspect Good was again shown evidence held item #1, #2, #3 and #4 and asked if it was hers, suspect stated, no, never saw it before. When asked if she smokes marijuana suspect stated, yes, but I don't like it. When asked where she got the capsules, suspect stated from Gary Hinman in Topanga.(see here)." Is it a coincidence that Tex and Sadie had a baby food jar full of white powdery speed at Spahn right after Gary's murder, which Tex wrote about in his book, "Will you die for me?" It wasn't in the form of pills (aka "reds"), it was POWDER. The stuff Sandy said came from Gary was also powder in a capsule, not pressed. Gary was an amateur and would not have had a pill press like the one at left, which was recovered from an actual MDMA lab. Was the "speed" in the baby food jar methamphetamine (trade name methedrine), an MDA precursor that Sadie got from Gary's basement?

It is very interesting to Patty that places that the Family have been known to frequent parallel places where the BEL had business at around the same times. Family members were driving up and down the coast all the time, Mexico to Canada. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Phil Kaufman who wrote Road Mangler Deluxe states that he met Manson at Terminal Island, where he was serving time for smuggling marijuana from Mexico. At one time Charlie gave Kaufman's "Joint Venture" address as his own, when he applied for a Union Oil Company credit card (see here).

It is also Phil who was with Graham Parsons when he died in Joshua Tree. Phil stole Graham's body to burn it near Joshua Tree rather than let him be buried at home in New Orleans (see here). Joshua Tree was also home to a large commune that Onjya Sipe stayed at (see here), as did a woman who told Nicholas Schou that she saw Charles Manson at a Haight-Ashbury free Diggers' kitchen called "The Living Room."

The guy who was the main BEL cook around the time of the murders was Nick Sand, a Brooklynite who jumped bail and ended up in Canada. Furthermore, Pic Dawson was a purported drug dealer from Canada. In the Robert Ackerley clip, he says that he never intended to end up in the Haight, because he and a friend were originally driving to Canada. (as an aside: He also mentions hanging out with Eric Clapton in the Haight. This blog has a photo of Clapton at Cass' house, eating BBQ next to Pic Dawson: see here).

Ruth Ann was either travelling with or picking up on Hawaii a large amount of LSD at the time she dosed Barbara's hamburger. We know she disappeared and left Barbara in her hotel for several hours before she returned, then high tailed it back to the airport. The BEL was there at the same time, dealing acid and creating what later became known as "Maui Wowie." Did Ruth Ann bring the acid with her in a premotivated plan to murder Barbara, or was it an offhanded stunt she pulled in the process of picking up or dropping off some sort of shipment? (Hey Stoner, the bong babe is for you). If this was the case, it is entirely possible that Barbara was brought along as an unwitting, disposable "mule."

Clyda Dulaney was murdered in Ukiah, halfway between where the Witches of Mendocino were living in Navarro and where the BEL relocated to from the Haight (namely, Potter's Valley). Who is/was Johnny's "weird aunt," who may know what actually happened according to Johnny himself (see here)? And what about Santa Barbara? and Malibu? and Oregon? and Mexico? and San Diego? and Esalen? And....a bunch of other places that come up again and again? Stay tuned, because of course, THERE'S MORE.

Alisa Statman & Brie Tate - with Connie Martinson

Part 1

Part 2

Bush making Doris one of his Thousand Points of Light

The original photos that were sent from the White House and what appeared in Restless Souls

Alisa Statman on CNN.com

**Thank you, Alisa, for your express permission to use this great photo of you and Patti.**

The enduring fascination of the Sharon Tate murder
By Mike Ayers, Special to CNN

April 11, 2012 -- Updated 0152 GMT (0952 HKT)-- "The day that I was moving in, there was a supposed producer [on the property]," said Statman, now an assistant director on "Modern Family." "He was taking footage of some of the exterior. I just told him not to film me."

Statman said she received a letter from that producer, Bill Nelson. Nelson said he was working on a film about the Manson murders and the Tate family, that he had the blessing of Sharon Tate's mother, Doris Tate, and asked if Statman would be interested in helping. "Being in the business and being 21 years old, I was like 'Heck yes, I'd love to do this.' "

From there, Statman said her life was radically altered.

Read the whole piece, here: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/10/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/sharon-tate-murder-pop-culture/?hpt=hp_c3

Addressing some of the points

Let me note that this is not a return attack on Debbie Tate. Most hold the opinion that silence is an admission to guilt so I’d simply like to address some of the points posted on the site.

I’ll begin with the most egregious, digging up Sharon’s grave. Let me be clear, I did not have Sharon's casket opened, just the grave so that Patti could be buried with Sharon, Doris, and the baby. And, yes, I have the letter from Roman giving me permission to do so. Does anyone really believe that Holy Cross would allow me to not only open a grave but to bury Patti in Doris and Sharon's plot without written consent from Roman--or at the very minimum a court order? As we wrote in the book, the grave has been opened twice since Sharon's burial--once for Doris to be buried next to Sharon, once for Patti to be buried with both.

The second thing that I will state at this time is in reference to the Holy Cross paperwork for Patti's funeral because it is indeed true--yes, I stated that I was Patti's stepsister and power of attorney--2nd part true-- but I did not call myself a Tate. I did this because sadly the archdiocese would not recognize my relationship with Patti as family. Since Roman was signing over the right to bury Patti there, it had to be a family member that signed the forwarding documents and since I was the one paying for and arranging her funeral I lied--sue me. If you've ever had to make funeral arrangements for the one person you hold most dear to your heart you'll understand that you're not always thinking clearly and you do what you have to do to get the job done. I never thought a private purchase receipt for my partner's funeral would become public record. And, quite frankly it breaks my heart that Patti's funeral arrangements have been brought up on that site for public debate. On Patti's death certificate, which I knew was public record and an official document, I signed "Friend".

The numerous points made to prove Patti and Debbie were close? Yes, Patti was a kind and forgiving person so, year after year after year she continually tried to mend the relationship with Debbie only to have Debbie slap her in the face for trying—literally, well, more like a punch on the one occasion that she dislocated Patti’s jaw. In any case, yes, this did include making her part of the wedding party. But if we had to bring Patti’s real friends and children in as witnesses in a court of law, she’d lose this argument in a heartbeat.

Account of Paul Tate: At no point did Brie or I claim to write/copy verbatim from any one of the Tate family’s unpublished manuscripts. Never did we state that words were taken directly from PJ’s manuscript. I state very emphatically in the introduction: “I unearthed a treasure of the Tate family’s home movies, audio and video recordings, journals, and letters dating back to 1961, as well as a massive archive of police and court documents from Sharon’s murder case…. It took months to catalog it all,... By using what I’d found, as well as the personal knowledge shared over the years with me by P.J., Doris, Patti, and Brie, I decided to write it from each of their unique and extraordinary perspectives.”

What this means is that we COMBINED many sources—personal conversations, tape recordings, and yes, we referenced old unfinished manuscripts to form one cohesive narrative. The numerous attacks on Debbie’s site in comparing PJ’s manuscript, Five Down on Cielo, to what’s in Restless Souls is a useless endeavor because only a single paragraph was lifted from it. The rest came from conversations with PJ 20 years after it was written.

Patti Tate Account: I have the dated floppy disks to prove when Patti and I began writing her autobiography. The rest about Robin Olsen, I will leave to Col Scott’s Blog to expose—so far he’s doing a very fine job. I’ve protected myself very well on this issue and have signed documentation from Patti. Amongst other things, I have Patti’s signed contract with our agent in 1999. I also have a registered Writer’s Guild Copy of our collaboration at the time. Why would Patti, a decent, honest, and kind person, turn around and sign a contract with me if she’d promised Olsen that they would write a book together? Something’s very wrong here and it’s not me.

As for the rest of the trivial accusations like the cloudy day at Doris’ funeral? I don’t care if they have a documented weather report that there was a freak snowstorm in LA the day of Doris’ funeral, it was written from Patti’s perspective/memory and that’s how SHE remembered it.

Did I try to push through legislation that would allow non-family members to make impact statements at the parole hearings? No. This bill—AB 219—was a long time in the making at the time that Patti died. It was about to be passed through when PJ Tate made a written request to the state of California that I be his representative at the parole hearings for Sharon’s killers. When Debbie caught wind of this she immediately began protesting that I not be allowed to speak on PJ’s behalf and that she would be the sole representative for the Tate family at the parole hearings—which is why Brie too was denied her right to make an impact statement at Atkins 2005 hearing. The people in Sacramento that were trying to help, hoped that AB 219 would be passed by the time of Atkins next parole hearing so that Debbie's protests could be silenced. Did I want it passed? Absolutely, so I could carry out PJ’s wishes. Did I personally lobby for it? No. At the time, technology wasn’t very advanced. In order to keep PJ up to date, I printed my correspondence between the people in Sacramento and myself so he could read them. Those copies are still in my possession...As a side note, at Atkins hearing that year, the impact statement of Paul Tate's that Debbie began reading and Steve Kay finished reading, was the impact statement I had prepared and planned to read had I gone to the hearing.

Would I take a lie detector test over the final questions posed on the website? Absolutely—and I’d pass.

Questions for Alisa Statman

Please post you have for Alisa Statman in the comments section. These questions will be forwarded on to Alisa.

We are grateful to her.

Please. No questions about Debra Tate. To answer any and all Debra questions, she sends this:

...to avoid any more speculation and questions on why Debbie Tate is not involved in this book--and then, honestly, I will have nothing more to add on the subject of Debbie...Debbie is not part of Restless Souls simply because Patti was never close with Debbie, therefore Brie and I were never close with Debbie. In its original format, Restless Souls was Patti's autobiography. At that time, Debbie was not included in Patti's story (nor was she included in either PJ or Doris' roughly done outlines/manuscripts). When it was changed into a family memoir, I decided to keep Patti's voice as a constant throughout--you'll notice we often begin with a memory of Patti's even if the chapter isn't about her--therefore it seemed only logical to continue forward in the original fashion Patti had begun to exclude Debbie.

I hope you all don't mind, but I'm going to take this opportunity to pimp out the Restless Souls Book Trailer HarperCollins amde because it's got some fantastic footage of Sharon with Doris Tate's VO--which for those of you who've read the book, know she means every word of it. Also, I'd like to note that in the Enhanced eBook, there are more recordings, video, and different photos... Here's the link to the trailer. Thanks!

Restless Souls

Just ran out to B&N and and picked-up my copy.

Page 1...

Restless Souls

Book Description

The gruesome murders of the beautiful and talented actress Sharon Tate, her unborn child and four others that same night at the hands of the notorious “Manson family” rocked the nation. As one of the most horrific crimes in modern history, these atrocities, the trial and the subsequent conviction of Charles Manson and his followers caused a media sensation, spawning movies, documentaries and bestselling books, including the classic Helter Skelter. A defining moment in an era otherwise associated with radical peace, love and understanding, this incident is one that still resonates with millions today.

Yet while this crime left an indelible mark on society’s consciousness, it was, first and foremost, a shattering personal tragedy for those closest to Sharon—the loving family left to cope with the emotional devastation of her loss. Now, after nearly forty years, their story is finally revealed.

Compiled by close family friend Alisa Statman and Sharon’s niece Brie Tate,Restless Souls draws on a wealth of material including interviews with the Tates, personal letters, tape recordings, home movies, public interviews, private journals, and official documents to provide a powerful, poignant, and affecting four-decade, three-generation memoir of crime and punishment, anguish and hope, rage and love, that is both a chronicle of death and a celebration of life.

Extending beyond all previous accounts, Restless Souls is the most revealing, riveting, and emotionally raw account not just of these heinous murders, the hunt and capture of the killers and the behind-the-scenes drama of their trials, but of the torment victims families’ endure for years in the wake of such senseless violence.

Tate family members set the record straight, correcting media misinformation and delving well beyond the official storyline to provide information, much of it available for the first time. Intimate, honest, and heartfelt, Restless Souls remarkable details, including :

• the dramatic role Sharon’s father, P. J., a retired army intelligence officer, played in finding his daughter’s murderers
• the reaction P. J. had when he came face to face—alone—with Sharon’s convicted killer in a holding room during a parole hearing
• the threats and menace that extended beyond prison walls, haunting the victim’s family for generations later
• the fight Sharon’s mother, Doris, mounted to insure the rights of victims’ loved ones, particularly the right to make an ‘impact statement’ at parole hearings—a legacy that has helped keep dangerous criminals behind bars
• the battles Sharon’s sister, Patti, waged with the entertainment industry as she tirelessly worked to prevent artists from glorifying her sister’s killers in music, art, and films

Told from the Tate’s extraordinary perspective Restless Souls offers a rare glimpse at the post-trauma survival of a family and their journey to find justice and ultimately, peace—a glimpse that couldn’t be more timely as Charles Manson comes up for parole again in 2012.

Release Date February 21, 2012

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Restless-Souls/?isbn=9780062008046