The 1960’s was a time of significant societal change. This was after all, the famed peace-and-love ‘Hippie’ generation.
The decade gave rise to some of the most iconic films and Hollywood stars. One particularly memorable actress who rose to fame during this groundbreaking decade was Sharon Tate, who was born on January 24, 1943.
In the 60s, she played several minor roles on television before transitioning to film. Her acting career then skyrocketed, and she regularly featured in magazines as a model and cover girl.
After delivering several critically acclaimed performances in comedies and dramas, Tate touted as one of Hollywood’s most promising up-and-coming stars. Sadly, her life would come to an abrupt end in 1969 when she was just 26 years old. In a blink of an eye, one of the most talked-about Hollywood newcomers left this world in tragedy.
Flash forward more than half a century later to today and Tate is still continuing to make headlines. Recently, never-before-seen photos of the late blonde bombshell have discovered in a garage in California.
A handful of photos of Tate lounging under the sun on a towel while wearing a green string bikini taken by one of her roommate’s husbands on his front lawn in Manhattan Beach, California back in the Spring of 1964.
These candid snapshots show the then-21-year-old actress looking happy and very model-like. According to the South West News Service, the pictures discovered a few years ago in 2017 by a woman named Ashley Miller Cabrejas, the stepdaughter of Donald Hagen. Tate’s roommate had married to Hagen at the time that the photos taken.
Tate and Hagen’s first wife, Laurie, were close friends, and both were aspiring actresses and models who hailed from Tacoma, Washington.
Ashley Cabrejas had been poking around the garage in search of photography equipment to prepare for the 2017 total solar eclipse when she stumbled upon the photos. The 46 years old told the press that the pictures had been sitting in her garage for years before she found them.
She went on to say that the photos ‘a casual thing’, adding that they taken before Tate had even became famous at a time when she was just starting to build her career and was going to dozens of auditions.
Seeing these photos today, knowing how Tate’s life ultimately came to an untimely end, is downright fascinating. Keep watching to see more drop-dead gorgeous Sharon Tate Bikini Photos Tate while learning a bit more about her tragically short life and career.
Sharon Tate’s Early Years
Born on the 24th of January, 1943 in Dallas, Texas, Tate was the oldest daughter of three to Colonel Paul James Tate, a US Army Officer, and Doris Gwendolyn.
When she was six months old, Tate won the ‘Miss Tiny Tot of Dallas’ beauty pageant, but at the time, her parents hadn’t any plans to introduce their daughter to show business.
Sharon’s father promoted and transferred several time before she had turned 16. By then, she had lived in six different cities and was finding it difficult to form and maintain friendships. Those closest to her described her as shy and lacking confidence. Later in her life, people would often misinterpret Sharon’s shyness as aloofness.
After moving to Tacoma, Washington, and now that she was nearing adulthood, people began commenting on how beautiful Sharon was. Taking their advice, she started entering beauty pageants. In 1959, she won the title of ‘Miss Richland’ in Richland, Washington.
For a while, as a teen, it was Sharon’s intention to study psychiatry in college. She had also stated that she wanted to compete in the ‘Miss Washington’ pageant in 1960. But before she had a chance of doing either of these two things, Sharon’s father ordered to be stationed in Italy.
After moving to Italy, Sharon discovered that she had become somewhat of a local celebrity thanks to a photograph of her in a swimsuit that had been featured on the cover of a military newspaper called Stars and Stripes.
While in Italy, Sharon bonded with other students who understood and related to her situation. Being the daughter of someone in the military who was constantly being shipped around the world left her with feelings of loneliness and isolation. For the first time in her life, Sharon started to form real, lasting friendships.
After attending several different High Schools across the globe while her father was stationed at various Army bases. Tate finally graduated from Vicenza American High School in Vicenza, Italy, in 1961.
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Sharon’s First Film Roles
Tate and some of her newfound friends became interested in the production of Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man. A film that being shot nearby starring Susan Strasberg, Richard Beymer, and Paul Newman. After auditioning, they all landed parts as extras.
Beymer spotted Tate in the crowd and went up to her to introduce himself. The two ended up dating during the production of the movie and Beymer encouraged her to pursue a career in film.
In 1960, Tate worked for singer Pat Boone and ended up appearing alongside him in an episode of the TV show The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom; which shot in Venice, Italy.
Later that year, the film Barabbas shot near Verona. Once again, Tate hired on as an extra. Actor Jack Palance took a liking to her impressed by her looks and positive attitude. He ended up arranging for her to screen test in Rome, but nothing amounted of this.
Sharon would then relocate to the United States on her own, stating that she wanted to further pursue her studies. But upon arriving stateside, she started looking for work in the film industry instead. Several months went by without hearing from her; so Doris Tate, Sharon’s mother, after suffering from a nervous breakdown, convinced her to return back to Italy.
Sharon Tate’s Big Breakthrough
Tate would return to the US with her family in 1962. Sharon then moved to LA, where she contacted a talent agent named Harold Gefsky; who had previously worked with her old fling, actor Richard Beymer.
Tate landed her first big break when she cast as the voluptuous bank secretary Janet Trego in the TV series The Beverly Hillbillies in 1962.
Tate met her future husband, director Roman Polanski; while on the set of the 1967 English film The Fearless Vampire Killers. She landed her first big film role later that year when she appeared in Valley of the Dolls.
Once married to Polanski, Tate’s life had become all about attending lavish Hollywood parties, jet-setting around the world, and meeting influential movie stars, directors, and producers.
In 1968, she played a redheaded beauty in the spy spoof film The Wrecking Crew. During the making of that movie, she got to work with Dean Martin and the lovely Elke Sommer.
Tate was two months pregnant with her first child while filming the 1960 comedy 12+1 in France and Italy. That would sadly be the last film she would ever appear in because at the age of 26, on August 9, 1969, Tate became one of four victims of the infamous Manson Family cult.
The Recently Revealed Photos Are Quite Telling
In the aforementioned photos that have just recently resurfaced, we’re given a very a intimate look at Sharon Tate’s early years in the US.
The photos also show that Donald Hagen was quite the playboy. When Ashley Cabrejas went through the photos, she discovered that her stepfather, as she put it, ‘quite the ladies man’.
Hagen, who spent most of his life working as a substitute teacher, died in 2017 after losing his battle with dementia. At the time of his death, he had been married to Cabrejas’ mother for 25 years. The couple had no biological children together, so Hagen ended up leaving his entire estate to his stepdaughter.
Ashley says that now that she knows what kind of man Hagen back in the 60s, his vanity license plate, which read ‘DON1’, a play on Don Juan, makes a lot more sense.
Cabrejas revealed that during the Holidays; Hagen would often tell her stories about his friendship with Tate. Although since she was a teenager at the time and going through a typically angsty period; she didn’t pay that much attention to the tales.
It really is a shame that we never really got a chance to see Sharon Tate’s full potential. But these newly published photos of her at least show that she was apparently fairly happy prior to her passing. It’s admittedly a bit eerie to look at these photos – it’s almost like looking at a ghost. But we’re pretty sure that Tate would have wanted to be remembered like this, not as some kind of victim.
That about wraps up this video, but we’d love to hear from you. What is your favorite memory of Sharon Tate’s brief Hollywood career? And do you think she would have went on to have become a bigger star than she was if she hadn’t passed away at such a young age? Let us know in the comments.
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