When Charles Manson Scared the Hell Out of Hollywood

On Aug. 8, 1969, Sharon Tate was a strikingly beautiful B-movie actress best known for Valley of the Dolls and being married to director Roman Polanski.

On Aug. 9, 1969, followers of Charles Manson turned her into the biggest star in Hollywood.

By a horrible twist of much-documented fate, 26-year-old Tate—who was eight and a half months pregnant—became the most famous victim of the so-called “Manson Family” when several followers of the 5-foot-2 cult leader slaughtered five people at 10050 Cielo Drive, a sprawling but isolated property tucked into a hillside in Los Angeles’ Benedict Canyon. They killed supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary LaBianca in Los Feliz the following night.

The murders resulted in death sentences—later commuted to life in prison—for Manson, Charles “Tex” Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten. And since Manson wasn’t at the scene when any of the seven victims were killed, and he later denied getting anyone to do anything, his role remains the most pored over part of these crimes’ long, convoluted legacy.

Almost a decade after his death, Conversations With a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes, a three-part series premiering Aug. 12 on Netflix, seeks to add to the how of it all with never-before-heard prison recordings, firsthand commentary and archival footage.