Doris Tate

A native of Texas, this future champion of law-abiding citizens and scourge of murderers had never wished or expected to become a public figure. She had a low-key childhood, eventually marrying an Army Intelligence officer named Larry Tate. His job required international travel, so she lived in many parts of the world. They had three daughters, Sharon Tate, Debra Tate and Patricia Tate (aka Patti). Her husband very much ruled the home when present and her children all became very close to her partly as a result. Oldest daughter, Sharon Tate, became noticed for her immense beauty and she participated in many beauty pageants and talent shows, eventually moving to California to become a model and actress. In spite of her reservations about Hollywood, Doris agreed to support Sharon's ambitions and, later, her husband retired from the military and moved the entire family to southern California. Life was good, although she disliked some of the men that Sharon dated. In the mid-1960's, Sharon became engaged to celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring and Doris looked forward to the wedding, but the engagement broke off.

Shortly afterwards, Sharon married director Roman Polanski, who had directed her in The Fearless Vampire Killers: Vampires 101 (1967). Sharon's career was showing great promise.

In January of 1969, Doris found out that she was to become a grandmother, which thrilled her to no end. She enthusiastically helped with choosing baby clothes and helping to decorate the planned nursery.

But, on August 10, 1969, life as she knew it ended when she learned that the previous night, her beloved daughter had been brutally murdered, being stabbed 16 times, along with four other people (including Sebring), at her home in Los Angeles. The news devastated her, and she took little notice when the funeral was attended by a virtual who's who of Hollywood celebrities. The next night, a Los Angeles couple was butchered in a similar manner. The killers were unknown and remained at large for a while. Then it was discovered that one of the murderers, Susan Atkins, had been caught. It turned out that Atkins was living on a former movie set with a group of drugged-out transients, lead by Charles Manson, who later became known as "The Manson Family". Doris Tate was horrified by Atkins gloating attitude and remarks in her confession, including the statement, "Killing people is fun. The more I do it, the better I like it". Atkins confessed that she had killed Sharon, along with others, on Manson's instructions. Before long, other participants, including Charles 'Tex' Watson and Patricia Krenwinkel were arrested and charged with the murder. At first, it was unclear whether Manson, himself, could be convicted, but when family member Linda Kasabian, who had acted as lookout but couldn't bring herself to participate, agreed to testify, his conviction became ensured. Doris watched with disbelief as the ensuing trial dragged on for over a year while the defendants engaged in bizarre, disruptive behavior, seeming to gloat over what they had done.

Throughout the 1970's, Doris Tate was profoundly depressed and became a recluse, unable to even talk about her late daughter without falling apart.

It was an enormous relief when the killers were found guilty and sentenced to death in 1971.

However, in 1972, the California Supreme Court overturned the death penalty.

That changed in 1982, when she learned that former Manson follower, Leslie Van Houten, was being considered for parole and had gained 300 signatures in support. This outraged her and, although Van Houten hadn't participated in her daughter's murder, she launched a public relations campaign to keep all the killers in jail. After making several television appearances and an interview with The National Enquirer, she succeeded. She then proceeded to appear at parole hearings of her daughter's killers, vigorously opposing their releases. She became a nationally-known advocate of victims rights.

She unsuccessfully ran for the California state legislature as a Democrat in 1984. She later became a Republican, claiming the Democrats were too responsive to trial lawyers and their criminal clients.