#doris tate

Christmas 1965, at Jay Sebring’s home on Easton Drive. Sharon and Jay began dating in 1964 and she moved into his home shortly after. Their relationship would end by mid-1966.

Sharon was briefly back in Los Angeles in December 1965 for the Christmas holiday. She had spent the previous 5 months in Europe to work on the film, Eye Of The Devil. Production was running much longer than anticipated because Kim Novak was forced to leave the film due to a back injury she sustained while shooting a scene. At the time she left, production was nearly complete. However, there were still some important scenes involving her character which still needed to be shot.

MGM paused production in December so that the cast and crew could spend Christmas with their families. They would then start the entire film over in January, with Deborah Kerr replacing Kim Novak.

SHARON TATE photographed with her mother, DORIS TATE, c. 1961.

After her daughter’s murder in 1969, Doris Tate fell into a severe depression. Sharon’s younger sister, Debra, would state that “the lights were on, but nobody was home. She would have moments of lucidity, but most of the time she was sedated.” She remained withdrawn from public life and found it impossible to speak to anyone about her daughter’s death.

The murders caused the Tate family the worst distress imaginable, but also introduced Doris to the world of activism. Just over a decade after Sharon’s death, the Tate’s learned that one killer could possibly be granted parole. This impassioned Doris, who worked tirelessly to make sure there was noise against this proposal, receiving over 350,000 signatures in a petition to keep them imprisoned.

After a successful battle, she continued her work by founding the Coalition on Victims’ Equal Rights and also becoming a key member of the ‘Parents of Murdered Children’ organisation, in which she was able to assume the role of councillor for other families struggling to cope with their losses. In 1992, just before her death at age 68, president George H. W. Bush honoured Doris Tate as being one of the country’s “thousand points of light”. Her legacy continued through her daughter Patti and now Debra, who still fights to keep those who killed Sharon Tate and so many others in prison.

Grief destroyed Sharon’s parents

SOLE FAMILY SURVIVOR TELLS HER STORY Sharon Tate’s mother and father never recovered from the brutal murder of their daughter, said Sharon’s younger sister Debra. Debra was 16 years old when her 26-year-old sister was stabbed multiple times and strangled along with four others in Sharon’s L.A. home on August 8, 1969. Sharon Tate “My mother would break down almost every day until the day she…

The atrocious murder of her eldest daughter, Sharon, in 1969 brought Doris Tate years of tremendous heartbreak. Her family all but collapsed under the weight of their grief. For a time, it appeared there was no ending to this darkness.

“She fell into a horrible depression. She shut everything off,” Debra, her second-born daughter said. “The lights were on, but nobody was home. She would have moments of lucidity, but most of the time she was sedated.”

Through her pain, Doris Tate discovered a new passion. It began seven years after the murders when Doris learned that the killers were up for parole. She sprung into action and collected up to 340,000 signatures on a petition to keep members of the Manson family behind bars. The fight did not end there. Doris continued her work and became a leading figure in the victim’s rights movement. She attributed a great amount of work on Proposition 8, the Victim’s Rights Bill. Once it passed, it allowed loved ones to present victims impact statements during the sentencing of people convicted of violent crimes. Doris was also a very familiar face within several victims support groups including, Justice for Homicide Victims, Victim Offender Reconciliation, and LA’s chapter of Parents of Murdered Children, which she became a counselor for. Eventually, she established supportive organizations of her own. Doris’ tireless efforts earned her numerous awards, including “A Thousand Points of Light”, presented by President George H. Bush in April 1992. Later that summer on July 10th, Doris Tate passed away from a brain tumor at the age of 68.

Debra and Patricia “Patti” Tate carried on her legacy. After Doris’ passing, Patricia became the family’s spokesperson during parole hearings for Manson members, standing as a representation for both Sharon and Abigale Folger. She recalled the first time she attended one of Folger’s parole hearings during a television interview in 1993.

“I got hysterical for a second. I had to put my hand over my mouth because I started crying so hard because of my collective fears over a good part of my life. You know, these people have been my nightmare since I was a child. This is not a story. For a lot of people, it’s been a story they’ve heard over and over. This is my reality that has nightmares growing up and just broken my family to pieces.”

Just like her mother, Patricia hoped to help create change outside their personal tragedy. She took on the role of as a leader in the organizations Doris founded. She worked side-by-side with families who lost loved ones to violent crimes and hoped to restore a sense of peace into their lives. Tragically, Patricia Tate passed away from breast cancer on June 3, 2000. She was 42 years old.

A very good question, to which I don’t have an answer.  I can tell you that Sharon’s funeral service was held at the Chapel of the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City CA.  I believe that there is video footage that shows an organ was being played, but what was played I don’t know.  Probably hymns.

This video by George Vreeland Hill is a tour of the chapel in which her funeral took place and it also shows her family burial plot.  Sharon and her son, Paul Richard, were buried together in an eternal embrace.  The ashes of her mother Doris, and sister Patricia, have been buried in the same plot.

There is more information available at this link to an online memorial...

"On May 12th, 1992, the 'Doris Tate Crime Victims Bureau' was created and named in her honor at a ceremony in Sacramento, which she attended with her daughters Debra and Patti. It was to be her last public appearance. Mrs. Tate passed away of brain cancer on July 10, 1992. The DTCVB had commissioned a painting of Doris Tate and it hung on the walls of their office for nine years. It was then given as a gift to Debra in 2001.

The Doris Tate Crime Victims Bureau, is a statewide organization active in making changes through the legislature and the criminal justice system."—Sharon Tate.net