Hollywood Memorial

Her stunning, natural beauty caught the eye of actor Richard Beymer who put her in touch with his agent, Hal Gefsky. She went to Los Angeles in the early-1960s and got parts in TV commercials. Prior to her movie career, she played bit parts in TV shows such as ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ (where she played the recurring role of secretary Janet Trego in a black wig), ‘Petticoat Junction,’ ‘Mr. Ed,’ and ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ among others. She costarred in the films including ‘Valley of the Dolls,’ and ‘The Fearless Vampire Killers.’ She met celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring at a Hollywood party in 1964. Upon his divorce, conflicting accounts abound of whether Jay proposed to Sharon, or Sharon wanted to get married and Jay was hesitant. She then fell for movie director Roman Polanski. Instead of leading him on, Sharon phoned Jay to break up. Before he let her go, Jay wanted to meet Roman to make sure he was good enough for Sharon and then broke things off, but remained within the couple’s close circle of friends. In early-1969, Sharon was overjoyed to learn she was pregnant and thought of nothing but the coming baby. On the night of August 8, 1969, Jay took Sharon, Abigail Folger and Wojiech ‘Voytek’ Frykowski to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, El Coyote. The four returned to Cielo Drive where Voytek fell asleep on the living room couch, Abigail went to a bedroom to read a book, and Sharon and Jay retired to the master bedroom to talk. Then the Manson Family appeared. Sharon pleaded for the life of her baby more than for her own to no avail (she reportedly even wanted the killers to let her have her baby and then kill her). Her baby, a boy, was posthumously named Paul Richard Polanski by Roman – Paul for Sharon’s father and Richard for Roman’s father. They are buried together in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, victims of Hollywood most gruesome and celebrated mass murderer, Charles Manson.