While she was living in Vicenza, Italy, in her late teens, Sharon Tate auditioned for various Hollywood movies and TV shows that were filming in the area. Some of these auditions were successful, including one for Richard Fleischer's 1961 biblical epic "Barabbas." "I pointed [Tate] out to my assistant and told her I wanted [her] in every close shot I could possibly use her in," Fleischer wrote in his 1993 autobiography "Just Tell Me When to Cry" (via Refinery29).
According to Refinery29, a 20-year-old Tate flew to Hollywood in 1962 to audition for film roles and was soon noticed by "Beverly Hillbillies" producer Martin Ransohoff. "Baby, we're going to make you a star," Ransonoff told her. She signed a seven-year contract with MGM that year and was thrust into the limelight.
"Well, it's very strenuous, I must say," Tate said in a 1966 interview of her first few years in Hollywood. "For approximately three years, I've had no personal life."
In the final few years of her life, Tate appeared to have a personal life. In 1968, she met and married Roman Polanski and became pregnant with their first child. That same year, she won a Golden Laurel Award for Female New Face, and was the runner-up in The Motion Picture Herald's Star of Tomorrow poll.
Despite the many accomplishments of her short life, Tate didn't have the chance to fulfill her potential, and the world will never know the mother or movie star she could have become.
