Few people know that at the time of her murder, Sharon Tate was in love with Nordic god, Christopher Jones.
Christopher Jones is one of the most handsome men to hit the screen and had his pick of the world's most beautiful and greatest actresses of his day. Sharon was one of many young ladies that were bedded by Jones during the six months between the time she met in him Rome and the day she was murdered but she fell completely in love with him as did all of his sex partners. Jones seemed blissfully unaware of the impact he had on Sharon, recalling the short affair as a loving relationship.
In a 2007 interview with Lina Das of the Daily Mail Jones said, "I loved Sharon and she loved me. I don't think I'm betraying any confidence by talking about it.
"I knew that she was married to Roman and I had no intention of splitting them up. I don't feel guilty."
At the time of the interview, Jones was 66 and even as an old man he was handsome and pleasant to look at. He had had a lifetime of the most beautiful , talented women in the world. His first marriage was to the beautiful Susan Strasberg, daughter of acting coach Lee Strasberg. He was living with Strasberg when he met Sharon during which time he had several other lovers. Six months later, at the time of Sharon's murder, he was living with Olivia Huh see who, like Strasberg, was a meltingly beautiful Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. It was probably in response to this formidable competition that Sharon said publicly that she did not see herself as a Shakespearian actress, and almost shamefacedly referred to herself as "just sexy little me."
As beautiful as Sharon was, she was out of her depth amidst the mega stars of her generation, whom Jones saw as flourets gracing his inimitable presence.
Jones is most famous for his role as English Major Doryan in Ryan's Daughter. A James Dean look-alike, he was perfect for the part. He learned of Sharon's murder while he was working on Ryan's daughter and living with Olivia Huh see. The shock of Sharon's murder, possibly combined with the disappointment of not being allowed by his manager to marry Olivia, seem to have caused Jones to give up acting in disgust.
He speaks lovingly of Sharon, although his candid statements reveal that he did not take her as seriously as she took him. After all, with his matinay idol good looks, he had his pick of the finest actresses worldwide and poor Sharon was married to a short, eccentric weird looking little guy whose main claim to glamor was that his mother died in Owsh veetz.
In recalling Sharon Tate, Christopher Jones said, "I loved being with her. Other women I've been with, I couldn't remember if my life depended on it, but she stuck in my mind."
The couple started their affair in Rome in 1969 while Jones was filming the movie Brief Season with his then lover, actress Pia Degermark. Tate, who was flying out to Rome with her friend, Jones's manager Rudy, had by then been married to Roman for a year. Sharon was pregnant and Roman was spending a lot of time with Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and Papas. Roman had never been faithful to Sharon and he was well acquainted with Michelle Phillips because she often stayed with Mama Cass at Cass's house which was across the street from Roman and Sharon's house.
Polanski, the Paris-born director of horror film Rosemary's Baby, was highly aclaimed as a Jewish movie muckety muck although himself was short, dark, round headed and thick featured, closely resembling Jay Sebring and Vortk Frykowski. Basically unsatisfied in her marriage, and surrounded by Jewish freaks, Sharon must have yearned for a man of her own race who could appreciate her and who could contribute a decent genetic package to her future children. Sharon was ripe for picking when she was wooed and won by the cavalier Anglo Saxon, Christopher Jones.
Recollecting the first time he met Sharon in March of 1969 (six months before the murder) Jones said "Sharon arrived in Rome with my manager and so we all arranged to go out to dinner that night. We were on the patio, waiting for Sharon, when suddenly she appeared.
"She looked amazing.
"We sat next to each other and she was very nervous, almost like a deer, but she had this beautiful, perfect face. She had this little scar on the left of her face against all this perfection, and when I reached over to touch it, I could feel her react.
"She kept talking about off-the-wall spiritual things - she talked about reincarnation and how in a previous life she had died in a fire aged nine.
"The second she said that, the doors to the restaurant blew open even though there wasn't any wind, and she looked really shocked."
But he added: "I wasn't planning on anything because I knew she was married to Roman."
Later that evening however, Jones found himself in Tate's room.
"We were sitting on the couch talking when I finally asked her where Roman was. She said he was stuck in London having trouble with his passport.
"We were talking and getting closer, and although her skirt was riding right up, she wasn't bothering to pull it down.
"She then said: 'Chris, have you ever smoked opium?' and I told her no, and she said I had to try it and that she had some in the bedroom.
"Everyone says that Sharon didn't smoke pot, yet she was definitely looking for this bag, but couldn't find it so came back over to me, standing by the bed.
"One minute she was looking at me and the next thing I knew, she was pulling me on top of her on to the bed.
"I hadn't even taken my clothes off but after we'd made love I told her I was going upstairs to sleep. She asked me to stay, but when I looked out the window I couldn't see a fire escape and my first thought then was: 'What if Polanski comes back?'.
"I wasn't afraid of him, just worried about the repercussions, but she stopped asking me to stay and I left.
"The next day I ran into actress Nathalie Delon (wife of actor Alain Delon) who was a friend of Sharon's and whom I had also been seeing, and she said: 'Chris, what did you do to Sharon? She has never been so in love.'
"Yes, I knew Sharon was pregnant and of course I felt guilty about that, but I've thought about this a lot since and the marriage vows say: 'What God joins together, let no man put asunder.'
"Well, God obviously separated them and put me there."
Jones and Tate continued to see each other, and although he might have been infatuated with Tate, it didn't stop him conducting simultaneous affairs with Pia Degermark and his former wife Susan.
"They all knew about each other.
"Well, maybe Susan didn't know about Sharon, but I had a little too much on my plate, and even that wasn't enough.
"One night, we were out at dinner and there was an Italian girl there. All I can say is that I was young, had a high libido and no conscience, and I just wanted to figure out a way for my manager to take Sharon back to the hotel so I could see the Italian girl.
"After I'd been with her, I came back to the hotel and tried Sharon's door which was open.
"I thought she was going to be mad at me but she didn't say anything, and after we'd made love, she whispered in my ear: 'That was the wrong way.'
"That stuck in my mind because the way we made love wasn't gentle, it was lustful, and although she wanted it to be more romantic, I wasn't feeling romantic.
"I felt that she was a woman I'd been living with for a while, whom you sneak back in on in the middle of the night.
"She didn't seem the least bit concerned about Roman, so either I was irresistible or she must have been unhappy. Although she seemed very happy that she was pregnant.
"I worried professionally in case I might have to work with Roman in the future.
"One time I was looking over at her and asking her what she was thinking about, and she suddenly came out with: The Devil is beautiful. Most people think he's ugly, but he's not.'
"I thought it weird at the time but Roman had just done the movie Rosemary's Baby so I related it to that.
"I told her she shouldn't say things like that because it made me nervous.
"I knew that she and Roman lived in quite an isolated place in El Lay, so I told her that for her own protection she should have a gun, but she said that she could never shoot anyone even if she had one."
Of the last night they spent together in Rome, Jones says: "I told her that we'd get back together when we were in America and she agreed, and when I said: 'What about Roman?', she said: 'Don't worry about Roman.'
"I didn't envisage that she would leave Roman; I didn't envisage anything.
"I thought it was love. Whatever brief time we had together, we were very happy. I always expected to see her again."
Jones went from Rome to Dingle to begin shooting on Ryan's Daughter and Tate returned to El Lay.
Jones started an affair with Olivia Huh see, whom he had seen in the movie Romeo And Juliet.
"I saw Olivia's beautiful face up on screen and I asked my manager if he could arrange for us to meet, and so we started seeing each other.
"Olivia wanted to come to Ireland with me, so she did. That's what was happening when I heard about Sharon's murder."
The call came to the hotel in Ireland where Jones was staying.
"One of my other managers took it. When he hung up, he told me that everyone in the house had been murdered. At first, I didn't have a strong reaction because I was so stunned.
"Only slowly did it hit me, and then it hit me hard. I was pretty disoriented. I couldn't make sense of it, that someone that beautiful and young had to die like that."
"It's not like Sharon's always preying on my mind, but if I see something about her on TV, it all comes flooding back."