August 9

Sharon Tate is murdered in Beverly Hills by the followers of Charles Manson, 1969. Director Roman Polanski was all set to use Jill St. John for The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) when producer Martin Ransohoff suggested he instead cast Tate, who was appearing as bank secretary Janet Trego on television’s The Beverly Hillbillies. Polanski chose Tate for both his lead actress and, in January 1968, his wife. “Roman is such a beautiful, mad human being,” the actress said. “Sometimes things are difficult, sometimes good. But it makes life twice as interesting.” After The Fearless Vampire Killers, the actress made Valley of the Dolls (1967), The Wrecking Crew (1968) and 12 + 1 (1969) before taking time off for pregnancy. Tate, her unborn baby and four other people were slain the night of the Manson attacks.

12 Great Movie Songs of the 1960s

In the films of the sixties—musically speaking—Natalie Wood felt pretty, kitten whiskers made Julie Andrews feel good, Rex Harrison pondered the ability to speak rhinoceros and Shirley MacLaine was at times a brass band, a clarinet and a harpsichord. Outside the realm of show tunes, however, certain stand-alone movie themes reflected songwriters’ talent for capturing the spirit of the movies they were attached to.

Here are a dozen of our favorites―hit recordings from sixties films by the likes of The King, four lads from Liverpool, three gals from Detroit and a composer named Bacharach at the top of his game.

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Twelve Wildly Successful Novels Adapted for the Screen

It’s a natural progression for freak successes of the publishing world to become fodder for motion picture audiences. (The Catcher in the Rye remains a stubborn holdout.) Many of these surprise bestsellers, like Peyton Place, are potboilers; a few, like To Kill a Mockingbird, are great literature. Whatever their merits, these works captured the public’s imagination and spurred many a casual conversation. Here are 12 books that became the talk of the town and, occasionally, a hit movie.

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