Sharon Tate didn't care about the clothes. Or the lack of them. Honestly, she said it herself back in 1967 while talking to Look magazine. She basically told the world she didn’t see a difference between being "stark naked or fully dressed" as long as the work had meaning. It’s a wild thought for someone who became the ultimate face of the Sixties. People still search for sharon tate in the nude like it’s some scandalous secret, but for her, it was just part of the job.
She was a "Star of Tomorrow." That’s what the Motion Picture Herald called her. But to the studios, she was often just a body to be sold. Martin Ransohoff, the big boss at Filmways, spent years trying to craft her into a "Marilyn Monroe" type. He kept her in the wings, putting her in bit parts and swimsuits until he felt the world was ready.
The Bathtub and the "Sexture"
In 1967, the world finally got The Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a weird, beautiful horror-comedy directed by Roman Polanski, who she’d eventually marry. Most of her screen time in that movie? She’s in a bathtub.
It wasn't just a gag. It was this mix of innocence and eroticism that defined her. Polanski actually took the photos for her Playboy spread on that same set. They were semi-nude shots, very soft, very "Swinging London." It wasn't about being raunchy. It was about that specific 1960s aesthetic—the "California girl" meets "European arthouse."
Then came Valley of the Dolls.
Jennifer North. That was the character’s name. It’s almost painful to watch now because the character is so aware of her own exploitation. "Honey, let's face it; all I know how to do is take off my clothes," Jennifer says in the film. Tate played it with this heartbreaking sincerity. She was a Golden Globe nominee for that role, but the irony is that the film itself was trying to do exactly what it was criticizing—using her physical beauty to sell tickets.
Breaking the "Sex Symbol" Mold
Despite the studio's push, Tate was actually kinda shy. Friends said she was embarrassed by her own beauty. She’d hide her face under layers of makeup sometimes, or wear those famous oversized glasses.
She did a political pictorial for Esquire where she acted out bits from Mao Zedong’s "Little Red Book" while in various stages of undress. It was impish. It was tongue-in-cheek. She was basically poking fun at the idea of herself as a sex object while actually being one. It’s that kind of nuance that gets lost when people just look at a search result.
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The Final Film and the Real Sharon
Her last movie was 12 + 1 (also known as The Oracle). She was pregnant during the filming in Italy and France. There’s a scene where she’s meant to be nude, and she just did it. No fuss. No "diva" behavior.
She told reporters that if nudity was done with "meaning and intention," she didn't understand the big fuss. She was a pro.
People think they know Sharon Tate because of how her life ended. It’s a tragedy that overshadows the actual person. But if you look at the photography of the era—by David Bailey or Richard Avedon—you see a woman who was a muse for a whole generation. She wasn't just a girl in a bikini on a trampoline in Don’t Make Waves. She was a woman who was comfortable in her skin during a decade that was trying to figure out what "freedom" actually looked like.
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What We Can Learn from Her Today
If you’re looking into the history of Sharon Tate, don’t just stop at the surface. The "sex symbol" label was a box she was trying to climb out of.
- Watch her work: Check out The Wrecking Crew. She’s hilarious in it. She did her own stunts and had great comedic timing.
- Context matters: The 1960s was a transition period. Nudity in film was becoming a tool for "artistic realism" rather than just smut.
- The legacy: Her sister, Debra Tate, has spent decades protecting Sharon’s image. Respect that by seeing her as an artist first.
The next time you see a vintage photo of her, remember she was a person who wanted to be taken seriously. She was more than just a silhouette.
If you want to understand the 1960s film industry better, looking into the "New Hollywood" movement of the late sixties provides the best context for why stars like Tate were being pushed into more provocative roles.
Next Steps: You might want to look into the filmography of Roman Polanski from 1966 to 1969 to see how the "European style" of cinematography influenced American views on nudity and art during that era.