Polanski's novel does not fit into the stereotypical image of male attractiveness. However, this gloomy, undersized and nondescript outwardly man, making heavy films, fell in love with the most beautiful women of his time.
The life path of Roman Polanski can hardly be called cloudless. He survived both the horrors of war and the death of his closest people in concentration camps.
Childhood traumas left an imprint not only on the scandalous life of the Polish director, but also on his work.
Barbara Kvyatkovskaya
The first wife of Polanski's novel was Polish actress and dancer Barbara Kwiatkowska.
While still a student, she starred in a short film of her future husband, after which Kwiatkovskaya and Polanski got married right away. For three years, Barbara was Roman's muse, but the marriage was short-lived. However, the relationship with the director gave an excellent start to the further career of Barbara. She moved to France and actively acted in films. Her partners were the most beautiful and sought-after actors of that era - Jean-Louis Tretignan, Alain Delon.
At this time, Roman Polanski did not even think to be sad, entering into numerous relationships. This went on for several years until he fell in love with Sharon Tate.
Sharon Tate
Model and actress Sharon Tate was an incredibly beautiful woman and a talented and promising actress. However, the whole world remembered Roman Polanski's second wife thanks to her terrible death.
Actress Sharon Tate was born on January 24, 1943 in Dallas. She has had several key roles that have led to her success on the small screen. Her work in The Devil's Eye in 1965 was significant in Tate's life for two reasons: it was her first major role in a feature film, and shortly thereafter she met director Roman Polanski, who would eventually become her husband.
The lovers got married in January 1968 and this marriage from the outside seemed like a real misalliance. She is a dazzlingly beautiful blonde with a chiseled figure; he is an ugly, stooped, sullen man.
Sharon Tate's real breakthrough came in the hit 1967 film Valley of the Dolls. In 1968, she starred in the comedy Crash Crew with Dean Martin. And after the release of Valley of the Dolls and Polanski's thriller Rosemary's Baby (1968), Tate and Polanski became one of the most notable couples in Hollywood.
The couple were expecting a child. Sharon decided to enjoy her final months of pregnancy at home and returned to Los Angeles in 1969, where she and her husband rented a house on Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon. Polanski stayed at the couple's home in England while working on his latest film. On August 9, 1969, 26-year-old Tate (then eight months pregnant) was brutally murdered in her home, along with three guests, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Vogler and Jay Sebring. The bloody massacre was perpetrated by a group of people who were part of the "Manson family" - a famous sect at the time, driven by the apocalyptic fantasies of its leader Charles Manson.
Manson and four of his followers were convicted of these murders (along with two others) and sentenced to death in 1971; after the temporary abolition of the death penalty in California in 1972, their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. One of them, Susan Atkins, died in prison in 2009, and Manson himself also died at the end of 2017; the rest are still serving life sentences and have been repeatedly denied parole.
The tragedy of Sharon Tate shocked the world community and had a huge impact on Roman Polanski. His pictures became even more difficult, and the director himself ceased to hide his sexual perversion and propensity to pedophilia.
Emmanuelle Seigner
In that era, the legislation regarding sexual relations with minors was more loyal, so no one was embarrassed by the connection between Roman Polansky and the young actress Nastassja Kinski, who at that time was only 15 years old. However, this relationship was short-lived, and soon the director remarried. He became his new chosen one, who was also much younger than him: the age difference was 33 years.
Emmanuelle came to the casting for Roman and this meeting became fateful. She starred in several of the director's films and made a name for herself in European cinema. However, this was not the main role of Seigner. The actress has become the main support for her husband for many years. For many years, Roman Polanski has been persecuted for sexual harassment and pedophilia. These crimes of the past did not frighten Emmanuelle. She is still close to her husband and does everything so that he can continue his work.
