Latest news with #JaySebring
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
He was a hairstylist to Hollywood stars like Frank Sinatra... but his legacy is tainted by murder
Anthony DiMaria was four years old, flipping through a family photo album on the living room sofa. Page after page, he admired smiling faces, vacations, birthdays - then he stopped. A striking black-and-white portrait stared up at him: his Uncle Jay. He was cool, composed and unmistakably alive. A wave of longing hit. He turned to his mother and asked, 'When can I see him again?' She froze. Her face drained of color. Then, softly, she said, 'Honey, you can't. He's in heaven.' What DiMaria didn't know then was that just months earlier, his uncle Jay Sebring had been murdered. He was one of seven people slaughtered by the Manson Family across two nights of terror in August 1969 - a rampage that became one of the most infamous crimes in American history. More than 50 years later, the horror of Sebring's fate still haunts DiMaria and his family. But what makes this time of year especially painful is not just the memory of what was lost, rather it is how the world chooses to remember it. A portrait of his Uncle Jay Sebring (left) stopped a young DiMaria cold when he was flicking through a photo album, age four Di Maria, seen in his mother's arms, was three when his uncle was killed. Sebring took this photo While the names and faces of the killers - and their ringleader, Charles Manson - have been immortalized in the public imagination, their crimes studied and dramatized in countless books, films and TV shows, the victims have too often been reduced to footnotes. 'Any time the dates come around, it's always difficult,' DiMaria told the Daily Mail. 'But it's made worse by how it's treated as entertainment. 'It's painful to see how our loved ones have become props in the retelling of their own slaughter. 'Meanwhile, the people who committed these horrific crimes are treated like rock star serial killers.' Sebring was just 35 when he was killed. But before his life was cut tragically short, he'd established himself as a pioneer in men's hairstyling. He opened one of the first upscale men's salons in LA and built a star-studded clientele, including Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Frank Sinatra, and Bruce Lee. His services were so in demand that he charged up to $50 a haircut - at a time when the average price was $1.50. He's credited with giving The Doors frontman Jim Morrison his iconic look, and became a celebrity in his own right, opening salons in New York and London. Sebring's influence helped transform male grooming into a luxury industry, the lasting impacts of which can still be felt today. Yet despite all he achieved, Sebring is mostly remembered for how he died. The brilliance of his life - and the scope of his accomplishments - have been overshadowed by the sensationalism of the Manson murders and the macabre fascination they still inspire, DiMaria says. Sebring was just 35 when he was killed. He had a star-studded list of clientele, including Paul Newman (seen above on the set of Moving Target) Sebring was once dating Sharon Tate (right). She left him for director Roman Polanski but the pair remained close Anthony DiMaria (above) told the Daily Mail what makes this time of year especially painful isn't just the memory of what was lost - it's how the world chooses to remember it In various accounts and retellings, DiMaria believes his uncle's character has been misrepresented - reduced to a whimpering caricature, and his final acts of courage erased from the record. As a child, DiMaria became obsessed with learning everything he could about Sebring. His mother rarely spoke of the murders, so he turned to books, old clippings and documentaries. He tried to take pride in his uncle's legacy, bragging to classmates about his success. But when he explained how Sebring died - when he mentioned Manson - the room often went quiet. When he was 12, DiMaria can remember being at a sleepover watching Saturday Night Live, when a sketch came on featuring Bill Murray, who was playing Sebring. DiMaria felt nauseous. Embarrassed. 'I just thought to myself, "My favorite TV show thinks my uncle's life and his murder is a joke,"' he said. In the years that followed, DiMaria found other portrayals just as demeaning - and completely at odds with the man described by family and friends. A Time magazine article, published after the murders, painted Jay as a troubled coward, a deviant, even hinting at racist views - accusations DiMaria says couldn't be further from the truth. Another damning portrayal, he says, came from Vincent Bugliosi's best-selling book Helter Skelter. Bugliosi, who prosecuted Manson, described Sebring as pretentious, unstable, and pitiful. Worse, DiMaria says, the book left out his uncle's final moments of heroism - details he'd only uncover years later through his own meticulous research. That realization came after DiMaria contacted the LA District Attorney's Office and requested access to the court testimony of the only three people who knew exactly what happened that night: Charles 'Tex' Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins. Charles Manson pictured in 1969 is escorted to his arraignment on conspiracy-murder charges in connection with the Sharon Tate murder case. He died in prison in 2017 Charles Watson was often referred to as 'Charlie's lieutenant' by other members of the Family Patricia Krenwinkel, 77, has been recommended for parole by officials in California earlier this year. She was 21 at the time of the murders On August 8, 1969, Jay Sebring was at the Benedict Canyon home of his close friend and former partner Sharon Tate. Tate, 26, who was eight and a half months pregnant, had invited Sebring and friends Wojciech Frykowski, 32, and Abigail Folger, 25, to keep her company while her husband, director Roman Polanski, was away filming in Europe. Thirty miles away, a plan of unspeakable evil was already in motion. Charles Manson called it 'Helter Skelter' - a warped prophecy he believed would end the decade of peace and love by igniting a race war that would tear society apart. Manson was a failed musician turned self-styled prophet who ran a commune in the California desert, where drifters, addicts and runaways gathered to escape society and absorb his paranoid teachings. His apocalyptic ideology borrowed its name from a song on The Beatles' White Album, which he believed contained coded messages about the coming revolution. But the revolution wasn't coming quickly enough. To hasten it, Manson plotted a series of murders he believed would be blamed on black militants - sparking the collapse he longed for. Tex Watson, Manson's most trusted lieutenant, was chosen to lead the slaughter. Manson told him to take three of the women to 10050 Cielo Drive, 'do something witchy' and make it gruesome. The house had once been rented by music producer Terry Melcher, who had rejected Manson's dream of stardom - and Manson wanted revenge. Shortly before midnight, the group parked down the hill and cut the phone lines. Armed with a .22 revolver, a bayonet and hunting knives, they scaled the fence. DiMaria believes his uncle's character has been misrepresented - reduced to a whimpering caricature Sharon Tate was more than eight months pregnant at the time of her death Their first victim was 18-year-old Steven Parent, who was shot four times by Watson while driving away from the home after visiting Tate's caretaker. Then they moved toward the house. Watson burst through the door and declared: 'I'm the devil, and I'm here to do the devil's business.' Watson and the others forced Sebring, Tate, Frykowski and Folger into the living room. He tied Tate and Sebring together by their necks with a long nylon rope. DiMaria published a book about his uncle, Jay Sebring: Cutting to the Truth, which is available now Amid the chaos, DiMaria says, his uncle - who had trained in martial arts with Bruce Lee - saw a chance to intervene. From the killers' own testimony, Sebring suddenly lunged at Watson, hoping to catch him off guard. 'As Bruce Lee said, there's no defense against a gun - only the element of surprise,' said DiMaria. 'Jay charged at Charles Watson, but one of the others alerted him.' Watson turned and fired. The bullet tore through Sebring's lung. Bleeding heavily and struggling to breathe, he collapsed - but moments later, to the attackers' shock, he tried to stand again. 'He was literally drowning in his own blood, and he still got back up,' DiMaria says. 'That's when Watson kicked him in the face and stabbed him in the back.' With Watson distracted by Sebring, Frykowski and Folger ran in opposite directions, briefly escaping before they, too, were overpowered. The killers, DiMaria says, had planned to make the murders 'methodical' and 'gruesome' - but Sebring's defiance disrupted that plan, if only for a moment. The omission of his uncle's heroism from the record infuriates DiMaria. His biggest frustration is with Bugliosi's book, Helter Skelter, which is still widely considered the definitive account of the Manson murders. 'Why didn't Bugliosi put that in his book?' DiMaria said. 'Because Vincent Bugliosi made himself the hero of his own story - and if he included what Jay Sebring did, then Jay becomes the hero.' Sebring, Tate, Frykowski and Folger were all stabbed and shot multiple times. Their bodies were mutilated. Tate's unborn son was also killed. The next night, Watson led another group to the Los Feliz home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. The couple was slain in similarly horrifying fashion. The victims of Benedict Canyon: Wojciech Frykowski, Sharon Tate, Stephen Parent, Jay Sebring, and Abigail Folger Vincent Bugliosi prosecuted Manson. He later wrote a book, Helter Skelter, in which he described Sebring as 'pitiful' For DiMaria, his contention with Bugliosi's account reflects a deeper problem: how the murders have been framed - and reframed - in the decades since. In the aftermath, media coverage zeroed in on the victims' personal lives - especially the fact that drugs, including cocaine and marijuana, were found at Tate's house. DiMaria says the ways in which the victims were portrayed stripped them of their humanity, turning their deaths into a twisted morality tale. 'Instead of being seen for what they were - brilliant, beautiful young people - they became symbols of Hollywood decadence. 'They became part of a cautionary tale: if you're rich, if you party, if you hang out with the wrong crowd - this is what happens to you. 'And the subtext was: 'as it f***ing should.' As if they deserved it.' As the decades rolled on, the imbalance only deepened. Charles Manson became cultural shorthand for evil - portrayed as a manipulative mastermind who cast a spell over his followers and bent them to his will. He died in prison in 2017, but his face continues to be printed on T-shirts, his name invoked in songs, and his life mythologized in books, films, and countless documentaries. Charles Manson became cultural shorthand for evil - portrayed as a manipulative mastermind For DiMaria, the fight to reclaim his uncle's story is about more than setting the record straight DiMaria rejects the long-standing portrayal of the Manson Family naïve hippie cult, and Manson's so-called 'followers' as helpless flower children under his spell. In truth, he says, they were a gang of willfully violent criminals - a group with the optics of a commune, but the structure and intent of a criminal enterprise. That false narrative, he says, has obscured the full scope of their crimes and allowed some of the killers - particularly Patricia Krenwinkel, who was recently approved for parole - to skirt responsibility by hiding behind decades of revisionism. 'They start dressing themselves up as victims of Manson, and suddenly they're the ones deserving sympathy,' he says. 'Meanwhile, our families are still carrying the grief, still walking into parole hearings to make sure these people stay where they belong.' For DiMaria, the fight to reclaim his uncle's story - and the dignity of every victim - is about more than setting the record straight. In an age of true crime obsession, he believes the only way forward is to refocus on the victims - their lives, their courage. Only then, he says, can we begin to grasp the full scale of what was lost - in this case, and in so many others. 'We need to stop glorifying the people who did this,' he says. 'Stop turning them into icons. Start telling the truth about who they really were - and who they took from us. 'Maybe then we'd start asking why we keep handing them the fame - and turning their crimes into a cash cow.'
Fox News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Sharon Tate's ex fought Manson Family killers during heroic final moments: nephew
Jay Sebring fought for his life and defended his friends before he was brutally killed by members of the Manson Family. On Aug. 9, 1969, the celebrity hairstylist, actress Sharon Tate (who was eight and a half months pregnant), coffee heiress Abigail Folger, her boyfriend Voytek Frykowski and recent high school graduate Steven Parent were murdered at Tate's Benedict Canyon home. The following night, grocery chain owner Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, were slain in their Los Feliz house. Nearly 60 years after the massacre, Sebring's nephew, Anthony DiMaria, wants to "set the record straight" about the celebrity hairstylist and what happened at 10050 Cielo Drive. "If we look at the 35 years of Jay's actual life, it's an extraordinarily inspiring, glorious, amazing life," DiMaria told Fox News Digital. "And if we include even the horrific last 10, 15, 20 minutes – whatever it was – in the most unspeakable situations, Jay fought. People don't know this, but he courageously stood up to evil against all odds… He is an unknown hero in one of the most notorious murders in United States history." DiMaria teamed up with author Marshall Terrill to pen the book, "Jay Sebring: Cutting to the Truth." It explores the 35-year-old's life, groundbreaking work in Hollywood and the circumstances surrounding his grisly death. DiMaria was 3 years old when his uncle passed away. He beamed when discussing the "dynamic and charismatic" figure who visited him and his parents at their Las Vegas home. However, he has more vivid memories of how Sebring's death left behind a wound that has never healed. WATCH: JAY SEBRING FOUGHT MANSON KILLERS DURING HEROIC FINAL MOMENTS: NEPHEW "I was looking at a photo album and there was a beautiful black-and-white picture of Jay looking at me," DiMaria recalled. "I said, 'Mom, when can I see him again?' And she said, 'Well, Anthony, you can't. He's in heaven.' I must have been 4 or 5. That's something you don't understand." "But something that hit me to my core was the look in my mother's eyes," he shared, fighting back tears. "Asking about my uncle caused my mother deep pain. And I felt I [didn't] ever want to do that again." "As a family, we protected each other," he quietly said. "But these crimes, as personal and painful as they were to us, they were treated as popcorn, as entertainment." Growing up, DiMaria wanted to know everything about his famous uncle from Hollywood. With Terrill's help, he uncovered surprising stories about Sebring, a sought-after groomer and trusted confidante to Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman and Marlon Brando, among others. "As the story goes regarding Jim Morrison, Elektra [Records] sent him to Jay's salon," Terrill told Fox News Digital. "He came to Jay with this photo of Alexander the Great, and he said, 'I want you to make me look like him.' Jay probably thought about it for a few minutes and said, 'OK.' That was the iconic look that Jay created for him." Sebring's innovative approach to men's hairstyles made him fast friends in showbiz. When celebrities weren't sitting in his chair, he trained with a popular martial arts instructor in town – Bruce Lee. When Lee was ready to make his mark as a performer, it was Sebring who vouched for him. "In Jay, he found someone who was his advocate," said Terrill. "When [producer] William Dozier was looking for someone to play Kato in 'The Green Hornet,' it was Jay Sebring who said, 'Bruce is your man.' Dozier at first balked. And Jay kept on… He finally decided to give him a film test. Well, Lee blew up that film test. He was Kato." However, one of Sebring's closest friends was Tate. While the pair were engaged at one point, the "Valley of the Dolls" actress broke up with Sebring and later married Roman Polanski. The trio were close pals. "Some say that they were still involved," Terrill said about Sebring and Tate. "We don't know that as a fact. But they had a… very mature relationship… And they did a lot of things together [as a group]. It was only natural, I felt, that Jay was with her the night they were murdered." WATCH: SHARON TATE, JAY SEBRING HAD 'MATURE' BOND AFTER POLANSKI: AUTHOR Terrill believes that Polanski, who was in London at the time preparing for a film project, asked Sebring if he could look after Tate, who was nesting at home and eagerly awaiting the birth of her son. Meanwhile, a cult-like group was gearing up to "do something witchy." Charles Manson was a failed musician and petty criminal who had been in and out of jail since childhood, when he began surrounding himself with runaways and other lost souls. Portraying himself as a philosopher, he targeted young women whom he used and bartered to others for sex. According to prosecutors, Manson ordered his disciples to butcher some of LA's rich and famous to trigger a race war. He got the idea from a twisted interpretation of the Beatles song "Helter Skelter." "They were labeled a 'hippie cult,' which is a false premise," said DiMaria. "They were not a hippie cult. They were a group with hippie earmarks and optics, but they were a counterculture gang whose crimes extended from late 1967 through the 1970s." "These killers are referred to as 'Manson Followers,'" DiMaria continued. "A follower – that really mitigates the profundity, the severe nature of how they killed and how their victims suffered." "These people were not followers. These people were cold-blooded killers who were so wired and driven beyond killing and terrorizing society that they splashed messages – horrifying messages – in their victims' blood at the crime scene, who laughed, who sang, who performed for cameras at their trials and received all the fame and notoriety that they couldn't get in life." On the last day of his life, Sebring didn't go down without a fight, stressed DiMaria. According to the book, Sebring fought "with everything he had," attempting to give his friends a chance to escape. Manson ordered some of his disciples to go to the property and kill everyone. He was familiar with the home because its previous tenant, music producer Terry Melcher, refused to give him a recording contract. Shortly after midnight, members of Manson's "family" broke into the house and ordered everyone inside to the living room. Parent, who was visiting the home's caretaker, was shot to death. Sebring first attempted to reason with the group, emphasizing that Tate was heavily pregnant. For one moment, Tex Watson, armed with a gun and a bayonet, turned his back, and Sebring charged him. His accomplice, Susan Atkins, yelled out to warn Watson. Sebring was closing in on Watson and threw a left punch towards his head. Sebring was shot in his left armpit, piercing his lung. As Sebring collapsed, Watson repeatedly stabbed him. Watson and Atkins, along with Patricia Krenwinkel, then focused their attention on Tate, Folger and Frykowski. Sebring struggled to get back on his feet, catching Watson's attention. A bleeding Sebring attempted to fight back against his assailants. He was overpowered and tortured. As Watson repeatedly attacked Sebring, Frykowski attempted to escape out the front door as Folger ran down the hallway, escaping through Tate's bedroom to the backyard. The killers caught up with them. The details were corroborated by both investigators and the perpetrators. Despite the horrors they caused, the Manson Family became a pop culture fixation. "The people who committed these horrible crimes… somehow were propped up and catapulted to rock star serial killer status," said DiMaria. "And it has had consequences… with people looking up to these killers or thinking that these crimes are somehow cool or titillating. That's another reason why it is now timely to introduce Jay's true story." In 1972, a California Supreme Court ruling found the state's death penalty unconstitutional. This resulted in the sentences of the convicted killers being changed to life in prison with the possibility of parole. For decades, DiMaria and other loved ones of the victims have spoken out at parole hearings. Manson died in 2018 after spending nearly a half-century in prison. He was 83. However, the fight to keep other members of his family behind bars continues. Leslie Van Houten, who helped carry out the killings of the LaBiancas, was released on parole in 2023. Krenwinkel, who participated in the Tate murders, was recommended for parole for the second time in June of this year. "When my mother learned that the Manson people might be released on parole, she said, 'Anthony, I need to know if this is an actual reality,'" said DiMaria. "My parents and grandparents were told by the district attorney's office when the original death sentences were reversed that it was purely a technicality. There was no way whatsoever that any of these people would ever be released… That's when we became involved in these parole hearings." Today, DiMaria wants people to remember Sebring not as a "sad, tragic figure," but as someone who achieved the American dream in his brief life. "Here was a young man… from Michigan, who arrived in Hollywood with dreams, ideas and a sleeping bag," said DiMaria. "Jay would encourage all of us to live life with the same passion and zeal that he did, to go out to be your best, to express your best, to seek out the best in other people and… make a mark."
Fox News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Jay Sebring fought Manson killers during heroic final moments: nephew
Anthony DiMaria, Jay Sebring's nephew, spoke about the late celebrity groomer's life and legacy. DiMaria teamed up with author Marshall Terrill to write "Jay Sebring: Cutting to the Truth."
Fox News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring had 'mature' bond after Polanski: author
Marshall Terrill, co-author of "Jay Sebring: Cutting to the Truth," describes how Sharon Tate remained close with her former love, celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring, after she married Roman Polanski.
