It is an unfortunate truth that people assume that beautiful women cannot be talented, Probably not all that bright, either. It’s also true that Sharon Tate was not in many movies before she died, but we did have some chance to see what she was capable of; while I wouldn’t call Valley of the Dolls a good movie, exactly, she gives a surprisingly powerful performance in it. She’s never going to be remembered for her acting, but I think we should at least try.

At six months old, she was Miss Tiny Tot of Dallas. But her father was in the Army, and the family had lived in six cities by the time she was sixteen. While her father was stationed in Italy, she got a few jobs as an extra. She moved back to Los Angeles ahead of the family, but she was persuaded it was better for her mother’s mental health to return to Italy for a while. When she returned to Los Angeles, it was with the intention of having an acting career. She made a few episodes of a few TV shows, including fifteen of The Beverly Hillbillies. She made a few movies, including The Fearless Vampire Killers with her soon-to-be husband.

Apparently, she’d always intended to retire from acting when she got married. Her husband, however, didn’t want her to and told her that he’d married “a hippie, not a housewife.” He was also chronically unfaithful to her, and she “pretended to believe it” so that the marriage wouldn’t be ended by it. She loved her husband very much, but I don’t know how much longer the marriage would have lasted. I’ve never read mention of anyone who met her disliking her, and I’ve read about a lot of people who dislike him. Still, weirder marriages have worked.

But anything that ended her career would have taken away our chances of seeing what I firmly believe would have been fine performances from her. I admit I haven’t seen a lot even of the small number of things she did; for one, I don’t like The Beverly Hillbillies much. But I do keep coming back to Valley of the Dolls. Hers isn’t the flashiest of roles; clearly, that is Patty Duke as the brassy Neely O’Hara. But it’s still a good role, and she plays it with a quiet ferocity that I think would have served her well if she’d had more chance to explore it.

Vince Bugliosi suggested that her line from the movie that she doesn’t have any talent, only a body, was pretty well how she’d be remembered. In several ways, he’s not wrong. On the other hand, he intimated that it was true, and it assuredly was not. It’s worth noting that in the movie, she’s repeating what she’s been told, what’s been drummed into her by someone I don’t think we ever see but who is petty and grasping and demands everything she can get from Tate’s Jennifer North. Jennifer is a small part of the movie, for all she was fourth-billed, but I maintain that she’s still the best of it.