Roman Polanski

French film director, noted in France and America for works that include "Rosemarys Baby" and "Chinatown." He won an Oscar nomination for best foreign film for "Knife in the Water," 1963, and another nomination for "Tess," 1980. His second wife, actress Sharon Tate, was brutally murdered by members of the Charles Manson cult-family. His shocking sexual episode with a 13-year-old girl in 1977 left him unable to return to the U.S. when he fled before sentencing. Polanskis dad, Ryszard, was a Jewish émigré from Poland whose charm and vitality won the affections of a beautiful, married Russian half-Jewess named Bula Katz. She left her husband for Ryszard a year before Polanskis birth. In 1936, when he was three, the family returned to his dads native Krakow, Poland and established a small plastics manufacturing concern. Three years later, just a few weeks after he entered school, Hitlers forces stormed the Polish border. Polanski didnt see another classroom for six years. Living in the Polish Jewish ghetto was harsh. Polanskis mom was taken to prison camp and he and his father moved from place to place. Before he was ten, his dad was seized, leaving the boy on his own. Polanski stayed with host families out in the country. One, a Catholic family, successfully passed him off as a Catholic because he didnt look Jewish. With the war over, Polanski, now 11, returned to Krakow where he was reunited with an uncle. He lived with a dozen people in two rooms. Family members say he could never compromise with a family life. He lacked manners, was aggressive and loud, with an insatiable need to be the center of attention. Ever boyish, the diminutive Polanski stands just a few inches over 5 tall. Several months later his dad returned to Krakow with a new girlfriend and immediately their relations became volatile. From the time he was a kid, Polanski exhibited a curiosity about photography and photographic equipment and went to the movies as often as possible. He also showed a talent for drawing and gained admission to the Krakow School of Fine Arts and later to the Lodz Film School. On 5/01/1950, at 17, Polanski lost his virginity to a knowledgeable girl of 14 and from that time, continued in his preference for young girls. Polanskis mom perished in Auschwitz while four months pregnant prior to the end of the war, and his dad was diagnosed with cancer, dying in Paris in 1983. His early films were mixed; some were disappointing, others a success. In 1963 his film "Knife in the Water" brought him to international attention and he gained an Oscar nomination for best foreign film. He ventured into the horror genre with "Repulsion," 1965, with Catherine Deneuve and then a horror spoof titled "The Fearless Vampire Killers." Made in America, his first major success, "Rosemarys Baby," opened in June 1968. Another disaster, "MacBeth," followed and then the extremely successful "Chinatown," with Jack Nicholson, John Huston and Faye Dunaway. He won his second Oscar nomination in 1980 for "Tess." "Pirates," 1985, failed at the box office. Finally getting closer to working in America while in exile, Warner Brothers worked with him on the 1988 "Frantic" starring Harrison Ford. "Bitter Moon" was released in America in March 1994 after waiting a year for an American distributor and "Death and the Maiden" opened in December 1994. His first marriage on 9/09/1959 was to a young Polish actress named Basia (Barbara) Kwiatowska. D Read less