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MANSON - Two-hour Special Premieres on September 7 at 9pm ET/PT on HISTORY�
Inside Charles Manson's warped world of fear, sex, and drug-induced mind control,
The cult leader turned a group of harmless hippies into a gang of brutal murderers.
Pasadena, CA, July 29, 2009 � Shortly after midnight on August 9, 1969, a car pulled up to actress Sharon Tate's sprawling Benedict Canyon home she rented. As the driver, Linda Kasabian, stood guard outside, three of her "family" members committed one of the grisliest mass murders in American history. Forty years later, HISTORY� presents a chilling drama-documentary featuring exclusive, first-hand testimony from Kasabian, as well as interviews with Vincent Bugliosi, the chief prosecutor in the case and author of Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders; family member Catherine Share, aka "Gypsy"; and Debra Tate, Sharon Tate's sister. The two-hour special MANSON premieres on September 7 at 9pm ET/PT on HISTORY�.
MANSON chronicles the nine months leading up to what Manson called "Helter Skelter," the title of a Beatles song twisted by him to mean an apocalyptic race war the murders were supposed to ignite. As Manson subjected his followers to LSD-fueled orgies and increasingly bizarre tests of loyalty, they fell completely under his spell. Realizing he could get his "family" to kill anyone, Manson embarked on a murderous mission that would shock the nation to the core. Manson's name has become an emblem of insanity, violence and the macabre; his crimes mark an emphatic end to the 1960s.
MANSON takes viewers deep inside America in the late 1960s � into a world of hate, fear, sex, and mind-control. It vividly details how Charles Manson transformed a harmless group of hippies � mostly young women from decent families � into a gang of brutal murderers. The special, a drama-documentary, weaves in rare archival footage and on-camera eyewitness testimony to present a spellbinding portrait of a true nightmare in U.S. history. At the center of the film is Kasabian, the star witness for the prosecution, who has emerged from hiding to tell the full story of the murders for the first time in four decades.
Kasabian, then a 21-year-old flower child fleeing an abusive marriage with her baby, recounts finding love and freedom with Manson and his disciples: "He gave me the feeling that I would be cared for, and that he took care of everybody. We were like his children." Deep under their leader's drug-fuelled spell, Linda and the "family" were soon lured into his paranoid vendetta against The Establishment. She recounts what it was like to witness the horrific murders, and how she ultimately risked her life and her daughter's to escape.
Executive Producer for HISTORY is Susan Werbe. Executive Producers: Nick Godwin, Simon Lloyd. Director: Neil Rawles. MANSON is produced for HISTORY by NF-Cineflix (The Family) Inc. and Media Productions (The Family) Ltd.
HISTORY� and HISTORY HD� are the leading destinations for revealing, award-winning original non-fiction series and event-driven specials that connect history with viewers in an informative, immersive and entertaining manner across multiple platforms. Programming covers a diverse variety of historical genres ranging from military history to contemporary history, technology to natural history, as well as science, archaeology and pop culture. Among the network's program offerings are hit series such as How The Earth Was Made, Ax Men, Battle 360, The Universe, and Ice Road Truckers, as well as acclaimed specials including 102 Minutes That Changed America, King, Life After People, 1968 with Tom Brokaw, Nostradamus: 2012 and Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed. HISTORY has earned four Peabody Awards, four Primetime Emmy� Awards, 12 News & Documentary Emmy� Awards and received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network's Save Our History� campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. Take a Veteran to School Day is the network's latest initiative connecting America's schools and communities with veterans from all wars. The HISTORY web site, located at www.history.com, is the definitive historical online source that delivers entertaining and informative content featuring broadband video, interactive timelines, maps, games, podcasts and more.
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Cast of MANSON
RYAN BLAKELY
Terry Melcher
MEREDITH CHEESBROUGH
Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme
SASCHA COLE
Abigail Folger
ROGER DOCHE
Wojtek Frykowski
JAMES GILBERT
Charles 'Tex' Watson
ANTHONY GERBRANDT
Bob Kasabian
PAUL ANTHONY HARDY
Stan Shapiro
MORGAN KELLY
Dennis Wilson
CORA KENNEDY
Nancy 'Brenda' Pitman
DAVID KINER
Bobby Beausoleil
CAT MCCORMICK
Patricia 'Katie' Krenwinkle
SARAH PODEMSKI
Catherine 'Gypsy' Share
BRITTANY SCOBIE
Susan 'Sadie' Atkins
MELANIE SCROFANO
Leslie Van Houten
MOTI YONA
Gary Hinman
JOSHUA YOUNG
Steven 'Clem' Grogan
Introducing
ADAM WILSON
as Charles Manson
and
TAMARA HOPE
as Linda Kasabian
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