Terrence Paul Melcher was actor Doris
Day’s son who worked around LA in the 1960s as a musician and record producer.
He
produced the Beachboys, the Byrds Paul Revere & the Raiders, Wayne Newton,
Frankie Laine, Jimmy Boyd, Pat Boone, Glen Campbell, Mark Lindsay, and the Mamas
& the Papas and Taj Mahal. As much as anyone, Melcher was responsible for
creating the 1960s California Sound and folk-rock movements.
In 1968, Beach Boy Dennis Wilson
introduced Melcher to a small, smiling little hustler named Charlie Manson.
Manson and his herd of followers and lost souls had been living
in Wilson's house at 14400 Sunset Boulevard.
Wilson wanted Melcher to produce
Manson’s recording and to jet behind a film he was producing with Manson about the family (The Manson Family) and their
commune existence. As a[] courtesy to Wilson, an important client,
Melcher met with Manson at his home at 10050
Cielo Drive. Sharing the house with Melcher's girlfriend, actress Candice Bergen,
and musician Mark Lindsay.
Wilson (left) and Manson
Mark Lindsay at the front door on Cleo Drive
Melcher with Candice Bergin
Manson eventually managed to alienate
Melcher with his fierce and explosive temper and general insanity. So did Wilson, which
made Manson furious. Shortly after his meeting with Melcher, he moved out of Cielo Drive home and the home was leased to film
director Roman Polanski and his wife, actress Sharon Tate.
On August 8–9, 1969, the house
was the site of the murders of Tate, coffee
heiress Abigail Folger, hairdresser Jay Sebring, writer Wojciech Frykowski and
Steven Parent by members of Manson's cult.
There is still some controversy over
whether or not Manson knew that Melcher had moved from the house. Most agree he
knew but order the killings anyway as a message to Melcher who, understandably,
spent the remainder of his days armed with a pistol and occasionally hiring
bodyguards. He was eventually forced to seek psychiatric treatment to deal with
his fears.
Manson family member Susan Atkins, who took
part in the murders, later told police that the house was chosen as the scene
for the murders "to instill fear into Terry Melcher because Terry had
given us his word on a few things and never came through with them".
In 1988, Melcher earned a Golden
Globe nomination for co-writing the Beachboys song "Kokomo"
Melcher died at his home in 2004
of melanoma, after a long illness. He was 62.