The Day of the Dolphin originally going to be directed by Roman Polanski for United Artists in 1969, with Polanski writing the script. However, while Polanski was in London, England, looking for filming locations in August 1969, his pregnant wife, the actress Sharon Tate, was murdered in their Beverly Hills home by disciples of Charles Manson. Polanski returned to the United States and abandoned the project. The following year it was announced Franklin Schaffner would make the movie for the Mirisch Corporation. These plans were frustrated and Joseph Levine ended up buying the project from United Artists for Mike Nichols. The film was mostly shot
Charles Manson "Man of the Year". In June 1970, he was the subject of a "Rolling Stone" cover story, "Charles Manson: The Incredible Story of the Most Dangerous Man Alive". When a "Rolling Stone" writer visited the Los Angeles District Attorney's office in preparing that story, he was shocked by a photograph of the bloody "Healter Skelter" that would bind Manson to popular culture. Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi pointed out the dispute in the underground press over whether Manson was "Christ returned" or "a sick symbol of our times" to his "Helter Skelter" co-author, Curt Gentry. Bernardine Dohrn, a leader of the Weather