Polanski’s number one suspect in Tate murder was Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee and his wife Linda were friends of Polanski and Sharon Tate.

A missing pair of eyeglasses and other circumstantial evidence made Polanski suspect his martial arts trainer was also Tate’s assassin.

It may sound farfetched at first blush—why would Roman Polanski suspect martial arts icon Bruce Lee of brutally murdering five people, including the mother of his unborn child, Sharon Tate? A new docuseries on EPIX, Helter Skelter: An American Myth, digs into Polanski’s suspicions.

Although Polanski would later describe himself as “unbalanced” in the aftermath of the killings, his basic assumption—that the killer was someone he knew—was not unsound thinking. 80% of murder victims know their murderer, and the vicious, emotional nature of the slayings only reinforced this idea.

Lee had met Tate on the set of The Wrecking Crew (1968), where Lee served as fight choreographer and trained Tate on various stunts. Tate felt Lee and Polanski would get along well, and introduced the two.

Moreover, Polanski assumed there was only one killer. For one person to take down five young and healthy adults would require some serious skills. Polanski, who had begun training with Lee—paying him $800 per private session—knew full well what abilities Lee possessed. Polanski and Lee developed a friendship, with Polanski and Tate hosting Lee and his wife for dinner at their home.

Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images

In addition to Tate, Lee was close with another of the victims, Jay Sebring. Sebring was a hair stylist to the stars and had become one of Lee’s first Hollywood clients. Sebring introduced Lee to many of the people who would go on to help shape his career.

As for motive, Polanski felt that Lee may have resented the fact he was considered an outsider by the Hollywood community. This had been a bonding point for Lee and Polanski, who felt similarly about his position in Hollywood.

But the detail that the “unbalanced” Polanski latched onto most fervently was the discovery of a pair of eyeglasses at the murder scene. Not too long after the murders, Lee happened to mention to Polanski he had lost his glasses. For Polanski, this seemed like more than a coincidence, especially as both pairs of glasses were horn-rimmed in style.

Polanski offered to gift Lee with a new pair. At the optometrist’s office, Polanski learned Lee’s prescription did not match the glasses from the murder scene. Thus, Polanski decided Lee was innocent.

At no point did Polanski tell anyone of his suspicions regarding Lee, and the story did not emerge until Polanski wrote his autobiography, Roman by Polanski, which came out in 1985. Lee died in 1973.

While Lee never knew his friend has considered him a suspect, the murders made a large impact on Lee, who became hyper vigilant about safety as he became increasingly famous. Lee’s children were always surrounded by security. On one occasion when a deranged man trespassed upon Lee’s property and challenged him to a fight, Lee put him in the hospital.

After several months of investigation, authorities definitively linked the Manson Family to the murder of Sharon Tate and the four others with her that night, killing any lingering doubts Polanski had that a friend of his was guilty of the crime.