Laura Wright 
Hollyweird
Some horror movies become classics because of what happens on the screen. Others acquire legends because of what happened after the cameras stopped rolling.
Rosemary’s Baby became a staple of classic horror, but its reputation extends far beyond the frightening story portrayed onscreen. Over the years, the film has been connected with a series of tragedies, strange coincidences, and disturbing events that have led some people to wonder whether the production was somehow cursed.
The Making of Rosemary’s Baby
Rosemary’s Baby was one of Roman Polanski’s most successful films. Based on Ira Levin’s novel of the same name, the movie follows a seemingly ordinary couple who move into a new apartment building, only for Rosemary to gradually discover that they are surrounded by Satanists.
Many scenes were filmed around the famous Dakota apartment building in New York City, a location that would later acquire its own association with tragedy.
The enormous success of Rosemary’s Baby helped cement Polanski’s reputation as a filmmaker, but the events surrounding the movie and the people associated with it eventually gave rise to rumors of a curse.
Roman Polanski
Polanski became a notorious figure for reasons having nothing to do with any supposed curse.
In 1978, he was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old girl. He entered into a plea bargain and served time in prison. After he was released earlier than the judge wished, the judge attempted to bring him back for further sentencing. Polanski subsequently fled the United States.
Despite some of the stories that later became attached to Rosemary’s Baby, it should be stated that Polanski was not a Satanist and had no dealings with the Manson Family. Likewise, Anton LaVey had no input on the film, its costumes, or its script.
It is also less widely known that Polanski was a Holocaust survivor. Both of his parents were sent to concentration camps. His father survived, but his mother was killed.
Tragedy, therefore, had already touched Polanski’s life long before he made Rosemary’s Baby.
Unfortunately, it would touch his life again.
Tragedies Surrounding the Production
Several people involved with Rosemary’s Baby experienced misfortune during or after the production.
The movie’s composer, Kryzystof Komeda, died following an accidental fall shortly after production.
William Castle, a noted director of the era, also had difficulties surrounding the film. Castle disliked working with Roman Polanski and suffered a severe kidney stone attack during filming. The condition continued to plague him until he underwent surgery. He never made another hit after Rosemary’s Baby.
Mia Farrow, who played the film’s lead character, Rosemary, experienced personal turmoil as well. She was served with divorce papers while filming the movie.
Producer Robert Evans and writer Ira Levin both endured personal misfortune and tragedy during and after the film was created.
Yet these events represent only the beginning of the lore surrounding Rosemary’s Baby.
The Murder of Sharon Tate
The most horrifying tragedy associated with Roman Polanski occurred approximately a year and a half after the movie.
Polanski’s wife was actress Sharon Tate. He bought her a beautiful house in the Hollywood Hills, and Tate was eight months pregnant at the time.
One night in 1968, followers of Charles Manson, known collectively as the “Manson Family,” broke into the house and brutally murdered Tate and four other guests. Polanski was away on business that night.
The murderous group called the attack “Helter Skelter,” after the Beatles song.
Tate was stabbed 16 times. Polanski later stated that his greatest regret in life was not being there with her.
A Horrifying Coincidence
One of the least discussed, yet perhaps most disturbing, coincidences surrounding Rosemary’s Baby concerns the central story of the movie itself.
In the film, Mia Farrow’s character discovers that her baby has been taken from her by an evil cult.
Not long afterward, Polanski lost his pregnant wife and unborn child to the Manson Family.
The circumstances were obviously very different, but the similarity between the fictional story Polanski had recently filmed and the tragedy that subsequently occurred in his own life became another part of the legend surrounding the movie.
Some have even described Polanski as having experienced, in a terrible real-world sense, the loss that his fictional Rosemary endured onscreen.
The Dakota and John Lennon
The strange associations surrounding Rosemary’s Baby did not end with the people who made the film.
The Dakota, where exterior scenes for the movie were filmed, would later become associated with another of the most infamous murders of the twentieth century.
John Lennon was a resident of the Dakota in 1980. He was murdered just outside the building.
The location that had helped create the ominous atmosphere of Rosemary’s Baby had become the setting for a genuine tragedy.
Was Rosemary’s Baby Cursed?
The stories surrounding Rosemary’s Baby include illness, divorce, career misfortune, accidental death, murder, and disturbing coincidences between fiction and reality.
Some of these events have obvious explanations. Others became intertwined with the film only after tragedy occurred. Yet taken together, they created one of Hollywood’s most enduring stories of a supposedly cursed production.
Roman Polanski had survived terrible events before Rosemary’s Baby was ever made, and his life would be marked by further tragedy and controversy afterward. Other people associated with the production experienced their own misfortunes, while even one of the film’s most recognizable locations would later become the scene of a famous murder.
Coincidence can explain each event individually.
But for those who believe certain films can carry something darker away from the set, Rosemary’s Baby offers a disturbing collection of coincidences.
Whether the movie was truly cursed is impossible to say.
Its legend, however, has proved nearly as enduring as the film itself.
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