Famous Roman Polanski Nude Photo Up for Auction

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed)
Dec 1st 2009 at 3:01PM

A famous nude photograph of Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate taken by David Bailey in 1969 will be auctioned off during Christie's Photographs sale in New York on Dec. 7. Estimated at $8,000 - $12,000, it's likely to go higher given the current media glare surrounding the controversial director. At press time, Polanski, whose films include Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown and The Pianist, was granted $4.5 million bail after being held in a prison in Switzerland on charges relating to a 32-year-old case in which he admitted to having sex with a minor. In 1978, Polanski fled the U.S. rather than face sentencing in a Los Angeles court, and has lived as a fugitive in France ever since. Tate was murdered in L.A. by members of Charles Manson's gang not long after the photograph was taken.

Tags: celebrity, Christies, David Bailey, DavidBailey, photography, Roman Polanski, RomanPolanski