Rosemary's Baby

Though it was condemned by the Catholic Church, audiences flocked to see Roman Polanski's terrifying - and influential - adaptation of Ira Levin's bestseller about a young woman (Mia Farrow) who discovers that the baby she's carrying is quite literally a little devil. Farrow, who had appeared on TV in "Petyon Place" and a few movies, really came into her own with her performance as Rosemary Woodhouse, a young woman who moves into a funky apartment in New York - it's actually the Dakota Building - with her struggling-actor husband (John Cassavetes). Unbeknown to her, her eccentric elderly neighbors, including Minnie (Ruth Gordon in her Oscar-winning turn) and Roman Castevet (Sidney Blackmer), are actually witches and warlocks who have devised a plan to have Rosemary bring the antichrist into the world.

Horrormeister William Castle, who directed such grade B horror films as "House on Haunted Hill," had bought the rights to "Rosemary" while it was still in galley form. He hoped that "Rosemary" would be his first adult horror film. He brought in Paramount to be his partner on the project, but the studio was hot on the young Polish director Polanski. So Castle ended up being the producer.

The film was also considered a curse. Farrow was served with divorce papers from her first husband, Frank Sinatra, during production. Castle suffered from gallstones after filming ended and had to have surgery. The film's composer, Krzysztof Komeda, died shortly afterward from an accidental fall. And then Polanski's wife, Sharon Tate, and their unborn son were murdered by Charles Manson and his follower at their Benedict Canyon home.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-etw-spaceodyssey26apr26,0,101574.story