Wojciech Frykowski
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Wojciech Frykowski (December 22, 1936 - August 9, 1969) was a Polish one time actor and writer who was murdered in the home of Sharon Tate and Roman Polański by members of the Charles Manson "Family".
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Born in Poland on three days before Christmas of 1936, Wojciech grew up in a wealthy, well-known family in Łódź. He had two younger brothers and was educated exclusively at the film school in Poland. Frykowski was married and divorced twice in his life and had a son Bartek from his first marriage born in 1959. His second marriage was to the famous Polish song writer and author Agnieszka Osiecka. The couple together had no children and divorced after one year. Frykowski was a very close friend and financier of film director Roman Polański and played the part of a thief in one of Polanski's early Polish-made short films, Mammals in 1962. In 1966 he moved away from Poland to France, then a year later to United States in the hope of furthering his writing career, but was not successful.
Frykowski was involved in a common-law relationship with coffee heiress Abigail Folger. The couple met in New York city in January of 1968, Folger was introduced to him by his Polish friend author Jerzy Kosiński. She gave Frykowski a tour of New York, at the time he had little command of English, but like Abigail, he was fluent in French. She was constantly helping Wojciech with his English and romance soon blossomed. According to Roman Polanski's autobiography from 1984 Abigail Folger was very good to Frykowski. The couple after living several months together in Abigails New York city apartment decided to move to California. In August of 1968 they arrived in Los Angeles and Frykowski introduced Folger to his friends film director Roman Polański and his wife actress Sharon Tate. Through Polanskis they met Jay Sebring and other people from their circle. On July 20th 1969 Frykowski and Folger agreed to remain at 10050 Cielo Drive with Tate, who was nine months pregnant, until her husband Roman Polański returned from Europe, while working there on a film project. Polanski was expected to be back in California on August 18th 1969 to joy the birth of his and Sharons first child. The couple had been taking care of the Polanski residence since April 1 of 1969. Prior to his tragic death, on evening hours of August 8th 1969 Frykowski and Folger joined Sharon and Jay Sebring at the Mexican restaurant El Coyote on Beverly blvd in Los Angeles to have their last meal. Soon after dinner had been served all together returned to their Cielo drive mansion in Bel air section of Los Angeles. Wojciech fell asleep on the couch in the living room while Abigail went to her bedroom to read a book. At the time they had no idea that it will be their last moments together ever. Soon enough they were visited by unwelcome guests.
In the early morning hours of Saturday August 9, 1969 Frykowski and Folger were murdered, along with Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring and Steven Parent by members of Charles Manson "Family" who broke into the Polański residence on Cielo Drive in Beverly Hills, California. Wojciech Frykowski was shot twice, struck over the head with a blunt object and stabbed in total fifty-one times. According to his killers Charles Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan Atkins, Frykowski fought very hard for his life, and for the lives of other victims.
Wojciech Frykowski was cremated in Los Angeles, California on August 22, 1969. His ashes were picked up by his Polish relatives and buried in the St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery in his native Łódź, Poland.
Grandfather of Agnieszka Frykowska (born in 1977) actress and celebrity who competed in the Polish edition of the reality television series Big Brother and Bar.
Father of late Bartłomiej Frykowski [1] (March 9, 1959 - June 8, 1999), Polish cinematographer. Bartłomiej Frykowski died in Wyszków from knife-wounds he afflicted while staying at his girlfriend Karolina Wajda's (daughter of Academy awarded film director Andrzej Wajda) mansion in Głuchy, Poland. According to a statement made by the court prosecutor [2], Bartłomiej Frykowski had committed suicide as crime could not be proved.
Frykowski's proper first name of Wojciech has often been published in popular media using various alternate forms, such as Voytek, Wojtek, and Voityk. A bestseller book about the Manson Family murders titled Helter Skelter gives his name as Wojiciech and his common name as "Voytek", both of which are incorrect; the common name is "Wojtek" (similar to "Bob" being the common version of "Robert"). "Wojtek" is pronounced as "Voytek".