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The trials of the Manson family became a kind of public theater which a number of current and future filmmakers found themselves caught up in. Joan Didion bought a dress for a Manson girl to wear to court, Dennis Hopper visited Manson in prison, and a young John Waters attended the trial and took inspiration for his legendary film, Pink Flamingos.

Show Notes:

Welcome to the final episode of our ongoing series, Charles Manson's Hollywood. As we speak, we are working on putting together our next, non-murdery season. It will begin some time in September -- follow us on Twitter for updates.

This episode featured contributions from Moises Chullian, who played Richard Nixon; and, of course Nate DiMeo, concluding his run as Charles Manson. Special thanks to all of our guests on this series, including Wiley Wiggins, Max Linsky, TS Faull, Sam Zimmerman, Noah Segan and Ram Bergman.

Other sources for this episode include:

Charles Manson's trial testimony

Manson family ties

Charles Manson's fiancee wanted to marry him for his corpse

The episode also includes a clip from the Dennis Hopper film American Dreamer, which you can watch on YouTube, and one from Jann Wenner's December 1970 interview with John Lennon, which Rolling Stone has made available as a podcast.