Mild spoilers for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Rising star Austin Butler - who is due to play Elvis Presley in an upcoming biopic of the singer by director Baz Luhrmann - has a major supporting role in the ninth film by Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
In the film, Butler portrays one of the leading followers of Charles Manson, a Texan named Charles "Tex" Watson, who lives on the George Spahn Ranch with other members of the Manson Family.
The character has some antagonistic encounters with fictional stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) in the film, but who exactly is the real Charles "Tex" Watson, and what happened to him in real-life?
Who is Charles "Tex" Watson?
Tex Watson is an American murderer who had a leading role in the Manson Family cult in the late 1960s.
Watson was born in Farmersville, Texas in 1945 and later went to the University of North Texas before getting a job at Braniff International as a baggage handler.
Using free airline tickets with work, he visited a fraternity brother from college in Los Angeles and became attracted to the music and psychedelic scene there.
In Los Angeles, Watson met female followers of Charles Manson before meeting the man himself and joining his cult at the George Spahn Ranch.
Tex became infamous for his role in the Tate-LaBianca murders in August 1969, which he was ordered to do by Manson himself.
Along with Patricia "Katie" Krenwinkel, Susan "Sadie" Atkins, and Linda Kasabian, Watson drove to the LA home of the director Roman Polanski and his pregnant wife Sharon Tate and proceeded to murder its inhabitants.
Tex Watson announced to his victims: "I am the devil. I am here to do the devil’s business."
Watson murdered a teenage witness named Steven Parent with gunshot wounds, then killed Sharon Tate's friend Jay Sebring, before killing Tate's other friends Abigail Fogler and Wojciech Frykowski with Atkins and Krenwinkel, ending on the killing of the heavily pregnant Sharon Tate.
The following evening he took part in the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, accompanied by Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten.
In October 1969, Watson fled the Spahn Ranch for his native Texas, but was arrested on November 30, 1969, for the murders. It took months to extradite him back to California to stand trial, but when he was extradited he stopped talking and lost weight, becoming virtually catatonic. He was eventually deemed fit to stand trial.
On October 12, 1971, Watson was convicted of seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
He was later sentenced to death and placed on death row, but when death sentences were invalidated, he escaped that particular fate.
Where is Charles "Tex" Watson now?
In 1975, Watson is said to have converted to Christianity. He released an autobiography entitled Will You Die For Me? in 1978.
In 1979 he married Kristin Joan Svege, with whom he had four children as a result of conjugal visits. The pair divorced in 2003.
Watson became an ordained minister in 1981 and graduated from California Coast University in 2009 with a B.S. in Business Management.
Due to substantial anger at the prospect of him being paroled, including by Sharon Tate's family, Watson has been denied parole a total of 17 times.
He was last denied parole on October 27, 2016, a denial which will last for five years.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey said of Watson's most recent parole denial: "These were some of the most horrific crimes in California history, and we believe he continues to exhibit a lack of remorse and remains a public safety risk."
Watson remains incarcerated in San Diego, California, and is currently aged 73. He works as a janitor and attends bible study.
Hollywood star Austin Butler plays Watson in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is in cinemas now.
