Charles Manson

Gossett won the award for An Officer And A Gentleman, and also got an Emmy for Roots. More recent prominent roles for the Broadway star and civil rights activist were in The Color Purple and Watchmen.

Leslie Van Houten was denied parole more than 20 times — including five reversals from California's governor's office — over the brutal murders of Rosemary and Leno LaBianca in 1969.

Van Houten, now in her 70s, is serving a life sentence for helping Charles Manson and other followers in the 1969 killings of Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles, and his wife, Rosemary.

At least three people claimed that they had a legal right to dispose of Manson's body. His remains have been stored in California's Kern County since his death in November.

The murders of actress Sharon Tate and six other people in a span of two nights gave Manson a unique and infamous position in the American cultural imagination.

It's the 21st time that she has appeared before a parole board and the second time commissioners found her suitable for release. California Gov. Jerry Brown reversed another panel's ruling last year.

Van Houten, now 66, is serving a life sentence for her part in a 1969 string of killings in Los Angeles by the Charles Manson cult. The governor will have final say over whether she is granted parole.

After the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others thrust Bugliosi into the spotlight, he won convictions against Charles Manson and his followers.

Afton Elaine Burton, who maintains websites advocating for Manson's innocence in the Tate-LaBianca murders, told The Associated Press that the wedding will be next month.