Theresa Saldana

Theresa Saldana
Saldana in 1981
Born	(1954-08-20)August 20, 1954 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	June 6, 2016(2016-06-06) (aged 61) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupations	Actress activist writer
Years active	1978–2004
Spouses	Fred Feliciano ​ ​ (m. 1979; div. 1986)​ Phil Peters ​ (m. 1989)​
Children	1

Theresa Saldana (August 20, 1954 – June 6, 2016) was an American actress, activist, and writer. She is known for her role as Rachel Scali, the wife of Police Commissioner Tony Scali, in the 1990s television series The Commish, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, in 1994. Major film roles include Lenora LaMotta, the wife of Joe Pesci's character in the 1980 film Raging Bull, and as a Beatles fan in Robert Zemeckis' 1978 Beatlemania ensemble I Wanna Hold Your Hand. She was also known for raising public awareness of the crime of stalking after surviving a knife attack by an obsessed fan at her home in 1982.

Early life

Saldana was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, and was adopted at five days old by Divina and Tony Saldana, a family of Puerto Rican and Italian-American heritage.

Saldana took dance lessons as a child. After suffering a serious shoulder injury while part of a tumbling team, she enrolled in acting classes at age 12. After being spotted by a talent scout while performing in an Off Broadway musical called The New York City Street Show in 1977, she was cast in the 1978 film Nunzio.

Stalking incident

On March 15, 1982, Saldana was stalked by Arthur Richard Jackson, a 46-year-old drifter from Aberdeen, Scotland. Jackson became obsessed with Saldana after seeing her in the 1980 films Defiance and Raging Bull. He hired a private investigator who obtained the unlisted phone number of Saldana's mother. Jackson then called Saldana's mother and posed as Martin Scorsese's assistant, saying he needed Saldana's residential address in order to contact her for replacing an actress in a film role in Europe.

Saldana on the set of Illusion Infinity, with its filmmaker Roger Steinmann

Jackson approached Saldana in front of her West Hollywood residence in broad daylight on March 15, 1982 and attacked her with a 5½-inch (14 cm) hunting knife, puncturing a lung. His attack was so fierce that the blade bent. Although there were many nearby onlookers, including children, the attack was interrupted only when a deliveryman, Jeff Fenn, intervened after hearing her cries, rushed from the second floor of an apartment building, and incapacitated Jackson. Following the assault, Saldana was hospitalized with 10 stab wounds and underwent a four-month hospital stay at the Motion Picture Hospital. She relived the incident in the television film Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story and again in an episode of Hunter.

Jackson served almost 14 years in prison for the assault and making subsequent threats against Saldana and her rescuer while in prison. He was then extradited to the United Kingdom in 1996 to be tried for a 1966 robbery and murder. Jackson (who once saw himself as "the benevolent angel of death") was found not guilty by diminished responsibility in 1997 and committed to a British psychiatric hospital, where he died of heart failure in 2004, at the age of 68.

Jackson's method of finding and approaching Saldana inspired stalker Robert John Bardo to hire a private investigator to contact Rebecca Schaeffer, a young TV sitcom star whom he subsequently murdered, also in West Hollywood, on July 18, 1989.

Victim advocacy

Following her long recovery, Saldana founded the Victims for Victims organization and participated in lobbying for the 1990 anti-stalking law and the 1994 Driver's Privacy Protection Act, both of which came into being partly as a consequence of the attack. The experience also inspired Saldana to play herself in the television film Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story, and she authored the book Beyond Survival, a memoir of her experiences after being attacked.

Personal life

Saldana's first marriage was to Fred Feliciano from February 11, 1979 to 1986. In March 1989, she married for the second time, to Phil Peters, with whom she had a daughter, Tianna Saldana Peters (born August 30, 1989, in Los Angeles). They remained together until her death.

Death

Saldana died on June 6, 2016, at age 61, after being hospitalized with pneumonia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Michael Chiklis, who played Saldana's husband on The Commish, wrote that it was "painful to hear the news."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	I Wanna Hold Your Hand	Grace Corrigan
1978	Nunzio	Maryann
1980	Home Movies	Judy
1980	Defiance	Marsha
1980	Raging Bull	Lenora LaMotta
1984	The Evil That Men Do	Rhiana Hidalgo / Nancy
1988	The Night Before	Rhonda
1988	Double Revenge	Angie Corello
1989	Of Men and Angels	Maria
1990	Angel Town	Maria Ordonez
1999	Carlo's Wake	Theresa Brock
2004	Gang Warz	Carmela Cruz
2004	Illusion Infinity	Maria

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	240-Robert	Rosie	Episode: "The Applicant"
1980	Sophia Loren: Her Own Story	Maria Scicolone	TV film
1981	Nurse	Rita	Episode: "The Gifts"
1983	Seven Brides for Seven Brothers	Angelina	Episode: "Promised Land"
1983	T. J. Hooker	Maria Santini	Episode: "Too Late for Love"
1983	American Playhouse	Pregnant Again	Episode: "Miss Lonelyhearts"
1984	Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story	Herself	TV film
1985	The Twilight Zone	Inez	Episode: "Dead Woman's Shoes"
1985	Cagney & Lacey	Dr. Strathmore	Episode: "Old Ghosts"
1986	Simon & Simon	Mrs. Karnofsky	Episode: "Full Moon Blues"
1986	Matlock	Sonia Cardenas	Episode: "The Affair"
1986	Tales from the Darkside	Audrey Webster	Episode: "Black Widows"
1987	Hunter	Jennifer Hartman	Episode: "Any Second Now"
1987	Santa Barbara	Carlotta Quivar	2 episodes
1987	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Laura Chacon	Episode: "Juvi"
1987	The Highwayman	Angela Brown	TV film
1987-88	Werewolf	Rosa	Episode: "World of Difference"
1988	Buck James	Marta Ortiz	Episode: "Lives in the Balance"
1988	Falcon Crest	Pretty Woman	Episode: "False Faces"
1990	MacGyver	Maria	Episode: "The Treasure of Manco"
1990	New Kids on the Block	Rosa	Voice, regular role (15 episodes)
1991–1996	The Commish	Rachel Scali	Regular role (92 episodes)
1991	Confessions of Crime	Herself	Series host (13 episodes)
1993	Shameful Secrets	Rachel Morales	TV film
1994	Captain Planet and the Planeteers	Mame Slaughter	Voice, 2 episodes
1995	Law & Order	Juror	Episode: "House Counsel"
1995	Jonny Quest vs. The Cyber Insects	Dr. Eve Belage	Voice, TV film
1996	She Woke Up Pregnant	Doris Cantore	TV film
1996–1997	The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest	Estella Velasquez	Voice, 2 episodes
1997	Diagnosis: Murder	Kirsten Foxx	Episode: "In Defense of Murder"
1997	Nothing Sacred	Paula	2 episodes
1997	All My Children	Christina Vargas	TV series
1998	Martial Law	Maria Hamilton	Episode: "Bad Seed"
1999	Thrill Seekers	Cortez	TV film
2000	Ready to Run	Sonja Ortiz	TV film
2001	Batman Beyond	Mrs. Diaz	Voice, episode: "Unmasked"
2003	The Bernie Mac Show	Lydia	Episode: "Maid Man"

Books

• Saldana, Theresa (1986). Beyond Survival. Toronto: Bantam Books. ISBN 9780553051339. OCLC 13582610.

External links

• Theresa Saldana at IMDb
• Theresa Saldana at the TCM Movie Database
• Interview on CNN Larry King Live with Saldana and Fenn on July 13, 2004.
• The Jazz Tap Ensemble
• Theresa Saldana(Aveleyman)