Actress, author and victim advocate, Theresa Saldana, died on June 6, 2016, at the age of 61.
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The actress spent four hours in surgery and ultimately recovered from the attack – but the injuries forced her to drop out of the filming of 1982’s “Tootsie”, with her role being taken over by Geena Davis in a breakout performance.
Saldana famously portrayed the Police Commissioner’s wife in 1990s TV comedy The Commish, opposite Michael Chiklis. In 1980, she was cast as Lenore LaMotta in “Raging Bull“.
Saldana’s first breakout role was in Robert Zemeckis’ 1978 film I Wanna Hold Your Hand, but it was her role as Joe Pesci’s wife in the Martin Scorsese 1980 classic Raging Bull that gave her cred.
In 1982, Saldana was attacked and stabbed by a fan named Arthur Richard Jackson, who became obsessed after seeing Saldana’s performances in Raging Bull and Defiance. She went on to found a support and lobbying group, Victims for Victims.
She received a nomination for a Golden Globe for her excellent acting in the TV crime drama series, The Commish.
She is also known to have appeared in Brian De Palma’s “Home Movies”, along Nancy Allen and Kirk Douglas.
Theresa also became a campaigner for better protection against stalkers, forming the organisation Victims for Victims.
She also documented her traumatic attack in her 1986 memoir, Beyond Survival. She played the supportive wife of the title character, a tough-but-kind NY police commissioner. “Hooker”, “Cagney & Lacey”, “Simon & Simon”, “Matlock”, “Hunter,” “Falcon Crest” and “MacGyver“. She starred in a TV movie about her life, titled Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story.
Chiklis tweeted on Tuesday, “Painful to hear the news of Theresa’s passing”.
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Saldana and actor Phil Peters, who had a recurring role on The Commish, were married in 1989 and had a daughter, Tianna.
