REBECCA SCHAEFFER

'Rebecca Lucile Schaeffer' (November 6, 1967 – July 18, 1989) was an American actress who was stalked and then murdered by Robert John Bardo, prompting the passage of anti-stalking laws in California. At the time of her death, she had a starring role in the television series ''My Sister Sam''.

Contents

Biography

Death

Aftermath

References

External links

Biography

A former teenage model, Schaeffer co-starred with Pam Dawber in ''My Sister Sam'', a CBS sitcom that ran from 1986 to 1988. During her early life in Portland, Oregon, she was active with her synagogue, in which she was instrumental in expanding a Jewish youth organization to nationwide prominence. She held a strong fascination for Japan, after having spent some time in that country modeling. Shaeffer lived alone and owned one pet, a cat named Katharine after her favorite actress, Katharine Hepburn.
In 1989, she became a celebrity spokesperson for Thursday's Child, a charity for at-risk teens.
Schaeffer began her career in New York as a model, where she appeared in numerous magazines, including Seventeen. From New York, she went to Japan for modeling work. She had a short stint on the soap opera ''One Life to Live''. Other credits include the films ''Radio Days'' (in which much of her appearance was edited out), ''Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills'', ''The End of Innocence'' and the tv movie Out of Time before landing her role as Patty on ''My Sister Sam''.

Death

Schaeffer was murdered by then 19-year-old Robert John Bardo on 18 July 1989. Bardo was a deranged individual, affected with Grandiose Type Delusional Disorder, who fixated on Schaeffer after his previous fixation, child peace activist Samantha Smith, was killed in an airplane crash.
Bardo had written several letters to Schaeffer (one of which was answered) and twice attempted to gain entry to the ''My Sister Sam'' set, but was turned away (as was anyone who did not have an appointment) by CBS Television City security. Bardo, who had read in a magazine how Theresa Saldana's stalker Arthur Jackson had obtained Saldana's address through a private investigator, used that approach to get to Schaeffer. He paid $250 to a Tucson detective agency to obtain her home address from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)^[1][2]. After viewing her film ''Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills'', in which Schaeffer appeared in bed with a male actor, Bardo became intent upon murdering her for her perceived "loss of innocence,"^[3] traveled to Los Angeles and buzzed her apartment, requesting her autograph when she came down to answer the door.
Shaeffer, who was preparing for her audition for ''Godfather III'' and was expecting him to be the man delivering her script, hurriedly gave him an autograph, then retreated back to her apartment. Her abruptness apparently reinforced Bardo's belief that she was a cold individual. After gathering his nerves, Bardo returned about 20 minutes later and buzzed a second time. Schaeffer once more came down, again believing it was the delivery man. At his trial, Bardo stated, "She had this kid voice... sounded like a little brat or something... said I was wasting her time!... Wasting her time!" Bardo pulled out the gun his brother had purchased for him, from a brown paper bag he was carrying, and shot her once at point-blank range in the chest, in the doorway of her apartment building. Bardo recounted that Shaeffer screamed in pain, stammered out, "Why?" then screamed again before she dropped to the pavement.
The gunshot and screams caused a neighbor to phone paramedics who quickly arrived, then brought her to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Schaeffer was pronounced dead 30 minutes after her arrival. The following day, Bardo was arrested in Tucson, Arizona, after motorists reported a man darting through traffic on Interstate 10. He confessed immediately to the murder.
Bardo was tried and convicted by prosecutor Marcia Clark, who later became famous for her role in the O.J. Simpson trial. Convicted of capital murder in a non-jury courtroom, Bardo was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole on December 20, 1991.

Aftermath

Following Schaeffer's murder and Saldana's assault, California laws regarding the release of personal information through the DMV were drastically changed. The Driver's Privacy Protection Act was enacted in 1994, which prevents the DMV from releasing private addresses. The law's effect has subsequently been diminished by online address search services.
Schaeffer's life and death became the topic of the very first ''E! True Hollywood Story'', which originally aired on March 29, 1996.
Shortly before her death, Schaeffer began dating director Brad Silberling. Her death would serve as the inspiration for Silberling's 2002 fictional film ''Moonlight Mile''.
On July 27, 2007 Bardo was stabbed repeatedly by another inmate at Mule Creek State Prison, but was expected to recover.^[4]

References

1. Stalker! Cache from the Internet Archive.
2. Testimony of Robert Douglas, CEO of Privacy Today, before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee
3. The Stalking Death that Changed the Law: Rebecca Schaeffer Never Lived to Realize Her Success
4. Killer of Actress Stabbed in Prison

External links

★ Thursday's Child The site contains long biographies and her complete credits.

★

★ Find A Death - Rebecca Schaeffer

★ Find A Grave - Rebecca Schaeffer

★ Stalking: Legal Aspects of Stalking by Rhonda Saunders, includes Rebecca Schaeffer's stalking case and death

★ Schaeffer obituary

★ California Stalking Law & Definition

★ AP - Killer of Actress Stabbed in Prison