Rebecca Schaeffer
Rebecca Lucile Schaeffer (November 6, 1967 – July 18, 1989) was an actress who was shot and killed by Robert John Bardo, prompting the passage of anti-stalking laws in California.
Life
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.
Shortly before her death, Schaeffer began dating director Brad Silberling. Her death was the inspiration for Silberling's 2002 fictional film Moonlight Mile.
Career
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 (a very small part as 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. Schaeffer was scheduled to audition for the part of Mary Corleone in The Godfather Part III the morning she was murdered.[1] The role eventually went to Sofia Coppola.
Death
Schaeffer, who was only 21, 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[citation needed], who fixated on Schaeffer after his previous fixation, child actress and 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 would 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),[2][3] then, intent upon murdering her for what appeared to him on film to have been her loss of innocence, 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[citation needed], hurriedly gave him one, then retreated back to her apartment. It was unfortunate that her abruptness only 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[citation needed]. When she saw it was Bardo again, she told him she didn't have 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.[4] 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 after 30 minutes of efforts to save her life.[5] The next day, Bardo was arrested in Tucson, Arizona.
Bardo never went to trial. Instead, he plea bargained for life in prison without the possibility of parole on December 20, 1991.
Aftermath
Partly as a result, 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.
While the law protects citizens against stalkers, its sweeping coverage has made it more difficult for Californians to find relatives or old friends, and to pursue actions in small claims court.
The law's effect has subsequently been diminished by online address search services.
Notes
External links
- Thursday's Child The site contains long biographies and her complete credits.
- Rebecca Schaeffer at IMDb
- Find A Death - Rebecca Schaeffer
- Find A Grave - Rebecca Schaeffer
- Remembering Rebecca Schaeffer
- Stalking: Legal Aspects of Stalking by Rhonda Saunders, includes Rebecca Schaeffer's stalking case and death
- Schaeffer obituary
- California Stalking Law & Definition