Theresa Saldana

Theresa Saldana
Saldana in 1981
Born	(1954-08-20)August 20, 1954 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	June 6, 2016(2016-06-06) (aged 61) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1978–2004
Spouses	Fred Feliciano (divorced) Phil Peters (1989–2016, her death)
Children	Tianna Peters

Theresa Saldana (August 20, 1954 – June 6, 2016) was an American actress and author.

Early life

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

Career

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.

She played the role of 'Lenore La Motta', the wife of Joe Pesci's character, in the 1980 feature movie Raging Bull and Robert Zemeckis's Beatlemania ensemble I Wanna Hold Your Hand.

Activism and attack

She was also known for raising public awareness of the crime of stalking, after surviving a murder attempt by an obsessed fan in 1982. The fan approached Saldana in front of her West Hollywood residence in broad daylight and stabbed her in the torso 10 times with a 5½-inch (14 cm) knife, nearly killing her.

A television movie, Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story was about the attack and was released in 1984 starring Saldana as herself.

Death

Saldana died on June 6, 2016 from an illness at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, aged 61.

Other websites

• Theresa Saldana on IMDb
• Interview on CNN Larry King Live with Saldana and Fenn on July 13, 2004.
• The Jazz Tap Ensemble Archived 2016-08-19 at the Wayback Machine
• Theresa Saldana Archived 2016-09-27 at the Wayback Machine(Aveleyman)