Theresa Saldana, who played Joe Pesci's wife in the Martin Scorsese film "Raging Bull" and, in a 1984 television movie, relived a near-fatal knife attack she experienced at the hands of a stalker, died on Monday in Los Angeles. She was 61.
Her death was reported by The Associated Press, which did not state a cause.
Ms. Saldana began attracting notice in "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," a 1978 film about Beatlemania in which she played a star-struck and determined New Jersey teenager, and as a nice girl in a tough neighborhood in the 1980 revenge thriller "Defiance." Her career took a giant step forward when she was cast in "Raging Bull" as Lenore LaMotta, the sister-in-law of the boxer Jake LaMotta, played by Robert De Niro.
Although she went on to enjoy TV success in the 1990s police show The Commish, earning a Golden Globe nomination for her role as Rachel Scali, the commissioner's wife, she was most proud of playing herself in the 1984 television movie Victims For Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story which recounted her survival after the 1982 knife attack.
Speaking about the film she said: "I hope it stands as an example, not just to victims of crime but to others who have been through a tragedy, that you can get through almost anything.
"If a girl can get through being butchered almost to death, if one can do that, then almost anything is surmountable. There is something about almost dying that gives you great strength – if you do survive and if you fight back."
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Saldana first came to attention in Robert Zemeckis's Beatlemaniathemed 1978 film I Wanna Hold Your Hand.
Two years later she starred with Robert De Niro in the critically acclaimed film Raging Bull playing Lenore La Motta, wife of Joe Pesci's character and it was after seeing this movie that Arthur Jackson, a drifter from Aberdeen, Scotland, became obsessed with her.
On March 15, 1982, Jackson got hold of the star's address after hiring a private investigator to obtain the unlisted phone number of her mother.
He called Saldana's mother and posed as Martin Scorsese's assistant, saying he needed the actress's residential address in order to contact her about a film role in Europe.
Later that day he approached Saldana in front of her West Hollywood home in broad daylight and stabbed her 10 times, nearly killing her. His attack was so fierce that the blade bent.
After life-saving surgery and four months in hospital Saldana founded the Victims for Victims organisation which fought for anti-stalking laws.
Jackson served almost 14 years in prison for attempted murder and on his release in 1996 was deported to Britain, where he was committed the following year to a psychiatric institution after pleading guilty to killing a man 30 years earlier.
Saldana died from an "unknown illness" and is survived by her husband Phil and daughter Tianna.
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