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STARLETS - REBECCA SCHAEFFER

STARLETS

Dominique
Dunne

Peg
Entwistle

Virginia
Rappe

Rebecca
Schaeffer

Dorothy
Stratten

Sharon
Tate

Thelma
Todd

Rebecca Shaeffer

1967 - 1989

Up and coming young actress Rebecca Schaeffer had stepped over the threshold of luck and entered the living room of the entertainment business. She was a co-star on a hit series. Unfortunately, when she answered the front door of her apartment building one-day, her life and career were evicted from our earthly existence.

The only daughter of Benson and Dana Schaeffer,Rebecca was born on November 6, 1967 in Eugene and raised in Portland, Oregon. As a teenager, Rebecca searched for a modeling agent.

"It was enough for me to see her to be fascinated.
She was fresh and charming,
besides she was so much beautiful;
her big brown eyes, her cheeks and her beautiful smile
composed a very seductive assembly."
- Nanette Troutman, talent agent

At 16, after working a year as a model in Portland, she decided to go to New York to try the big time. While struggling for work, she received the phone call that changed her life.

"When I came back home I found a message at my door:
Warner Brothers wanted me to do an audition
and asked me to travel to Los Angeles as soon as possible.
I hadn't neither phone nor enough money to go by bus,
so I had to run 20 blocks to my agents office."
- Rebecca Schaeffer

The audition was for a new television series about two sisters who live in San Francisco. Rebecca was cast in the role of "Patti," younger sister of Sam, performed by Pam Dawber ("Mork & Mindy"). "My Sister Sam" aired for three years,from 1986 to 1988.Rebecca had made her mark in Hollywood and her success promised her a long and vibrant career.

Robert John Bardo was the youngest of seven siblings, son of a former Air Force officer. He grew up in Tucson, Arizona, the object of much physical and mental abuse. According to one of his teachers, Bardo was "a time bomb on the verge of exploding."When he was 13, Bardo took a bus to Maine in search of Samantha Smith, the child that became famous for sending a letter to Mikhail Gorbachov.The authorities found him and returned him to Tucson.

Bardo became a good student, but wrote his teachers threatening letters. He was hospitalized two times because of "severe emotional damages."

At 16, while working as a janitor for a fast food restaurant, he found a better reality in television. In the fall of 1986, he became a fan of "My Sister Sam."

In particular, Bardo began to be obsessed with the character "Patti," played by Rebecca Schaeffer. He built a shrine to her in his bedroom.

"She came into my life in the right moment.
She was brilliant, pretty, outrageous,
her innocence impressed me.
She turned into a goddess for me, an idol.
Since then, I turned an atheist, I only adored her."
- Robert John Bardo

Like millions of fans, Bardo started to write letters to her.

Rebecca responded, writing that his letter was "the most beautiful" that she had ever received. On her letter, she drew a peace sign, a heart, and signed it: "With love from Rebecca."

The day Bardo received the letter he wrote in his diary: "When I think of her, I would like to become famous to impress her."

In June 1987, Bardo arrived at the Burbank Studio gates where "My Sister Sam" was produced, carrying a teddy bear and a bouquet of roses for Rebecca. The guard didn't let him in.

Bardo returned a month later with a knife, but didn't gain entrance then either. In his diary, he wrote: "I don't lose. Period."

Bardo returned to Tucson. Later on, he saw her new film Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. In the movie, Rebecca had a bed scene with a male actor. This upset Bardo. He couldn't envision his innocent young girl being an adult woman. To him, she had become "one more of the bitches of Hollywood." Bardo decided Rebecca had to be punished for her immorality. He drew a diagram of her body and marked spots where he planned to shoot her. He asked his older brother, Edgar, to buy him a gun.

Bardo hired the services of a private investigator and used the Department of Motor Vehicles to gain information about Rebecca, including her address.

On July 17, 1989, Bardo arrived in Los Angeles after taking the late night bus from Tucson. He had in his possession the gun and a copy of J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. Bardo took a local bus to the Fairfax District and located Rebecca's apartment building on North Sweetzer Avenue.

Bardo rang her doorbell.

That morning, Rebecca was preparing to go to an audition with Francis Ford Coppola for a role in his upcoming film Godfather III. She heard the doorbell, but her voice intercom was broken, so she went to the front door herself.

When she opened the front door, Bardo stood there holding a photo of Rebecca for her to sign. He told her he was her "biggest fan." After thanking him, she asked him politely to leave and closed the door.

After this brief encounter, Bardo went to a neighborhood restaurant and ate breakfast. From the pay phone, he called his sister in Tennessee. He told her about his intention to visit actress Rebecca Schaeffer. Bardo's sister asked him to come for a visit. Afterwards, Bardo went into the men's room and prepared his gun.

About 10:15 a.m., Bardo returned to Rebecca's apartment building. Rebecca answered the doorbell once again. When she opened the front door, Bardo held out his gun and shot her in the chest.

"Why? Why?"
- Rebecca's last words

Bardo left. Thirty minutes later, Rebecca was declared dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Bardo boarded a bus and returned to Tucson.

"I have an obsession with the unattainable.
I have to eliminate what I cannot attain."
- Robert Bardo, letter to his sister

When Bardo's sister heard about the murder, she contacted the police about her brother. He was extradited to California. Bardo defense attorneys pleaded he had an unstable mental condition due to childhood abuse.

Bardo was tried and convicted by prosecutor Marcia Clark, who would later become most famous for her unsuccessful attempts to prosecute O.J. Simpson.

Two years later, his trial for murder concluded.

On October 29, 1991, a Judge declared to Robert John Bardo guilty of homicide in first degree and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Schaeffer's murder and the Teresa Saldana assault case provoked Governor George Deukmejian to sign a law that prohibited the DMV from releasing addresses and inspired the Los Angeles Police Department to create the first Threat Management Team. The California law was passed in 1990 and became effective on the first day of 1991. The law was the first of its kind and later helped to convict Jonathan Norman, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for attempting to carry out threats against director Steven Spielberg.

According to the legislation, a stalker is defined as "someone who willfully, maliciously and repeatedly follows or harasses another victim and who makes a credible threat with the intent to place the victim or victim's immediate family in fear of their safety." There must be at least two incidents to constitute the crime and show a "continuity of purpose" or credible threat.

By 1993, all states, as well as Canada, put anti-stalking laws into effect.

"Be happy in jail!"
- Dana Schaeffer, Rebecca's mother, to Bardo

HISTORICAL: Celebrity Wives Depression Era European Executed Porno Stars Starlets Western