White, 33, first became aware of her stalker in April during a preshow warm-up on the Wheel of Fortune set. "All of a sudden," she said in court papers, "a man in the audience, clothed in army fatigues and wearing dog tags, jumped up screaming that my boyfriend was a dangerous and bad man, associated with the Mafia, and that he, the man, would protect me." According to White, the man was escorted from the studio by security guards but returned several hours later to the CBS lot, only to run away when confronted again by security personnel.
After the incident, White learned that the man, identified as one Roger Davis, had been calling the show's production offices, Merv Griffin Enterprises, saying that "he 'wanted me' and 'was going to marry me,' " White told the court.
"We'd ask for a telephone number to call him back," says one Wheel staffer, "but when police went to check it out, it was just a pay phone, not his residence."
White's boyfriend, restaurateur George Santopietro, later managed to get Davis's number and on June 9 spoke to his landlady. "I told [her] that I wanted to speak to Mr. Davis," Santopietro stated, "and she then blurted out, 'Is this about Vanna White? I knew it would come to this. He is obsessed with Vanna White.' " In a second conversation, the landlady told Santopietro that Davis had moved out early in the morning of June 12 and his whereabouts were not known.
"Vanna is very upset about this," says her manager, Ray Manzella, who has also received calls from Davis. (In one, on June 8, Davis warned that the FBI was about to raid White's home.) "But it's not that she doesn't feel compassion for the guy. The police gave us to understand the guy had been in a mental hospital. He really needs psychiatric help."
According to papers filed by Teri Garr, 40, the actress has received threats and harassment for the past five years from a woman whose list of aliases includes the names Brook Morgan Hull and Susan Hull. According to Garr's petition, Hull has phoned, sent letters or trespassed on her property as often as three times a day. Last Sept. 13 Hull showed up at Garr's house to deliver a beaded necklace that had been broken in pieces and placed in five separate envelopes. Garr, who said she'd been informed that the woman "may be prone to violent behavior," testified that Hull "was told that I did not wish to accept anything from her, to which she replied, 'Oh, she doesn't want me here...that's all she had to say? We'll just see.' "
The courts have already granted White's request for a restraining order and are still considering Garr's, but so far there have been no legal grounds to bring formal charges against either Davis or Hull. Police say they could use both a national clearinghouse and tougher legislation to help keep deranged fans from making good on violent threats. In the meantime, as all too many celebrities are finding out, one thing that fame cannot bring is anything approximating sanctuary.
And, it seems, their concern is growing. Last year, when security consultant Gavin de Becker set up a symposium to advise personal managers on how to handle threats against their celebrity clients, the turnout was sobering. "There were 500 people there that night," says Los Angeles police Capt. Robert J. Martin, who was a guest speaker. "And those people were really scared."
—Susan Schindehette, Doris Bacon in Los Angeles
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- Doris Bacon.
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