Heather O'Rourke

Heather O'Rourke (December 27, 1975—February 1, 1988) was an American child actress who played Carol Anne Freeling in the Poltergeist trilogy, as well as several television guest appearances before her death in 1988 at the age of 12.

Early life

O'Rourke was born on December 27th, 1975 in San Diego, California, the daughter of Kathleen O'Rourke. Sometime before Heather O'Rourke's death in 1988, her mother married James "Jim" A. Peele, who became stepfather to the young actress.

Career

Heather O'Rourke was a chance discovery by filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who found the five-year-old having lunch with her mother in the MGM commissary. Within months, O'Rourke was cast in the 1982 horror film, the Spielberg-written and -produced Poltergeist.

The Poltergeist films

In the Poltergeist trilogy, O'Rourke played Carol Anne Freeling, the young suburban girl who winds up being the conduit and target for entities supernatural. In her debut film, the 1982 original Poltergeist, O'Rourke's striking performance and appearance—her "wide eyes, long blonde hair and soft voice"—carried her into the sequel which played off her screen presence. O'Rourke continued the same part in both sequels, Poltergeist II: The Other Side and Poltergeist III.

O'Rourke's delivery of the lines "They're here!" in the first film, and "They're baa-aack!" in the second (which was that film's tagline) placed her in the collective pop culture consciousness of the United States before she was seven years old.

Television work

After her work in 1982's Poltergeist, O'Rourke secured several television and TV movie spots. She appeared in CHiPs, Webster, The New Leave It to Beaver, Our House, and had a recurring role on Happy Days as Heather Pfister. In the TV movies Massarati and the Brain and 1985's Surviving she played Skye Henry and Sarah Brogan, respectively.

Death

On February 1, 1988, O'Rourke was rushed to Children's Hospital and Health Center in San Diego after complaining of chest pains. Speaking to reporters, O'Rourke's manager David Wardlow initially announced that it was believed O'Rourke died of the flu. However, hospital spokesman Vincent Bond announced that O'Rourke died that day during a surgery attempting to repair a congenital acute bowel obstruction (stenosis of the intestine) which was complicated by septic shock; this report was corroborated by the San Diego County coroner's office on February 3rd, two days after her death. Later reports amend the specific cause of death to cardiac arrest—a result of the septic shock brought on by the intestinal stenosis.

O'Rourke was interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery on February 5, 1988. Her funeral was attended to by her family and friends, to include Henry Winkler, Linda Purl, and Ricky Schroeder.

Lawsuit

On May 25, 1988, Sanford M. Gage, the O'Rourke family attorney, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Diego. O'Rourke had been seen by doctors at Kaiser since birth, and the suit claims that they failed to properly diagnose the longstanding small-bowel obstruction and that had they not simply treated her for intestinal inflammation with prescription drugs, she could have been cured by means of a simple operation. The suit further stipulated that it was this misdiagnosis that caused the 12-year-old actress' death.

Lasting ramifications

O'Rourke's death complicated MGM's marketing for her most recent work, Poltergeist III, out of fear of appearing to be exploiting the actress' death. Tom Skerritt and Nancy Allen, O'Rourke's co-stars, were discouraged from giving interviews about the film, as they would inevitably lead to undesired questions about O'Rourke's premature death.

References

External links

• Heather O'Rourke at Findagrave.com
• Heather O’Rourke: The Memorial Site