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Nickname:	/ Bernie / Heath
Known for:	Poltergeist, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, Poltergeist III
Birth name:	Heather Michele O'Rourke
Birthday:	27 December 1975, San Diego, California, USA
Height:	4' (1.22 m)

President of her class in the 5th grade. Her mother claimed a wrong diagnosis was responsible for her death. During all the horrors that proceeded while filming Poltergeist, only one scene really scared her: that in which she had to hold onto the headboard, while a wind machine blew toys into the closet behind her. She fell apart; Steven Spielberg stopped everything, put her in his arms, and said that she would not have to do that scene again. (Cinefantasque, July 1988) In real life, she loved to go shopping. But according to her mother Kathy, shopping with Heather was a tremendous effort. The girl had to have everything match, from shoes to earings. She also loved to make and eat sweets, and was the student-body president at her school. For a pet, she had a St. Bernard. Her homelife did not, ironically, include the viewing of certain films...particularly not horror films. Fellow cast members described Heather as having a calming influence on the set. They also described cast meetings with her: everyone would be quickly leafing through the script, while Heather was sitting calmly. Being able to memorize 60 pages of script an hour, she would have already memorized the entire script. During the filming of Poltergeist III, she suffered flu-like symptoms. The symptoms were a result of congenital intestinal stenosis (blockage), which ultimately claimed her life. She died while on hiatus from filming Poltergeist III, her final movie, which is dedicated to her memory. She was replaced with a blonde stand-in. Performed from age 3 in numerous commercials before her Poltergeist role, most notably for Mattel and McDonalds. She started modeling in 1979 for Mattel "Tuff Stuff" Number Blocks. As a gift from the crew, she got to keep the goldfish from Poltergeist. She grew very close to director Gary Sherman while filming Poltergeist III, and was very proud of the fact that she performed all her own stuntwork for this movie. Her last words were "I love you" spoken to her mother. Never took acting classes Acted in her middle school Library/Literature Club's production of "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" in her nightgown with her favorite teddy bear in December of 1987. Could read at age 5 Never refused an autograph Rests in a mausoleum next to Truman Capote and Mel Tormé. Tried out for the role of Vicki on Small Wonder Born at 12:28 AM Pacific Standard Time. Was a fraternal twin to an unborn baby brother. Sister of actress Tammy O'Rourke. Ranked #65 on VH1's '100 Greatest Kid Actors' special Her line, "They're here", ranked #69 on the 'AFI'S TOP 100 Movie Quotes' special which aired on CBS. She also holds the distinction of being the youngest (age 5 at the time) actor/actress to utter the line that made the list. Was a straight A student throughout her entire school-going career Her favorite movie of all time was Disney's Dumbo (1940) and her favorite movie she appeared in was the original Poltergeist (1982). Her favorite TV shows were Three's Company and Benny Hill Some of her lesser known creative talents were calligraphy, drawing, baking, singing and dancing Was an avid reader; her former 7th Grade English teacher honors this passion of hers by making all her students observe was she calls "Heather O'Rourke Love of Reading Week"; the last book she was reading was "Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl" Astonished Steven Spielberg in his office during her initial interview with her ability to read the Poltergeist script aloud Planned to attend college at UCLA and major in filmmaking Of Danish-Irish descent and heritage Mentioned in Denis Leary's "Downtrodden Song," the finale to his one man show "No Cure For Cancer," where he names a bunch of famous people who died. He calls her "The chick from the Poltergeist movies". Appeared on the doll box for Mattel's "My First Barbie" in 1980. Heather's Poltergeist III (1988) co-star Tom Skerritt was one of her Pall bearers at her funeral.

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