Heather O’Rourke, actress (December 27, 1975 – February 1, 1988)
Heather O’Rourke was selected for the first Poltergeist movie after Steven Spielberg cast the original choice for the role, Drew Barrymore, in ET. The majority of O’Rourke’s scenes in Poltergeist were recorded in one take in order to prevent her from becoming too frightened.
O’Rourke died aged 12 from a bowel obstruction resulting from misdiagnosed Crohn’s Disease. She died five years after her co-star from the first Poltergeist movie, Dominique Dunne, was murdered, leading to talk of the “Curse of Poltergeist”. It is believed O’Rourke’s ghost haunts the sound studio upon which Happy Days was recorded.
In 2008, O’Rourke’s voice and image was used posthumously to advertise DirecTV satellite receivers. Her former co-star Craig T Nelson recorded new scenes for the advert.
