Heather O'Rourke Actors you may not know are dead, Died - Dead, Actors - Actress, Voice News, Audio News,Heather O'Rourke

Actors you may not know are dead, Died - Dead, Actors - Actress, Voice News, Audio News,Heather O'Rourke

Heather O'Rourke

Best known for playing Carol Anne from the movie Poltergeist, Heather O'Rourke skyrocketed to instant fame as the sweet young girl that terrified audiences after being sucked into the television set. In fact, she may have played the part a little too well: although O'Rourke racked up an impressive list of credits after her breakthrough performance as Carol Anne, she remained tied to the franchise in the public's mind, and she was one of a very small number of original cast members that remained with the movie series until its conclusion with 1988's Poltergeist III.

If you've seen the final movie, you may notice that Heather's cheeks appear very puffyùand although audiences didn't know it at the time, it was a reaction to the medication she was taking for Crohn's disease, with which she was misdiagnosed. Tragedy struck on February 1, 1988, when Heather suffered from cardiac arrest while undergoing a surgery for a bowel obstruction at the tender age of 12.