Heather O'Rourke

She died of a heart attack caused by septic shock brought on by congenital stenosis of the intestine. She was misdiagnosed by the hospital and the parents later sued but settled out of court.

It was covered up at the time, but the ending of Poltergeist 3 was reshot after she died and they had to reduce how much Carol Anne appeared in it. The final shot where she has her face turned away from the camera is a body double.

She is buried in the same wall as Marilyn Monroe in Westwood. Around the corner. Steps away from Natalie Wood.

Up from Truman Capote

r1, she looked really scary sick in the 3rd movie. I attributed it at the time to her role in film, but it was obvious she was sick. so pale so bloated She is above Capote

She was such a cute little girl. I remember her from HAPPY DAYS as well. I think she was Fonzie's girlfriend's daughter.

I still believe that movie and its sequels were cursed

R6 why?

Because Craig T Nelson is still alive.

I love r3. Because you have been there as have I.

R7, besides Heather O'Rourke, the actress who played the older sister, Dominique Dunne, was murdered by her boyfriend shortly after release of the original.

R7 popular "theory" on why the movie is cursed is because they were disrespectful to the dead when filming. In the scene where JoBeth Williams is in the pool and the skeletons start popping up out of their graves, the crew used actual human skeletons. JoBeth Williams wasn't made aware of this until after filming. According to stories about this, real skeletons were cheaper than fake ones.

And about Heather O'Rourke there are stories about security guards at the Paramount lot, they swear they've seen her ghost haunting the place.

Dominique Dunne is also in the same cemetery

Yes, as is Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett among others

MJ is across town in Glendale, but, yes, poor Farrah is there

It's not a peaceful cemetery

It's not, but it is one of the few that is not haunted.

And so overpriced

All the famous burials:

Bernie won Michigan! He's killing Hillary!

She was on steroids for a kidney condition during most of Poltergeist 3's filming.

would she haunt the Paramount lot when she died in a hospital?

Don't forget about me!!! Julian Beck aged 60!!!!!!!!!!!!! (looks 90--died shortly after filming--and yes I know it was cancer)

*Why would she haunt...

[quote]would she haunt the Paramount lot when she died in a hospital?

Ghosts don't necessarily just haunt the place they died in (if you believe in hauntings).

Stage 19 at Paramount, where she supposedly haunts, is where Happy Days was filmed.

[quote]She was on steroids for a kidney condition during most of Poltergeist 3's filming.

Not quite, R20. Her doctors misdiagnosed her intestinal stenosis as Crohn's Disease (similar symptoms to Irritable Bowel Disease) for months and treated her with Prednisone, which is what caused her bloated appearance in Poltergeist III.

By the time the doctors realized their mistake, sepsis had set in, which in turn led to cardiac arrest.

I remember her mom being interviewed on the E! True Hollywood Story or something and she looked kind of trailer park trashy, though she seems genuinely devastated by Heather's death.

[quote]I remember her from HAPPY DAYS as well. I think she was Fonzie's girlfriend's daughter.

Oh, yes. Back during the days when they threw nearly [bold]everything[/bold] against those sets while hoping that something would stick.

Heather cherished her time on Happy Days!!! Makes sense her spirit hangs out

She goes to Paramount because Frank Zappa is buried nearby

Thank you for clarifying, r24.

Heather apparently LOVED her stint on Happy Days. Her spirit may hang there because she misses it. I have heard the rumor for yrs from many people

She comes back hoping for one last glimpse of Anson Williams singing to don most in the shower

I was rewatching the Poltergeist films recently, and wondered what in the hell had happened to her face in Part III—her cheeks were terribly bloated, while the rest of her body looked normal. According to an article referenced in her Wikipedia page, she was very (unsurprisingly) self-conscious about it, which was heartbreaking to read. She was an adorable and talented girl, and she surely didn't deserve what happened to her.

used to be you could google her name and steven speilberg and rumors.....and all sorts of scandalous affairs were mentioned...her insides were wrecked....

poor darling

My dad’s 1970s NYC public high school science classroom had a real skeleton hanging in a special closet next to the blackboard. I imagine they were pretty common. Freaked me out as a kid though. All those folks that donate their bodies To science gotta end up somewhere.

R33 beat me to it.

[quote]used to be you could google her name and steven speilberg and rumors.....and all sorts of scandalous affairs were mentioned...her insides were wrecked....

Christ, I really, really don't want to believe this. The thought sickens me for so many reasons.

Because it’s more fun to believe that, r7.

Find a Death’s write-up on Heather.

Those rumors are still around online, R33. Heather's sister denounced them several years ago. In this interview, the interviewer cites a comment Henry Winkler made about O'Rourke where he said she was abused by her father, but he was incorrectly referring to Judith Barsi, a child actress who was in fact murdered by her own father. I have no idea why he would make this error considering he knew O'Rourke and worked with her on Happy Days.

I do find the circumstances of her death odd, especially as she apparently didn't really exhibit symptoms of the intestinal stenosis throughout her life.

R32 I suppose I should have clarified that the facial swelling Heather had was due to cortisone injections she was receiving to treat misdiagnosed Chron's disease at the time. Extremely sad

Find a Death's writeup on her at R38 is a bit crass. The author comments that they "don’t know how pretty of an adult she would have made"—ostensibly referring to her puffed face, which significantly altered her appearance—without ever having done the research to know that the reason she looked like that was because she was on steroid injections for a medical problem she didn't actually have.

[quote]"don’t know how pretty of an adult she would have made"

What a fucking douchebag.

I hope her intestinal problems were not from rape or messing around, whether on the set or at home, so very sad. gosh she was georgous.

If it is true, no wonder she haunts the studio lot. I hope the pedo ring is the #metoo of 2020. These sick fucks need to be exposed, humiliated and then suffer their own bowel obstructions violently in prison.

Stop bumping threads

How about you go fuck yourself, R45?

A few years after her death, I did a lot of research about her health problems to see if they could be replicated, but to no avail.

Any relation to PJ?

To show there were no hard feelings, Disney hired her for this syndicated TV special less than a year after [italic]Poltergeist[/italic] trounced [italic]TRON[/italic] at the box office.

I think she also played the starchild (half human, half alien) on the popular miniseries, V the Final Battle.

She did a [italic]Webster[/italic] guest appearance since its first season overlapped with [italic]Happy Days[/italic]’ last.

And one of the Guidice girls played her twin, R50:

Only a portion of Capote's ashes are there. Joanne Carson owned the remainder and they were auctioned off with her belongings when she died, along with the clothes Truman died in that she had kept! So someone bought his cremains.

This is what happened to her.

My sense is that nowadays what with there being so much more awareness about the pedophile rings operating in Hollywood, plus social media, there would be a lot more questions about the circumstances of Heather O’Rourke’s death.

Cue Poo Shoes and Pizzagate 🙄🙄🙄

how come speilberg made so many movies bak then bout/involving young and very young kids.....there was a lot of chatter...

How did her insides get so messed up and infected? was she raped a lot?

god bless you dear heather. some day ur rapists will be outed...

[quote]I think she also played the starchild (half human, half alien) on the popular miniseries, V the Final Battle.

That was actually Jenny Beck.

Jingle Bell Rock

god h wood was a monstrous mess back then of peddys….

Praetaynama

For an 11-year-old, she was very well-spoken at the end of R60's video. She seemed like a sweet, intelligent kid. It's terrible she died so young. I wonder if she'd have continued acting as an adult had she lived.

Heather O'Rourke was YET another AIDS cover up. She was molested and got the AIDS. Thus the big cover up and the number of infections and the rapid onset and inability to cure it. It was right was AIDS was at its most quick and deadly too.

She's dead? She signed a pic for me at a Chicago horror con in 2015. For 25 bucks. Dang.

Yes, only a Pizzagate conspiracist could possibly think that there are pedophile rings operating in Hollywood. /eye roll/

Watching Part 3 now.

Why is everything so icy?

R66 is Poo herself.

[quote] I wonder if she'd have continued acting as an adult had she lived.

Not sure if she would have acted as an adult, but definitely would have worked more as a teen. If she were alive today, she would probably be a fixture at all those horror/sci fi conventions.

Part 3 is pretty fun. Everyone HATES Carol Ann!

Her aunt.

Her classmates.

Her doctor.

Even the little girl who carpools with her.

It is campy bloated fun!

R68 I have no idea what you’re talking about. ‘Poo shoes’? Shoes made of poo??

Carol Anne was not Arbuckled!!!

According to CDAN the real story is the worst thing you will ever read.

Yes, R73, we know.

[quote] Part 3 is pretty fun. Everyone HATES Carol Ann! Her aunt. Her classmates. Her doctor. Even the little girl who carpools with her.

Not to mention Craig T Nelson and Jobeth Williams who fucking abandoned her!!!

Poltergeist 3 wasn't a good Poltergeist film, but still a fun film nonetheless. Loved the setting. That piano theme that plays over the end credits is a nice tribute to Carol Ann/Heather.

I read awhile back that 3's director (and everyone else involved) knew the film was crap but that Heather was incredibly sweet and dedicated to making it a success.

Director said she was always checking on him making sure things were going well even when she was severely ill.

Consider the source, but this is what's out there.

Heather O'Rourke was not passed around by a pedo ring FFS. Poo and a few others are obsessed with this shit.

Any relation to Beto?

Younger sister, R80.

Remember when Amy Irving got so much $$$ for Spielberg. Wonder why....

Crispin Glover has a his view...

Cry for me.

Poo, poo, poo, poo on my shoe

Crispin Glover has always been one sandwich short of a picnic.

Poltergeist 3 would have worked better as a non-Poltergeist movie.

R88 Yes, it directly contradicts the mythos set up in the earlier movies, but as a standalone film, it's just fine.

I was watching Poltergeist II yesterday, and there's a scene in the film between Carol Ann and her grandmother where she says she "doesn't want to grow up" because it "doesn't seem like much fun." It was a rather chilling line in retrospect given that O'Rourke herself was dead about a year later.

I love Poltergeist III. It's like a yuppie horror film. The Trump Tower-like setting. Some cool visuals (ie. the mirrors). Nancy Allen as the bitch aunt. I love it.

But I still laugh how many times each character says "CAROL ANNE!" I swear, if you took a swig every time someone says her name, you'd be drunk by the end of the movie.

The sick stories about her are horrible. I believe she had a medical condition. I don't think any person or child could do an acting job after allegedly going through something that horrific, unless they were roofied and didn't know about it.

That girl from All Dogs Go To Heaven was murdered by her own father.

There was a thread on Lipstick Alley which had some pretty disturbing allegations. I don't know if any of them are true because sometimes those posts on LA are like bad fan fiction.

But with all the horrible stories that have come out of Hollywood the past few years, it does made one wonder. And while #metoo has exposed a lot, there is still a lot to uncover about child stars.

Heather, Heather, Heather! Always a focus on the child.

I mean, really. Won't anyone give a thought to the parents?

As silly and fantastical as the Poltergeist movies were, Heather actually proved herself a good actress. Her more serious scenes with Julian Beck in the second film were great, and she also delivered a couple of comedic lines that were fantastic--when the family is holed up in a 24-hour diner after having a poltergeist attack, the son asks Craig T. Nelson if they have to move again, to which he replies "I don't know, I have to think about it." Carol Anne then asks if they can move to Disneyland; when her brother makes fun of her, she reconsiders with "Okay, how about Dunkin' Donuts?" O'Rourke's delivery of those lines never ceases to have me laughing out loud.

[quote]But I still laugh how many times each character says "CAROL ANNE!" I swear, if you took a swig every time someone says her name, you'd be drunk by the end of the movie.

Take a double shot everytime Tangina calls her "KALE ANN!"

The acting in the Poltergeist movies (particularly the first two) is very strong. JoBeth Williams really deserved an Oscar nomination for the first film. She was excellent. And Heather was good in all of them.

I like in part 2 when Craig T. vomits up the worm thing. For a split second, it looks like a huge dick and set of balls that he’s horking up.

Lol R98 I've noticed that too. Right as he first coughs it up, it looks like balls coming out followed by the dick, but it only appears that way for a split second.

As an aside, Craig T. Nelson was actually pretty hot in Part II. You could tell from his shirtless scenes in Part I and Part II that he had lost weight between the two films--he was pudgier in the first one, but had noticeably slimmed down by the time they shot the sequel.

20 minutes was removed from the running time of part 2 and has never seen the light of day.

Did someone....call?

Tangina reminds me of an eldergay DLer.

R99, I agree that he was hot in part 2.

[quote]But I still laugh how many times each character says "CAROL ANNE!" I swear, if you took a swig every time someone says her name, you'd be [bold]dead[/bold] by the end of the movie.

Fixed it for you, r91.

^Lol