#2 Heather O’Rourke
Heather O’Rourke became well-known almost overnight as the innocent young girl who spooked audiences after being drawn into the television set in the movie Poltergeist. In fact, it’s possible that she overplayed the role because O’Rourke was one of the few original cast members to stick with the film franchise until its end with 1988’s Poltergeist III, despite earning an outstanding list of honors after her breakthrough role as Carol Anne.
If you’ve seen the final film, you may have noticed that Heather’s cheeks look unusually puffy. Although viewers weren’t aware of it at the time, this was a response to the medications she was using for Crohn’s disease, which was her actual diagnosis. On February 1st, 1988, tragedy struck when 12-year-old Heather experienced a heart attack during a bowel obstruction surgery.
