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Washington Post - Wednesday, February 3, 1988
Author: United Press International
Heather O'Rourke , the 12-year-old star of the "Poltergeist" films who chilled moviegoers with the eerie line "They're heeere," died of toxic shock during intestinal surgery, hospital officials said yesterday
She was diagnosed as having a bowel obstruction caused by "a congenital anomaly" and underwent emergency surgery at 12:45 p.m. She died two hours later of the continuing shock caused by toxins released by bacteria in her blood, a hospital spokesman said.
Movie fans first knew Miss O'Rourke as the angel-faced girl with the long platinum hair who was taken hostage by evil spirits and sucked into a TV set in the original "Poltergeist."
Her line "They're heeere," in reference to the spirits that haunted her suburban family's home, became a catch phrase during screenings of the first film. She became identified with the line "They're baaack" in the second.
She also appeared in "Poltergeist III," which finished filming in Chicago last June and is scheduled for release this summer, a spokesman for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. said Tuesday
Edited by Tim, 22 January 2009 - 09:46 AM.
