Heather O'Rourke

Heather Michele O'Rourke (December 27, 1975 – February 1, 1988) was an American child actress. She was discovered by director Steven Spielberg when she was visiting MGM's studios. Spielberg cast her as Carol Anne Freeling in the horror film Poltergeist (1982), where she had the movie's most recognizable line: "They're here!" She reprised the role in the second and third installments. O'Rourke also had a recurring role on Happy Days from 1982 to 1983, and she made several television guest appearances. She died at the age of 12 of cardiac arrest and septic shock caused by a misdiagnosed intestinal stenosis in early February 1988. 2Early life Heather O'Rourke was born on December 27, 1975, in San Diego, California, to Kathleen and Michael O'Rourke. Her mother worked as a seamstress and her father was a construction worker. She had an older sister, Tammy. Kathleen and Michael divorced in 1981, and O'Rourke's mother married truck driver James A. "Jim" Peele in 1984. After her parents' divorce, O'Rourke rarely saw her birth father and called her stepfather "Dad