Zelda Rubinstein "Poltergeist psychic" actress dies at 76

Another relatively obscure actress you probably thought was already dead.
R.I.P. remember to step back so you don't jam her frequencies as she goes into the light.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-zelda-rubinstein28-2010jan28,0,7612698.story

 

And so the Poltergeist curse continues!

 

Go towards the light. All welcome . . . all welcome . . .

 

Hell of a curse. Took 30 some years to take her!
She always seemed like a sweet lady. My condolences to her family and thanks to her for such great performances. She will be remembered fondly.

 

Zelda Rubinstein, Clairvoyant in ‘Poltergeist,’ Dies at 76
By MARGALIT FOX
Published: January 27, 2010

Zelda Rubinstein, a 4-foot-3-inch character actress best known for playing the indomitable ghost-purging psychic in “Poltergeist,” died on Wednesday in Los Angeles. She was 76 and lived in Los Angeles.

The cause was complications of a heart attack she had two months ago, her agent, Eric Stevens, said. No immediate family members survive.

Released in 1982, “Poltergeist” featured a brief bravura turn by Ms. Rubinstein as Tangina, the clairvoyant summoned to scour a suburban home of spirits. “This house is clean!” Tangina memorably declared after attempting the job. The Washington Post called her performance one of the best by a film actress that year.

Ms. Rubinstein reprised the role of Tangina in “Poltergeist II” (1986) and “Poltergeist III” (1988).

A medical lab technician who became an actress in her late 40s, Ms. Rubinstein made her film debut in 1981 in the comedy “Under the Rainbow.” Her other films include “Frances” (1982), “Sixteen Candles” (1984), “Teen Witch” (1989) and “Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights” (1998). On television she had a recurring role as the sheriff’s dispatcher Ginny Weedon in the CBS series “Picket Fences.”

Ms. Rubinstein was also known for her public advocacy of AIDS education and the rights of little people, the term she preferred. In 1981 she helped found the Michael Dunn Memorial Repertory Theater, whose tallest actor was 4 foot 6. Mr. Dunn, who died in 1973, was a dwarf actor known for the film “Ship of Fools” (1965).

Zelda Rubinstein was born in Pittsburgh on May 28, 1933; she was, she told The Hartford Courant in 2000, “the only one different in appearance” in her family. After studying at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California, Berkeley, she became a technician in a blood bank.

At 47 Ms. Rubinstein abruptly decided to change careers, as she explained in The Courant interview.

“I had no idea what I would do next, but I knew it would involve advocacy for those people who were in danger of being disenfranchised,” she said. “I wanted a platform to be visible as a person who is different, as a representative of several varieties of differences. This is the most effective way for me to carry a message saying, ‘Yes you can.’ I took a look at these shoulders in the mirror and they’re pretty big. They can carry a lot of Sturm und Drang on them.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/arts/28rubinstein.html?ref=obituaries

 

I loved her as Tangina in the Poltergeist movies. She was such a sweet lady. Her narration for the "The Scariest Places on Earth" was well done by her as well. RIP.

 

Under the Rainbow was great. I don't know how many times I watched that film on cable when I was a kid.

 

I never thought that Zelda was a good actress, but she had one incredible scene in the movie:

"I don't know what hovers over this house, but it was strong enough to punch a hole into this world and take your daughter away from you. It keeps Carol Anne very close to it and away from the spectral light. It lies to her, it tells her things only a child could understand. It has been using her to restrain the others. To her, it simply IS another child. To us, it is the BEAST."

That scared the living crap outta me.