| # | Fact |
|---|
| 1 | She had been getting tired of doing sequels to Poltergeist (1982) as she didn't want to be typecast. Said that if a Poltergeist IV would to happen it would have been her last film in the series. |
| 2 | If she had lived, it is likely that she would have gone into directing films like she said she wanted to. |
| 3 | Said that if she wasn't acting she would have liked to have been a nurse. |
| 4 | Is buried in the same cemetery as her Poltergeist (1982) co-star, Dominique Dunne. |
| 5 | Heather's Poltergeist III (1988) co-star Tom Skerritt was one of her pallbearers at her funeral. |
| 6 | Appeared on the doll box for Mattel's "My First Barbie" in 1980. |
| 7 | Mentioned in Denis Leary's "Downtrodden Song", the finale to his one-man show "No Cure For Cancer", where he names a bunch of famous people who died. He calls her "The chick from the Poltergeist movies". |
| 8 | She had Irish, English, German, and Danish ancestry. |
| 9 | Planned to attend college at UCLA and major in filmmaking. |
| 10 | Astonished Steven Spielberg in his office during her initial interview with her ability to read the Poltergeist (1982) script aloud. |
| 11 | Was an avid reader; her former 7th Grade English teacher honors this passion of hers by making all her students observe what she calls "Heather O'Rourke Love of Reading Week"; the last book she was reading was "Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl". |
| 12 | Some of her lesser known creative talents were calligraphy, drawing, baking, singing, and dancing. |
| 13 | Her favorite TV shows were Three's Company (1976) and The Benny Hill Show (1969). |
| 14 | Her favorite movie of all time was Disney's Dumbo (1941), and her favorite movie she appeared in was the original Poltergeist (1982). |
| 15 | Upon further examination of her actual report cards over the years, she made C's and D's in her least liked subjects in school, math and science, but at the end of her life was a straight A student. |
| 16 | Her line, "They're here", ranked #69 on the 'AFI'S TOP 100 Movie Quotes' special which aired on CBS. She also holds the distinction of being the youngest (age 5 at the time) actor/actress to utter the line that made the list. |
| 17 | Ranked #65 on VH1's '100 Greatest Kid Actors' special. |
| 18 | Younger sister of actress Tammy O'Rourke. |
| 19 | Was a fraternal twin to an unborn baby brother. |
| 20 | Born at 12:28 AM Pacific Standard Time. |
| 21 | Tried out for the role of Vicki on Small Wonder (1985). |
| 22 | Rests in a mausoleum next to Truman Capote and Mel Tormé. |
| 23 | Never refused an autograph. |
| 24 | Could read at age 5. |
| 25 | Acted in her middle school Library/Literature Club's production of "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" in her nightgown with her favorite teddy bear in December of 1987. |
| 26 | Never took acting classes. |
| 27 | Her last words were "I love you" spoken to her mother. |
| 28 | She grew very close to director Gary Sherman while filming Poltergeist III (1988), and was very proud of the fact that she performed all her own stuntwork for this movie. |
| 29 | As a gift from the crew, she got to keep the goldfish from Poltergeist (1982). |
| 30 | Performed from age 3 in numerous commercials before her Poltergeist (1982) role, most notably for Mattel and McDonalds. She started modeling in 1979 for Mattel "Tuff Stuff" Number Blocks. |
| 31 | During the filming of Poltergeist III (1988), she suffered flu-like symptoms. The symptoms were a result of congenital intestinal stenosis (blockage), which ultimately claimed her life. |
| 32 | Fellow cast members described Heather as having a calming influence on the set. They also described cast meetings with her: everyone would be quickly leafing through the script, while Heather was sitting calmly. Being able to memorize 60 pages of script an hour, she would have already memorized the entire script. |
| 33 | In real life, she loved to go shopping. But according to her mother Kathy, shopping with Heather was a tremendous effort. The girl had to have everything match, from shoes to earrings. She also loved to make and eat sweets, and was the student-body president at her school. For a pet, she had a St. Bernard. Her home life did not, ironically, include the viewing of certain films...particularly not horror films. |
| 34 | During all the horrors that proceeded while filming Poltergeist (1982), only one scene really scared her: that in which she had to hold onto the headboard, while a wind machine blew toys into the closet behind her. She fell apart; Steven Spielberg stopped everything, put her in his arms, and said that she would not have to do that scene again. (Cinefantasque, July 1988) |
| 35 | Her mother claimed a wrong diagnosis was responsible for her death. |
| 36 | President of her class in the 5th grade. |
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