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'Poltergeist' Star Heather O'Rourke Dies at Age of 12
February 03, 1988|BURT A. FOLKART | Times Staff Writer
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Heather O'Rourke, the terrified youngster sucked into a spectral vacuum by supernatural spirits in the "Poltergeist" films, has died on an operating table at a San Diego hospital, it was reported Tuesday.
The 12-year-old ingenue, who finished filming "Poltergeist III" last June in which she starred as the angelic Carol Ann Freeling for the third time, died late Monday afternoon.
A spokeswoman for Children's Hospital of San Diego identified the cause of death as intestinal stenosis--a severe bowel obstruction that the girl evidently had from birth. The obstruction caused an infection that, in turn, brought on septic shock. The shock prompted full cardiac and pulmonary arrest, the spokeswoman said.
