World Horror Network

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Zelda Rubinstein, the 4-foot-3-inch character actor best known as Tangina, the psychic who tries to calm a family inhabiting a haunted house in the 1982 horror film Poltergeist, has died. She was 76.

Her agent, Eric Stevens, tells the Los Angeles Times that Rubenstein died Wednesday at a Los Angeles hospital. Stevens says she recently suffered a heart attack.

Rubenstein made her film debut in the 1981 comedy Under the Rainbow and went on to roles in Sixteen Candles, Southland Tales and the TV show Picket Fences. She returned for both Poltergeist sequels.

The Pittsburgh native also appeared as the mother figure in a high-profile mid-1980s AIDS public awareness campaign and was an outspoken activist for the rights of little people.

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Actress Zelda Rubinstein, who played spirit talker Tangina in Steven Spielberg’s cult 1982 film ‘Poltergeist,’ has passed away. Her agent, Eric Stevens, confirmed she passed away of natural causes at Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Jan. 27. She was 76-years-old.

Stevens tells RadarOnline.com, “She had ongoing health issues and unfortunately they finally overtook her.”

“At 1:59 this morning Zelda left us. She was very much at peace when she finally rested. I’m so sad right now, but I’m glad I was here to be with her and hold her hand,” a friend of the actress said.

She was hospitalized in Los Angeles in December after two of her major organs failed. According to reports, friends and family insisted Rubinstein was on the mend earlier this month.

A friends adds, “She was very much at peace when she finally rested… The world has definitely lost someone very special.”

‘Poltergeist’ was Rubinstein’s big break in Hollywood, but she also appeared in ‘Poltergeist II: The Other Side,’ ‘National Lampoon’s Last Resort’ and ‘Sixteen Candles.’ Her other credits include ‘Caroline in the City,’ ‘Picket Fences’ and ‘Mr. Belvedere.’