Zelda Rubinstein Movies and Career Information

Zelda Rubinstein (May 28, 1933 – January 27, 2010) was an American actress and human rights activist, best known as eccentric medium Tangina Barrons in the movie Poltergeist (1982) and its sequels, Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986), and Poltergeist III (1988). She also made guest appearances in the TV spin-off Poltergeist: The Legacy (1996), as a seer, Christina. Rubinstein was also known for her outspoken activism for little people and her early participation in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Rubinstein was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on May 28, 1933, to Polish immigrant parents. She was the youngest of three children and the only little person in her family. Rubinstein did not become comfortable with her short stature until she was an adult. In a 1992 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Rubinstein told the newspaper that she "had a rough childhood, [but] I became very verbally facile. . . . I learned to meet everyone head-on." She stood just 4 feet 3 inches (130 cm) due to a deficiency of the anterior pituitary gland, which produces growth hormone. Commenting in 2002 on the challenges of being a very short statured person, Rubinstein said, "Little People are societally