# Zelda Rubinstein

Zelda May Rubinstein (May 28, 1933 – January 27, 2010) was an American actress and human rights activist, known as eccentric medium Tangina Barrons in the Poltergeist film series. Playing "Ginny", she was a regular on David E. Kelley's Emmy Award-winning television series Picket Fences for two seasons. She also made guest appearances in the TV show Poltergeist: The Legacy (1996), as seer Christina, and was the voice of Skittles candies in their long-running "Taste the Rainbow" ad campaign. Rubinstein was also known for her outspoken activism for little people and her early participation in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Zelda Rubinstein and Heather O'Rourke were the only cast members to have appeared in all three Poltergeist films.

## Early life, family and education

Rubinstein was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on May 28, 1933, to Dolores and George Rubinstein, Jewish immigrants from Poland. She was the youngest of three children.
She was the only short-statured person in her family. Her stature resulted due to a deficiency of the anterior pituitary gland, which produces growth hormone. 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." In adulthood at her tallest, she stood 4 ft 3 in (1.30 m) tall Commenting in 2002 on the challenges of being a very short-statured person, Rubinstein said, "Midgets are societally handicapped. They have about two minutes to present themselves as equals—and if they don't take advantage of that chance, then people fall back on the common assumption that 'less' is less."
Rubinstein won a scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh, where she earned her bachelor's degree in bacteriology and became a sister of the national sorority Phi Sigma Sigma. At age 25, she continued her studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where she also studied acting.

## Career

Rubenstein worked as a medical laboratory technician at blood banks. However, in 1978, she decided to pursue an acting career. She studied acting at the University of California. Poltergeist was her first major film role.
Film critic Pauline Kael, who essentially dismissed Poltergeist as an "entertaining hash", held special praise for Rubinstein's portrayal of the psychic Tangina, saying she "gives the movie new life and makes a large chunk of it work." She remained active in film and television thereafter, frequently portraying various psychic characters, such as her appearance on Jennifer Slept Here. She also narrated the horror television series Scariest Places on Earth, which aired in the US on ABC Family and in Canada on YTV.
Rubinstein's other film roles included Sixteen Candles, Under the Rainbow, Cages, Teen Witch, The Wildcard, Southland Tales and National Lampoon's Last Resort. She also contributed voice-over work for TV including Hey Arnold!, and The Flintstones. She made numerous guest appearances on network TV shows, including Caroline in the City, Martin, Mr. Belvedere, and had a recurring role as sheriff's assistant Ginny Weedon in the TV series Picket Fences. Her character there was killed off in typical offbeat fashion, by falling into a freezer early in the third season. She also appeared in an episode of Tales From The Crypt in which she played the mother of a girl who has been dead for 40 years. She also starred in two different roles on Santa Barbara in 1984 and in 1990.
Beginning in 1999, she performed voiceovers for television, starting with the Fox Family reality TV show Scariest Places on Earth over its multiple seasons. This was followed by work in commercials promoting movies such as Lady in the Water and products including Skittles candy. Her last film role came in 2007 when she made a cameo appearance in the horror film Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. She also appeared in a cameo as herself at the Revenge of the Mummy ride in Universal Studios Florida on the screens which shows various actors from the films warning the people to leave, telling them about the curse of Imhotep.

## Human rights and activism

Rubinstein was an advocate for "the rights of little people (the term she preferred)." She was a founding member of the Michael Dunn Memorial Repertory Theater, started in 1981. The theater group's tallest performer was 4 ft 6 in (1.37 m).
Additionally, she became active in the fight against HIV/AIDS in 1984. She appeared in a series of advertisements, directed towards gay men specifically, promoting safer sex and AIDS awareness. Rubinstein did so at risk to her own career, especially so shortly after her rise to fame, and admitted later that she did "pay a price, career-wise." "I lost a friend to AIDS, one of the first public figures that died of AIDS," the actress said in an interview with The Advocate. "I knew it was not the kind of disease that would stay in anybody's backyard. It would climb the fences, get over the fences into all of our homes. It was not limited to one group of people." She attended the first AIDS Project Los Angeles AIDS Walk.

## Personal life and death

Rubinstein resided in London for several years when she worked as a laboratory technician. After returning to the US, she resided in the Greater Los Angeles, California, area for many years.
Rubinstein died in Los Angeles on January 27, 2010. She was 76 years old. Eric Stevens, Rubinstein's agent for four years, said the actress never recovered from a mild heart attack several months earlier, which he said had left her a patient at Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles. "She had several pre-existing conditions that she had been dealing with for years, and unfortunately they began to overtake her," Stevens said. Stevens also said that per Rubinstein's request, no funeral would be held.

## Filmography
### Films

List of film credits :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1979 | Americathon | Act | |
| 1981 | Under the Rainbow | Iris | |
| 1982 | Poltergeist | Tangina Barrons | Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1982 | Frances | Mental Patient | Credited as Zelda Rubenstein |
| 1983 | A Chip of Glass Ruby | Daughter | |
| 1984 | Sixteen Candles | Organist | |
| 1986 | Poltergeist II: The Other Side | Tangina Barrons | Nominated-Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress |
| 1987 | Anguish | Alice Pressman, the Mother | Alternative title: Angustia |
| 1988 | Poltergeist III | Tangina Barrons | Nominated-Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated-Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress |
| 1989 | Teen Witch | Madame Serena Alcott | |
| 1991 | Guilty as Charged | Edna | |
| 1994 | National Lampoon's Last Resort | Old Hermit | Alternative titles: Last Resort, National Lampoon's Scuba School |
| 1995 | Timemaster | Betting Clerk | |
| 1996 | Lover's Knot | Woman in Clinic | |
| 1996 | Little Witches | Mother Clodah | |
| 1997 | Mama Dolly | Mama Dolly | |
| 1997 | Critics and Other Freaks | Theatre Director | |
| 1998 | Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights | Princess Shalazar | |
| 1999 | Frank in Five | Waitress | |
| 2000 | Maria & Jose | Doctor | |
| 2002 | Wishcraft | Medical Examiner | |
| 2004 | The Wild Card | Mrs. Stanfield | Direct-to-DVD release |
| 2005 | Cages | Liz | |
| 2005 | Angels with Angles | Zelda the Angel | |
| 2006 | Unbeatable Harold | Bunny | |
| 2006 | Southland Tales | Dr. Katarina Kuntzler | |
| 2006 | Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon | Mrs. Collinwood | Cameo |
| 2014 | Strange Matters | Agnes Sampson | Posthumous release (final film role) |
List of television credits :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1980 | The Flintstone Comedy Show | Atrocia Frankenstone (Voice) | 1 episode |
| 1983 | Jennifer Slept Here | | 1 episode |
| 1983 | Matt Houston | Flower Girl | 1 episode |
| 1984 | Whiz Kids | Madame Zerleena | 1 episode |
| 1984 | Santa Barbara | Mental Patient | 1 episode |
| 1986 | ABC Weekend Special | Ralph's Mother | 1 episode |
| 1987 | The Tortellis | | 1 episode |
| 1987 | Faerie Tale Theatre | Old Woman | 1 episode |
| 1987 | Reading Rainbow | Herself (Voice) | 1 episode |
| 1987 | Sable | Sister Glory | 1 episode |
| 1990 | Santa Barbara | Gladys Bittleworth, ghost psychic | 5 episodes |
| 1990 | Mr. Belvedere | Murphy | 1 episode |
| 1991 | Darkwing Duck | Darkwing Duck's Mother / Negaduck's Mother | 1 episode |
| 1991 | The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw | Butterfingers O'Malley | Television movie |
| 1992 | Stormy Weathers | Rosamund | Television movie |
| 1992 | Goof Troop | Madame Zeldarina | 1 episode |
| 1992 | Tales from the Crypt | Nora | 1 episode |
| 1992–1994 | Picket Fences | Ginny Weedon | 44 episodes |
| 1993 | Acting on Impulse | Nosy Lady | Television movie |
| 1996 | Poltergeist: The Legacy | Christina | 1 episode |
| 1997 | Martin | Nurse Froyd | 1 episode |
| 1997 | Chock 2 - Kött | Mother | Television movie |
| 1998 | Caroline in the City | Phyllis | 1 episode |
| 1999 | Hey Arnold! | Patty's Mother (Voice) | 1 episode |
| 2000 | The Pretender | Pawn shop lady | 1 episode |
| 2000–2006 | Scariest Places on Earth | Narrator | 41 episodes |
| 2001 | The Flintstones: On the Rocks | Dr. Schwartzen Quartz (Voice) | Television movie |