Not everybody in the film industry will be familiar with Zelda Rubinstein, but for those who are, she was a cult figure, a charismatic actress and a formidable human rights campaigner. Best known for playing the medium Tangina in the Poltergeist films, she played similar in films such as Little Witches and Teen Witch. She is fondly remembered for her role in Sixteen Candles and she recently made an impression with a striking cameo in Southland Tales.
Rubinstein always had her work cut out for her as an actress because she was four feet three inches tall, so she had to work hard to demonstrate that she could take on ordinary roles and shouldn't be cast only in parts where her height was making a point. She campaigned for the rights of other little people, whom, she argued, are societally disabled. In the early Eighties she also became a key public figure in AIDS activism and the promotion of AIDS awareness, long before it was fashionable to do so, and she acknowledged that it damaged her career - but having previously worked as a medical lab technician, she was honouring an older commitment. She also stated "Because I was born mouth first, it's natural for me to be a spokesperson."
Rubinstein's commitment to acting was to last for the rest of her life. She kept working right up until 2006, when ill health finally overcame her. She died at L.A.'s Barlow Respiratory Hospital yesterday.
