January 27, 2015 marks the anniversary of the death of Zelda Rubinstein.  The pint-sized actress with the ten gallon screen presence, born in 1933, was 46 years old when she made her first appearance on screen in 1979’s Americathon, but it was her scene stealing turn in Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist five years later that made her a household name and a fan favorite in the horror genre for the rest of her life.

Outside of her work in films, she spent her life working for the rights of other little people and for their equal treatment in society and film, going so far as to start her very own acting company, The Michael Dunn Memorial Repertory Theater Company, with membership made up of actors ranging in height from 3’8″ to 4’6″.  She was also one of the first actors to actively work for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, appearing in a series of print ads for L.A. Cares as “Mother” giving advice to her sons about safe sex.  She would later go on the record that she felt her career suffered due to this vocal support.

On this anniversary of her death, we revisit and remember some of Zelda’s most stand out performances, and a life well lived on film.

Poltergeist

The poor Freeling family is having a bit of a problem.  Their house has been invaded by spirits and their daughter has been taken into a parallel dimension.  They can hear her, sometimes feel her, but they cannot get her back.  A team of parapsychologists come in to investigate and ask for permission to bring in a psychic medium to help them.  Tangina Barrons enters the home and for a while, the movie is all hers.  I was completely enthralled with Zelda as Tangina.  From her first statement to her pronouncement that “This house is clean, I was riveted. She went on to appear in the two sequels.  Take a look and see for yourself.

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Anguish

In 1987, Italian director, Bigas Luna, cast Zelda Rubinstein in his psychological horror masterpiece, Anguish.  Telling the tale of a mother who controls her son psychically and forces him to commit multiple murders, the film never got the attention I thought it deserved.  Admittedly, the plot was a little muddled in places due to the movie within a movie angle that was used to tell the story, but overall it was a truly frightening film and one I thoroughly enjoyed.

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Teen Witch

Okay, so this isn’t a horror film…it’s not even a really great film, but it’s one of Zelda’s most fun roles.  Playing a descendant of the witches of Salem named Serena, Zelda proved she had some comedy chops in the movie.  One of my favorite scenes involves using the amped up power of a fledgling witch to conjure a hunk of a man so Serena can have a hot date for the night.  Take a look below as Serena meets young Louise Miller, played by Robyn Lively, for the very first time.

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Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

This movie was a little Valentine to all the horror movie lovers out there.  Boasting an original story about the rise of a brand new killer who wants his name up there with Freddie Kreuger and Jason Voorhees, the film brought in a few horror icons for various roles to up their already high ante, and Zelda was among them.  Playing a small town librarian, she was only in the film for one scene, but it was a favorite of mine.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a video clip for this one, but if you haven’t seen it, you really should.  It’s a great scene and the movie is extremely well done.

 

Scariest Places on Earth

While she had a great career on film, she also made a name for herself doing voiceover work on television and film.  One of my favorites was “Scariest Places on Earth”.  The premise was simple.  Send a family into a reportedly haunted location; give them tasks and cameras to record themselves, and see if they lasted the night.  It was a lot of fun and Zelda’s narration was super creepy, giving history of the location as the episode progressed.  Check out the episode below!

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this little retrospective.  I often wish Miss Rubinstein was still with us, but her legacy will certainly live on.