Zelda Rubinstein


Zelda May Rubinstein 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 , 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.

Early life

Rubinstein was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on May 28, 1933 to Jewish immigrant parents from Poland, Dolores and George Rubinstein. She was the youngest of three children and the only short-statured 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, I became very verbally facile... I learned to meet everyone head-on."
She stood just tall 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, "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. She moved to Berkeley, California, at the age of 25, studied at the University of California, Berkeley, and worked as a medical lab technician at blood banks.

Acting career

In 1978, Zelda 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 U.S. on ABC Family and in Canada on YTV.
Rubinstein's other minor/major 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 starring role as Ginny Weedon in the TV series Picket Fences. Her character there was killed off in typical off-beat 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. In 1993, she made a cameo appearance in the campy thriller Acting on Impulse, which reunited her with Poltergeist III co-star Nancy Allen.
She also starred in two different roles on the same show in 1984 and in 1990: Santa Barbara.
Beginning in 1999, she did voiceovers in television starting with the Fox Family reality TV show Scariest Places on Earth, 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 . 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 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.

Death

Rubinstein died in Los Angeles, California, on January 27, 2010. She was 76. Eric Stevens, Rubinstein's agent for four years, said the actress had never recovered from a mild heart attack she suffered several months earlier, which he said 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

YearTitleRoleNotes
1980The Flintstone Comedy ShowAtrocia Frankenstone 1 episode
1983Jennifer Slept Here1 episode
1983Matt HoustonFlower Girl1 episode
1984Whiz KidsMadame Zerleena1 episode
1984Santa BarbaraMental Patient1 episode
1986ABC Weekend SpecialRalph's Mother1 episode
1987'1 episode
1987Faerie Tale TheatreOld Woman1 episode
1987Reading RainbowHerself 1 episode
1987SableSister Glory1 episode
1990Santa BarbaraGladys Bittleworth, ghost psychic5 episodes
1990Mr. BelvedereMurphy1 episode
1991Darkwing DuckVoice1 episode
1991'Butterfingers O'MalleyTelevision movie
1992Stormy WeathersRosamundTelevision movie
1992Tales from the CryptNora1 episode
1992–1994Picket FencesGinny Weedon44 episodes
1993Acting on ImpulseNosy LadyTelevision movie
1996'Christina1 episode
1997MartinNurse Froyd1 episode
1997Chock 2 - KöttMotherTelevision movie
1998Caroline in the CityPhyllis1 episode
1999Hey Arnold!Patty's Mother 1 episode
2000'Pawn shop lady1 episode
2000–2006Scariest Places on EarthNarrator41 episodes
2001Dr. Schwartzen Quartz Television movie