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Will Sampson is probably
best known for his role as Chief Bromden,
the Native American who feigns being mute
in the Oscar winning picture One
Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.
Horror fans are probably more familiar
with him as Umilak in Dino De
Laurentis Jaws meets Moby
Dick ala Pop Psychology flick -
Orca with
Richard Harris, Charlotte Rampling and Bo
Derek! However, most horror fans would
cite his top credit as Taylor the witch
doctor in Poltergeist II:
The Other Side. In that
role Will Sampson is often viewed as
third of the four victims of The
Poltergeist Curse.
The
Poltergeist Curse reads as
follows. It began in 1982 when Dominique
Dunne, who played eldest daughter Dana
Freeling in the first Poltergeist
film, died at age 22 on November
4th, 1982 at Cedars Sinai in
Los Angeles. A few weeks earlier
Dominique had broken off a relationship
with her live-in boyfriend, chef John
Sweeney. On October 30th
Sweeney came by the apartment they had
once shared to plea for a second chance.
Dunne met him outside. The discussion
went badly and ended with Sweeney choking
Dunne for 4-6 minutes and leaving her for
dead in the driveway. The young actress
lapsed into a coma and died days later.
Sweeney was convicted of voluntary
manslaughter and was sentenced to 6 1/2
years in prison but only served 3 years
and 8 months of his term.
The curse continued when
Julian Beck (The Cotton Club,
9 ½ Weeks) who played
Henry Kane in the second film, died at
age 60 after 18 months of battling
stomach cancer between the filming of the
second film and its release. His
passing was hardly surprising given the
circumstances but adds to the tragic air
of the Poltergeist casts.
6 7 Sampson was
next, followed on February 1st 1988 by the death of 12-year-old Heather
ORourke, who played Carol Ann
Theyre here Freeling.
The young actress died between the
filming of Poltergeist III
and the films release. A year
before her death ORourke had been
diagnosed with Crohns Disease, a
chronic inflammation of the small bowel.
A few days prior to her death Heather had
complained of the flu. Her condition
deteriorated. She went into cardiac
arrest on the way to the hospital as
bacterial toxins, the result of a bowel
obstruction, flooded her bloodstream. Her
heart was restarted and she was taken by
helicopter to another facility for a
corrective operation but it was too much
for her already poisoned system and she
died on the operating table.
Will Sampson was a Muscogee
Creek Indian, born on the reservation in
Okmulgee Oklahoma on September 27th,
1933. He took great pride in his heritage
and in an era when very few Native
American actors were cast in Native
American roles, Sampson became a
spokesperson for his people - insisting
that Indians be portrayed as full and
complex characters and refused to engage
in Hollywoods favorite stereotypes
as either the savage or the noble victim.
Writers even sought his counsel and
expertise in working for authenticity and
cultural accuracy when creating
characters or historical scenarios. To
further the pride of Native Americans,
Sampson spoke at schools and prisons
about the plight of the contemporary
American Indian. Realizing the high
percentages of substance abuse among his
people Sampson gave a much of his movie
earnings to Red Wind, a program that
offers assistance to Native Americans
with substance abuse problems. He always
considered his acting as third of his
priorities ranking behind
furthering the cause of Native Americans
and his painting. His artwork currently
hangs in The Smithsonian, The Library of
Congress, and in museums all around the
country.
His film and television
roles were plentiful. He was John
Strongheart on the series The
Yellow Rose, Ten Bears in
the Clint Eastwood movie The
Outlaw Josie Wales, Uncle
George in Donna Mills TV-Movie The
Hunted Lady, Harlon Two
Leaf in the series Vega$,
Sgt. Cheney in the mini-series and TV
series From Here to
Eternity, William Halsey
in Robert Altmans Buffalo
Bill and the Indians, and
Crazy Horse in the Charles Bronson flick
The White Buffalo.
Other credits include Insignificance,
Crazy Mama
(with Cloris Leachman!), Relentless,
Standing Tall,
The Mystic Warrior,
Firewalker,
etc.
On the set
of Poltergeist II
Sampson (much like his medicine man
Taylor character in the film) would
frequently say that the set was haunted
and would periodically bless the area.
Many say his unsettling feelings were
accurate. Approximately one year after
the release of the second in the film
series, on June 3rd 1987 the
53-year-old Sampson died of complications
after a heart-lung transplant six weeks
earlier. The specific cause of
death was listed as severe pre-operative
malnutrition and post-operative kidney
failure and fungal infection. It has been
reported that Sampson knew his chances
for survival were compromised given his
weakened condition prior to the surgery.
The great man was laid to rest in the
Creek Indian Cemetery in the heart of the
Muscogee Nation. |