Strange Things You Learn at IMDB

So, I decided to poke around a bit on IMDB.com tonight, mostly because we were talking about "The Neverending Story", so I decided to do a sort of Where Are They Now? of my own. I followed some random links, and learned some interesting (and in some cases disturbing) thing:

Barrett Oliver, the little kid who played Bastian in "Neverending Story" and Daryl in the cyborg-child movie "D.A.R.Y.L." immediately disappeared from the movie business (despite his rising stardom) because making "D.A.R.Y.L." left him with the realization that child stars are seen and used as a way to make cheap millions by the film industry. He's now a teacher and has long hair and a beard.

Jonathan Brandis, best known for his roles in "It" and "Seaquest DSV" (and also auditioned for the role of Anakin Skywalker in "Attack of the Clones" in 2002), committed suicide in 2003 by hanging himself.

Noah Hathaway, who played Atreyu in "Neverending Story", now lives in Miami and owns "5150 Choppers", a motorcycle shop.

Dabney Coleman was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) but took part in a clinical trial which remedied his sight from 20-400 to 20-40 in just a week.

Natalie Wood was the star of "Rebel Without a Cause" and "West Side Story". Her body was found floating facedown off Catalina Island in 1981.

Some facts about Jeff Cohen, who played Chunk in "The Goonies":
1. He is currently an Entertainment Lawyer in Los Angeles.
2. He was the President of the Associated Students of UC Berkeley and used to do the Truffle Shuffle on the sidelines during football games.
3. To generate tears during his "confession" scene with the Fratellis, he thought of his mother dying.

Interesting Tim Curry facts:
1. Was Tim Burton's second choice for the role of the Joker in "Batman" (1989).
2. He turned down the role of Mitzi in "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" (1994)

And finally, the truth behind the death of Heather O'Rourke, who played Carol Anne in Poltergeist:

*****In January 1987, Heather began to have flu-like symptoms and her legs and feet swelled. She was taken to Kaiser Hospital, and they confirmed it was only the flu, but when symptoms continued, they diagnosed her as having Crohn's Disease, a chronic inflammation of the intestine. She was on medication throughout the filming of her next project, Poltergeist III (1988), and her cheeks were puffy in some scenes. She never complained during filming and did not appear sick to fellow cast members. When filming temporarily stopped in June, Heather and her family went on a road trip from Chicago, to New Orleans, to Orlando and all the way back to Lakeside where they lived at the time. Heather was well until January 31, 1988, Super Bowl Sunday. She was unable to keep anything in her stomach and crawled into bed with her parents that night, saying that she didn't feel well. The next morning, February 1, sitting at the breakfast table, she couldn't swallow her toast or Gatorade. Her mother noticed her fingers were blue and her hands were cold. Kathleen called the doctor's and was getting ready to put her clothes on when Heather fainted on the kitchen floor. When the paramedics came in, Heather insisted that she was "really okay" and was worried about missing school that day. In the ambulance, Heather suffered cardiac arrest and died on the operating table at 2:43 p.m. at the tender age of 12. Cause was listed as cardiopulmonary arrest and intestinal stenosis.