Late Monday, Lucasfilms President Kathleen Kennedy said that Mary Ellen Trainor, a longtime character actress and staple of '80s movies, had died from pancreatic cancer at her Montecito, California, home. She was 62. Trainor was best known for her roles in the four Lethal Weapon movies (police psychiatrist Dr. Stephanie Woods) and as the mother of Goonies characters Mikey and Brand. But Trainor played small parts in a great number of '80s hits, starting with Romancing the Stone and including Die Hard, Ghostbusters II, Back to the Future Part II, and Scrooged.
Trainor died on May 20, Kennedy said, calling her longtime friend and former college roommate "a great actress, warm friend, and generous spirit." She is survived by one son, Alex, with former husband Robert Zemeckis, the director. You can watch Trainor discuss her famous rolls in Britain's RNC TV in May 2013. Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Book reviews: 'Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves' and 'Notes to John'Feature The aughts' toxic pop culture and Joan Didion's most private pages
-
The FDA plans to embrace AI agencywideIn the Spotlight Rumors are swirling about a bespoke AI chatbot being developed for the FDA by OpenAI
-
Digital consent: Law targets deepfake and revenge pornFeature The Senate has passed a new bill that will make it a crime to share explicit AI-generated images of minors and adults without consent
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
-
Giant schnauzer wins top prize at Westminster showSpeed Read Monty won best in show at the 149th Westminster Kennel Club dog show
-
Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar take top GrammysSpeed Read Beyoncé took home album of the year for 'Cowboy Carter' and Kendrick Lamar's diss track 'Not Like Us' won five awards
-
The Louvre is giving 'Mona Lisa' her own roomSpeed Read The world's most-visited art museum is getting a major renovation
-
Honda and Nissan in merger talksSpeed Read The companies are currently Japan's second and third-biggest automakers, respectively
-
Taylor Swift wraps up record-shattering Eras tourSpeed Read The pop star finally ended her long-running tour in Vancouver, Canada
-
Drake claims illegal boosting, defamationSpeed Read The rapper accused Universal Music of boosting Kendrick Lamar's diss track and said UMG allowed him to be falsely accused of pedophilia
