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
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.
-
West Africa’s ‘coup cascade’The Explainer Guinea-Bissau takeover is the latest in the Sahel region, which has quietly become global epicentre of terrorism
-
Daddy Pig: an unlikely flashpoint in the gender warsTalking Point David Gandy calls out Peppa Pig’s dad as an example of how TV portrays men as ‘useless’ fools
-
Codeword: December 3, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
