Mary Ellen Trainor, a fixture of 1980s movies such as Lethal Weapon and Romancing The Stone, died last month at the age of 62.
Trainor, who was born in San Francisco, studied broadcast journalism at San Diego State, where she was a college roommate with future Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy. While studying, she was offered a spot as a radio personality for a local station and eventually went on to become station editor at KCBS.
She moved to Los Angeles in 1980 and started her career in film and television as a production assistant. She also met and married Robert Zemeckis, appearing in several of his films. Her first screen appearance, though, was a small role on an episode of Cheers. Film-wise, her big break was in Zemeckis’ Romancing The Stone where she played Kathleen Turner’s sister, Elaine. From there she would become a stalwart character performer in movies such as The Goonies, all of the Lethal Weapon films, Die Hard, Ricochet, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, Grand Canyon, Forrest Gump, Moonlight Mile and Freaky Friday. Her television career encompassed shows including Roswell, Tales From The Crypt, Remington Steele and Amazing Stories. While she and Zemeckis divorced in 2000, they had a son, Alex.
"Mare and I have been close since our days together as roommates, and she even provided the introduction to Steven Spielberg that jumpstarted my career," Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement. "She was a great actress, warm friend and generous spirit."