Mary Ellen Trainor, known for her many roles in Hollywood films such as Romancing the Stone and all four Lethal Weapon movies, has passed away. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, a close friend to Trainor, confirmed she passed away May 20 in her home in Montecito, California from an apparent battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 62.
Trainor graduated from the San Diego State University where she majored in broadcast journalism. It wasn’t long before she started a career in journalism working at stations KSDO and KCBS.
As a character actress, Trainor was the kind of performer who was instantly recognizable from her many roles in classic films such as Die Hard and Scrooged. She also had a tendency to pop up in small, uncredited roles in such films as Forrest Gump and Back to the Future 2. But, probably her most memorable role was one of her first, that of Mrs. Walsh in the childhood classic The Goonies.
Trainor was well known as a philanthropist, supporting a number of causes from education to cancer research.
Trainer is survived by her son Alex, mother Jane, and siblings Ned, Barbara, Jack, and Carolyn.
