Mary Ellen Trainor was married to Robert Zemeckis from 1980 to 2000. Some people might say the character actress was the Sherri Moon Zombie or Rebecca Pidgeon of her time as she seemed to always appear in movies he made, even though she did have roles in other movies and on TV.
She played Kathleen Turner’s sister in Romancing the Stone but seemed to disappear into the background. But when she played Mrs. Walsh in The Goonies, she got some big attention. Later, she would play Dr. Stephanie Woods, the LAPD psychiatrist in the Lethal Weapon movies becoming the Ralph to Mel Gibson’s Sam. She’d also play Los Angeles news anchor Gail Wallens in the first Die Hard movie in 1988. She would reprise the role in the 1991 Denzel Washington action thriller Ricochet, leading to a fan theory that Die Hard, Ricochet, the Predator movies and Commando, as well as others exist in the same universe.
Trainor was good friends with Kathleen Kennedy and was the person who introduced her to Steven Spielberg as they would have a business partnership for decades as Spielberg helped produced Zemeckis’ earlier movies. She divorced Zemeckis in 2000 and pretty much retired from acting in 2007.
On May 12, 2015, she passed away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 62. She never really had the spotlight from the bigger names of the movies she was in. However, in 1989, she had the lead role on the second episode of the horror anthology Tales From the Crypt. The show which ran from 1989 to 1996 brought in the biggest stars and directors of the time.
It seemed crazy to see A-listers like Demi Moore being stabbed to death by a deformed Jeffrey Tambor or Joe Pesci cut in half by a chainsaw or even Whoopi Goldberg decapitate James Remar’s head with a machete. But it seemed Tales was a no-holds barred TV show that didn’t play by the rules. People angry a young Tom Hanks didn’t get a gruesome death scene in He Knows You’re Alone saw Treat Williams throw his character head first into a TV set, killing him. Hanks directed that episode.
And other actors like Michael J. Fox and Arnold Schwarzenegger took a stab at directing. And even movie legends like Kirk Douglas and Malcom McDowell starred in episodes that ranged from the supernatural to body horror to the psychological. Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock and Daniel Craig are just a few of the young actors who appeared in a half-hour episode.
But Trainor’s role in “And All Through the House” was a far better adaptation of the story that appeared in the EC Comics’ The Vault of Horror. It had previously been adapted in the 1972 movie Tales from the Crypt which featured Joan Collins as a British housewife who murders her husband on Christmas Eve.
Here, Trainor is an American named Elizabeth Kamen, who murders her husband, Joseph Kamen (Marshall Bell), on Christmas Eve to get his insurance payout and money. She tries to drag him outside to drop him in the well after her daughter, Carrie-Ann (Lindsey Whitney Barry), goes to bed. However, she doesn’t hear of a news report on the radio that there is a psychotic killer (Larry Drake) on the loose dressed in a Santa costume.
Elizabeth’s plan doesn’t work as Joseph comes to before she can push him. But he succumbs to his wounds and dies on the ground. But Elizabeth is attacked by the killer but she fights back and manages to get inside to lock the doors grabbing the axe near the well to go in. But when she gets a call by the sheriff’s department, she learns a deputy will be her way in 20 minutes to check on her as the law officer informs her of the maniac on the loose.
Now Elizabeth thinks she can blame Joseph’s death on the killer. Yet that’s easier said than done as Carrie-Ann is also excited about Christmas to sleep.
The episode released during the summer of 1989 was directed by Zemeckis, who along with filmmakers/producers Richard Donner, David Giler, Walter Hill and Joel Silver were executive producers of the series. You can actually see a promo for the episode during a scene in Lethal Weapon 2, which Donner directed, when the TV set is on in the background.
The teleplay was written by Fred Dekker, who had cast Trainor in his movie The Monster Squad, which he co-wrote with Shane Black, who is credited as a writer on the first two Lethal Weapon movies. Dean Cundey, who famously worked with John Carpenter on the 1978 Halloween movie as well as some of her other movies is the director of photography. He has also worked with Zemeckis and Spielberg with their other movies. The musical score is by Alan Silvestri.
It’s quite a who’s who for a black comedy horror episode about half an hour long. But it’s really Trainor’s show. Drake, who would go on to win an Emmy that same year for his work on L.A. Law gives us hints of his evil roles in Darkman and Dr. Giggles. Yet, Trainor has a helluva time with the role as a cold-blooded woman who gets a taste of her own medicine.
Not to give too much away but her scream at the end of the episode is one of the best in horror. May she rest in peace.
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Zane Says 