Animal House Actress Mary Louise Weller Dies

Mary Louise Weller, known for Mandy Pepperidge in 1978's National Lampoon's Animal House, died after an illness in early October 2026. A family Facebook statement said she passed that morning after a brief illness and asked for privacy. Most outlets reported her age as 79; Deadline reported 80. Variety gave her birth as October 2, 1946, in New York City; Deadline and Holr place the death on October 1. Weller debuted in 1972's Hail!, with later credits including The Bell Jar, Forced Vengeance, Q, Kojak, CHiPs, and a final role on Quincy, M.E. in 1983. She trained with the U.S. Equestrian Team as a teenager and wrote the play Four Alone, staged in Pasadena. In 2012 she said she knew Animal House would be a huge hit and the script was simply brilliant, and recalled being warned it would define her career. Variety called the illness long and cited partner Michael Roy Curtis; the family and other reports called it brief. No further cause was given. Rated coverage shows left and center outlets only, with no right-rated stories in the record.