Famous Comedy Actress Beloved By Millions Dead At 44 Years Old

Lisa Spoonauer, an actress who appeared in the 1994 cult classic “Clerks,” has passed away at the age of 44.

Spoonauer’s family announced the death in an obituary posted on the George S. Hassler Funeral Home website, according to Deadline. She passed away at her home in Rathway, New Jersey.

TMZ reports that police responded to a 911 call at her home at around 11:05 p.m. on May 20. When officers and EMTs arrived at the home, she was not breathing. Her family has not revealed the cause of her death.

“Clerks” was one of the only two films in which Spoonauer appeared. She also appeared in “Bartender” in 1997. 

According to her obituary, Spoonauer went on to become a restaurant manager and event planner

Spoonauer was best known for her appearance in “Clerks.” She starred in the film as Caitlin Bree. Director Kevin Smith discovered Spoonauer and asked her to be in his film.

Smith shared a post on his Instagram page, in which he detailed how he met and discovered Spoonauer and asked her to be in his film.

Smith wrote:

Devastated to report that #LisaSpoonauer, who played Caitlin in #clerks, has passed away. In 1992, I went looking for Lisa without knowing either who she was or the integral role she’d play in my life. I’d held a night of open auditions at the #firstavenueplayhouse (where we found @briancohalloran and @marilynghigliotti) but the perfect Caitlin Bree never walked through the door. So I popped into an acting class at Brookdale Community College and watched the students from the back. Lisa was easily the most natural and authentic voice in the room. She didn’t sound like she was acting at all; she delivered scripted dialogue as if she was inventing her conversation in the moment, like people do in real life. Captivated, I approached Lisa cold in the parking lot after the class and said “This is gonna sound creepy but… Do you wanna be in a movie?” Fearlessly, she replied “Not if it’s porn.” I told her a bit about Clerks and gave her a copy of the script and my phone number. She called me a few days later and said “Well it’s not porn, but everybody talks like it is. It’s funny. I’ll do it.” A complete stranger at first, Lisa quickly became one of the most important people I’d ever meet when she joined Brian, #JeffAnderson, Marilyn, @jaymewes, @samosier, @davidkleinasc and me as one of the chief architects of my first film. We rehearsed for a month straight in the store after hours, where Lisa perfected Caitlin (and fell in love with Jeff). The first night of the shoot, Lisa had to maneuver her way through a seven minute scene with Brian in the video store, when Caitlin finally shows up in the movie. Lisa and Brian CRUSHED it in one long take that still remains one of my favorite scenes I’ve ever shot – not because it shows off any directorial flare (it doesn’t) but because it exemplified how great the performers were since we never had to cut away from their 2-shot. But as strong an actress as she was, Lisa was an even more excellent Mother to her daughter Mia. Whenever we’d Facebook later in life, she’d gush about her baby girl proudly. My heart goes out to Tom, Mia and Lisa’s family. Thank you for dreaming my dream with me. You changed my life, Lisa.

Sources: TMZ, Deadline / Photo Credit: Miramax Films via People