R.I.P. Stephen Mendillo

They’re dropping like flies lately over on Eve’s Obits so that one can hardly keep up. The saddest news of the last few days has been the passing of Mark Volman of The Turtles, The Mothers of Invention and Flo and Eddie but that one deserves a thoughtful, unhurried remembrance. Like Eve, I’m a huge fan of The Turtles, and will give them a substantial tribute in due course. Meantime, there was another passing that deserves notice, and it has a mildly personal angle, so I thought I’d mention it.

It’s more than likely you have seen Stephen Mendillo (1940-2025) in one of his many screen performances. He was mostly a bit or supporting player, but I happened to learn his name because I saw him onstage a couple of times at the Portland Stage Company (Maine) circa 1987, just as I was experiencing the first professional production of one of my plays in their black box. With those broad shoulders and that mastiff-like face, Mendillo would have been perfectly cast as a Dick Tracy villain. It’s likely that the distinctive face was at least in part acquired on the hockey rink. His father, a Yale surgeon and professor was also the team doctor of the now-defunct New Haven Blades. Mendillo got to his display his prowess at the sport in one of his first films Slap Shot (1977) with Paul Newman.

John Sayles was a particular fan of Mendillo’s homely, lunch-pail visage, casting him in Lianna (1983), Eight Men Out (1988), City of Hope (1991), and Lone Star (1996). His other movies include Across 100th Street (1972), Rollercoaster (1977), King of the Gypsies (1978), Without a Trace (1983), Teachers (1984), Broadcast News (1987), Ethan Frome (1993), Cobb (1994), The First Wives Club (1996), G.I. Jane (1997), a TV version of Our Town (2003), and The Artist(2011). He appeared several times as a guest star on Law and Order, and was also on such shows as Star Trek: Enterprise (as a Klingon), Alias, Medium, and Cold Case.

Mendillo’s last screen credit (unfortunately) was in the awful and misguided excursion American Comedy (2023). His fans will prefer to recall him in loftier vehicles. Fare thee well, trouper!