Spider-Man actress dead at 82 following major stroke

Spider-Man: No Way Home actress Mary Rivera has passed away aged 82, following a major stroke. The star’s family shared with TMZ that she had entered into a coma after her stroke, but her condition never improved, forcing them into a heartbreaking decision.

“The relative says doctors told them even if Mary emerged from the coma, her prognosis would not be good, so the family made the difficult decision to remove her from life support,” the outlet wrote. Mary died on April 15 in Honolulu and was later cremated. 

She was known for her role as Ned Leeds’ Lola (grandmother) in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and starred alongside Tom Holland, Zendaya and Jacob Batalon in the film. A relative told TMZ that “Mary lived a good life and was extremely proud of appearing in the 2021 Marvel blockbuster,” adding that “her family encouraged her to audition for the role, which ultimately became one of her proudest accomplishments.”

© Sony Pictures

In the memorable scene, Mary speaks only in Tagalog (native to her homeland, the Philippines), while Ned translates for her, asking Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man to clean up the cobwebs in her home.

“It was a rare privilege for me, a simple Filipina, to be featured in a Hollywood movie,” Mary later told KHON2. “I wanted to bring some pride to my homeland of the Philippines because I thought, wow, this is Disney. This is Marvel. So, yes, I will audition for it.”

Her daughter, Angie Kelly, opened up about Mary’s audition process in an interview with Hawai’i Public Radio, sharing that she encouraged her mother to go after the role.

© Sony Pictures

“I happened to be on a friend’s Facebook scrolling, and I see an ad, a casting call looking for a local Hawai’i Filipina grandmother between the age of 50 and 90. And immediately I thought, ‘Oh, well, my mom qualifies and checks off all those boxes,'” she recalled.

“They just asked her to talk about herself and why she wanted to do the role. So she just gave a brief history of her time in the Philippines and what brought her to the United States, and raising her four children and 11 grandchildren – and basically that that is her biggest accomplishment of everything that she’s done.”

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Angie added: “My mom has worn many hats over the years. She was a radio broadcaster, a teacher, but most notable was her role as a mother and grandmother.”

© Jerry Treñas/Facebook

She then shared how meaningful Mary’s role in the film had been in representing their Filipino culture. “It’s been an amazing adventure. To us, she’s just my mom. But to the rest of the world, she’s Ned’s Lola,” Angie said.

“It’s humbling really, because never before in cinematic history really has there been a place for the Filipino language and culture. They did a really good job with paying attention to the details of our culture.” Mary is survived by her husband, Alejandro, her four children, her 11 grandchildren and her four great-grandchildren.