A one-time Ford model and spokesperson for Jean Naté perfume, Mary Louise Weller was cast in several small roles in films like Hail!, The Evil and Serpico. She was given the script for a raucous, frat party comedy called Animal House in 1978. Her friend Brandon Stoddard, who was head of ABC at that time, correctly predicted the film would be wildly successful and warned the actress “it would be the movie [she] would always be known for.” He was right. Mary embodied the role of stuck-up sorority girl “Mandy Pepperidge,” the secret crush of deviant Delta brother “John Blutarsky,” as played by John Belushi. The film’s epilogue revealed that Mandy would go on to marry Blutarsky who would become a US Senator.
I remember when I saw Animal House, as well as on subsequent viewings, I marveled at the success all of the young cast members had achieved as their respective careers progressed. Actors like Tim Matheson, Peter Riegert, Karen Allen, Kevin Bacon, Mark Metcalf, Martha Smith, James Widdoes, Bruce McGill – everyone but that girl who played “Mandy Pepperidge.” How wrong I was!
Mary Louise Weller was in a ton of projects — films, plays, television roles. She was cast in numerous guest spots on popular episodic television like Fantasy Island, BJ and the Bear, Baretta, Kojak, CHiPs, Starsky & Hutch and many others. On the big screen, Mary costarred in The Bell Jar, Blood Tide (with my internet pal Lydia Cornell) and one of my favorite, very underrated horror films, Larry Cohen’s Q – The Winged Serpent. She wrote a play that was performed at the Greenhouse Theater in Pasadena, California, under a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She trained with the US Equestrian Team and beloved actor-comedian Danny Kaye, a family friend, was her godfather.
Mary eventually left show business in the late 80s. She passed away after a brief illness just one day before her 80th birthday.