Cinemorgue Wiki
Merylstreep

Meryl Streep in Ironweed

Meryl Streep (1949 - )

Film Deaths[]

  • Sophie's Choice (1982) [Sophie Zawistowska]: Either poisons herself or is poisoned by Kevin Kline (off-screen). (It's ambiguous whether it was a suicide pact or a murder-suicide.) Their bodies are shown afterwards when a policeman leads Peter MacNicol into their bedroom.
  • Silkwood (1983) [Karen Silkwood]: Killed (off-screen) in a car crash; we see her driving until the screen goes white from another car's headlights, then her body is shown in the wreckage afterwards. (It's ambiguous whether the crash was an actual accident or whether the other car ran her off the road.)
  • Ironweed (1987) [Helen Archer]: Dies (off-screen) of unspecified natural causes (most likely either cirrhosis or cancer) in a hotel room. Her body is shown afterwards when Jack Nicholson enters and discovers her lying on the floor.
  • Defending Your Life (1991) [Julia]: Accidentally drowned (off-screen) when she falls into a swimming pool and hits her head on the bottom. (The movie is set in the afterlife; her actual death is never shown, but we learn what happened when she tells Albert Brooks how she died.)
  • Death Becomes Her (1992) [Madeline Ashton]: Strangled with a scarf by an assassin in a film-within-the-film sequence that Goldie Hawn watches repeatedly on TV. Meryl is also poisoned in a fantasy sequence when Goldie explains her murder plan to Bruce Willis, and later breaks her neck when she falls down a flight of stairs during a fight with Bruce (but since she previously drank an immortality potion, she survives this "fatal" injury).
  • The House of the Spirits (1993) [Clara del Valle Trueba]: Dies of old age/natural causes, with her granddaughter at her bedside. (She's made up to look older than she actually was at the time.)
  • The Bridges of Madison County (1995) [Francesca Johnson]: Dies (off-screen) of unspecified natural causes, shortly before the story begins; the movie opens with her children (Annie Corley and Victor Slezak) finding her diary, and the rest of the movie proceeds in flashback.
  • One True Thing (1998) [Kate Gulden]: Commits suicide (off-screen) by taking an overdose of morphine while suffering from cancer. Her body is shown afterwards when William Hurt discovers her in the kitchen.
  • Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) [Aunt Josephine]: Devoured by leeches (off-screen) after Jim Carrey abandons her in a sinking boat; we see Jim pushing Meryl away, then the scene cuts to Jude Law writing the story, followed by a shot of a banana peel rising to the surface of the water after Meryl disappears. Her death is actually shown on-camera with the boat sinking into the leech-infested water in a deleted scene.
  • The Manchurian Candidate (2004) [Eleanor Shaw]: Shot in her chest by Denzel Washington where the bullet goes through her son (Liev Schreiber) while she's dancing with him . (See also Angela Lansbury in the 1962 version.)
  • Julie & Julia (2009) [Julia Child]: Dies (off-screen) of renal failure; her death is mentioned in the on-screen text at the end of the movie.
  • Into the Woods (2014) [The Witch]: Throws away beans her mother cursed her with, causing said curse to either destroy Meryl or turn her into a puddle of tar. Either way, implied.
  • Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) [Florence Foster Jenkins]: Dies of syphillis when her condition worsens after reading a negative review; she passes away, with her husband (Hugh Grant) at her bedside, while imagining herself singing (how she thinks she sounds) at Carnegie Hall in angelic costume, as Simon Helberg looks on.
  • Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) [Donna Sheridan]: Died (off-screen) a year before the sequel's story begins. Meryl appears as a ghost near the end of the film.
  • Little Women (2019) [Aunt March]: Dies (off-screen) of old age/natural causes; her death is revealed when we learn that her niece (Saoirse Ronan) has inherited Meryl's house.
  • Let Them All Talk (2020) [Alice]: Dies from a blood clot related illness; her death is depicted as a surreal hallucination during her sleep and the confirmation of her death is revealed when John Douglas Thompson tells Lucas Hedges when Lucas enters her room to wake her up the next morning.
  • Don't Look Up (2021) [President Janie Orlean]: After arriving at a distant planet following a 22,000-year cryogenic sleep, she is mauled and disemboweled by one of the planet's native birds, dubbed a "Bronteroc" by Mark Rylance, while her colleagues watch in shock. (played for comedic effect.)

Television Deaths[]

  • King of the Hill: Blood and Sauce (2007, animated) [Aunt Esme Dauterive]: Dies (off-screen) after having a fever sometime before the episode takes place. Meryl does not appear in this episode, having played her in the episode A Beer Can Named Desire. Her death is revealed during a conversation between Bill (voiced by Stephen Root) and Gilbert (voiced by David Herman).
  • Extrapolations : 2046 : Whale Fall (2023) [Eve Shearer] : Dies (off-screen), of liver cancer years before the first episode. Her death is mentioned by Sienna Miller plenty of times. We see Streep's character during flashbacks or in videos she, and Miller, recorded before her death for Miller's son.

Gallery[]

Notable Relations[]

  • Sister of Harry Streep (dancer/choreographer)
  • Wife of Don Gummer (sculptor)
  • Mother of Henry Gummer, Mamie Gummer,Grace Gummer, and Louisa Jacobson-Gummer