Clerks' Lisa Spoonauer Dies at 44, Cast Writes Touching Tributes
Lisa Spoonauer, best known for playing the role of Caitlin Bree in the cult classic movie Clerks, has died at the age of 44.
Lisa was discovered by Kevin Smith when he was casting the movie in the early 1990s and she only made on other film before ending her acting career. She later reprised the role of Caitlin as a voiceover actress in the Clerks animated television series.
Kevin took to Instagram after hearing the news of Lisa‘s death to share the story of how she was cast in Clerks.
“In 1992, I went looking for Lisa without knowing either who she was or the integral role she’d play in my life,” he wrote. “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.’”
Brian O’Halloran, Marilyn Ghigliotti, and Scott Schiaffo have all written tributes to Lisa as well.