05 August,2026 09:25 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Mary Egida Rivera. Pic via X
Mary Egida Rivera, the actress seen in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home, has died at the age of 82. She is best known for her appearance in the Spider-Man franchise as Jacob Batalon's Ned's grandmother. The news of her passing has left fans and the entertainment industry mourning and in grief. Mary shared the screen with Jacob Batalon, Zendaya, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in No Way Home, for which she garnered global recognition and earned immense love for her performance.
Mary Egida Rivera, who played the grandmother of Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) in the 2021 film, reportedly died after suffering a stroke. According to an obituary surfacing online, Rivera "passed away peacefully on April 15, 2026, in Honolulu."
TMZ reported the news of Rivera's death on Monday, August 3. The family reportedly told the outlet that the actress was placed on life support after she suffered a stroke. The doctors allegedly did not have a positive prognosis for the 82-year-old if she ever returned from the coma. As a result, "the family made the difficult decision to remove her from life support."
Rivera's obituary states that "she was very proud" after she was cast in Spider-Man: No Way Home as Ned's Filipino grandmother. The family further told TMZ that she "lived a good life" adding that it was her family who encouraged her to audition for the role in the Sony Pictures film since she was able to speak in Tagalog.
Mary Egida Rivera's scene in the 2021 film drew laughter from the audience. She is seen with Andrew Garfield's character Peter Parker, Ned, and Zendaya's MJ making a brief appearance. Ned and MJ are in a tense standoff with Peter Parker after the latter has just emerged from the multiverse to help save Tom Holland.
Rivera then enters the room and breaks the suspense. She asks Garfield to climb across the ceiling and clean a cobweb from a hard-to-reach corner in Tagalog, which is translated by Ned.
Rivera was born on June 2, 1943, in Iloilo, Philippines. She was a retired missionary and is survived by her husband, Alejandro Rivera, four children, 11 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
