Michelle Trachtenberg, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ and ‘Harriet the Spy’ star, dies at 39

Trachtenberg rose to fame at just 10, as the plucky titular snoop in the 1996 film ‘Harriet the Spy’

Michelle Trachtenberg, a former child star who appeared in the 1996 “Harriet the Spy” hit movie and went on to co-star in two buzzy TV shows at the dawn of the millennium — “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Gossip Girl” — has died. She was 39.

Police responded to a 911 call shortly after 8 a.m. at luxury residential tower in midtown where “officers observed a 39-year-old female unconscious and unresponsive,” according to an NYPD statement.

Michelle Trachtenberg
FILE: Rosie O’Donnell, with Michelle Trachtenberg, plays a nanny in Harriett The Spy.Scanned from promo slide.

Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. No foul play was suspected and the New York Medical Examiner is investigating the cause of death, police said.

Representatives for Trachtenberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Michelle Trachtenberg
FILE: Actor Michelle Trachtenberg is front and centre as her movie crew films on the corner of Granville and Sackville Streets in downtown Halifax on APRIL 18, 2005.Photo by Scott Dunlop /Herald

Trachtenberg rose to fame at just 10, as the plucky titular snoop in the 1996 film “Harriet the Spy.”

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