Michelle Trachtenberg, the actress who rose to fame as a precocious child star in “Harriet the Spy” and went on to have memorable roles on TV shows including “Gossip Girl,” has died, according to the New York City police.

Lively remembered Trachtenberg as someone who "laughed the fullest at someone's joke" and "faced authority head on when she felt something was wrong."

Michelle Trachtenberg made it look easy. A preternaturally gifted child performer, Trachtenberg starred in the 1996 film adaptation of Fitzhugh’s book. And her Harriet, like so many other characters she would go on to play,