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Valerie Mahaffey, the Emmy-award winning actor known for her roles on Northern Exposure, Desperate Housewives and Young Sheldon, died on Friday. She was 71.
Her husband, actor Joseph Kell, said in a statement to Variety: “I have lost the love of my life, and America has lost one of its most endearing actresses. She will be missed.”
Kell said she died on 30 May in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer.
Mahaffey had a career which spanned nearly 50 years and was known for playing eccentric characters, including the one for which she won a supporting actress Emmy in 1992: as hypochondriac Eve living in the fictional Alaska town featured in Northern Exposure, which aired from 1990 to 1995.
Mahaffey most recently received an Independent Spirit award nomination for her role as the optimistic Madame Reynard in Azazel Jacobs’ 2020 dark comedy French Exit.
Michelle Pfeiffer, who played opposite Mahaffey in French Exit, posted on social media: “One of our brightest stars was stolen from us yesterday. Such a remarkable talent and human.”
She co-starred in Big Sky, David E Kelley’s ensemble detective drama series which aired on ABC from 2020 to 2021. She also portrayed the grandiose Lorna Harding in the first two seasons of Dead to Me, the Netflix comedy starring Christina Applegate.
Mahaffey was born in Indonesia on 16 June 1953 and was raised there until she was 11 before graduating from high school in Texas and going on to study at the University of Texas. She began her acting career on the stage in New York City, appearing in six Broadway six plays including Dracula opposite Raul Julia and Play Memory directed by Harold Prince.
She also played Ashley Bennett on the soap opera The Doctors, for which she earned a Daytime Emmy nomination.
She collected two Obie awards for her theater work in Top Girls and in Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads.
Mahaffey’s versatility kept her constantly in demand for guest roles and she amassed dozens of series credits including Seinfeld, Wings, ER, Glee, Grey’s Anatomy and The Mindy Project. She played the manipulative Alma Hodge, ex-wife of Kyle MacLachlan’s Orson Hodge, on Desperate Housewives from 2006 to 2007 and recurred as the teacher Victoria MacElroy on Young Sheldon from 2017 to 2020.
Survivors include her husband and daughter, Alice.
Rob Morrow, Mahaffey’s Northern Exposure co-star, posted on social media that Mahaffey “was a breath of fresh air, joy and laughs” as Eve on the series. “We all adored her,” he said.
