Valerie Mahaffey, the Emmy and Obie Award-winning actress known for playing eccentric characters on shows including Northern Exposure and Desperate Housewives, died on Friday. She was 71.
Her husband, actor Joseph Kell, said she died in Los Angeles following a battle with cancer, Variety reports.
Mahaffey won an Emmy in 1992 for her supporting actress role in the dramedy Northern Exposure, where she portrayed the hypochondriac Eve, the wife of Adam Arkin’s character, from 1991-1994.
Mahaffey’s recurring television roles include portraying the conniving Alma Hodge, the ex-wife of Orson Hodge (Kyle MacLachlan) on ABC’s Desperate Housewives (2006-2007); recurring teacher Victoria MacElroy on CBS’ Young Sheldon (2017-2020); and Lorna Harding, Jen Harding’s (Christina Applegate) self-absorbed mother-in-law in Dead to Me (2019-2022).
She recently appeared in Apple TV+ series Echo 3, and played Madame Reynard in the 2020 film French Exit, starring opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hodges, for which she received an Independent Spirit award nomination.
“RIP Valerie. One of our brightest stars was stolen from us yesterday,” Pfeiffer posted via her Instagram Stories on Saturday. “Such a remarkable talent and human. You will be missed.”
Born in Indonesia on June 16, 1953, Mahaffey launched her five-decade acting career onstage in New York City. She appeared on Broadway in six productions, including roles in Dracula, opposite Raul Julia in the late Seventies, and the Harold Prince-directed Play Memory in 1984.
Mahaffey won two Obie Awards for her off-Broadway turns in Top Girls at Public Theatre and for Talking Heads at the Minetta Lane. She also appeared opposite Morgan Freeman in Othello and starred as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet with Tom Hulce.
She played a variety of characters in scores of popular television series, including The Powers That Be, Seinfeld, Wings, ER, The Mindy Project, Glee, Hannah Montana, Cheers, Newhart, Ally McBeal, Law & Order: SVU, and CSI. Mahaffey’s film credits include Jungle 2 Jungle (1997), Seabiscuit (2003), Summer Eleven (2010), Sully (2016) and No Pay, Nudity (2016).
“I have lost the love of my life, and America has lost one of its most endearing actresses. She will be missed,” Mahaffey’s husband, actor Joseph Kell, said in a statement to Variety.
