Valerie Mahaffey, an actress best known for her roles in Northern Exposure and Young Sheldon, has died.
On Saturday, a spokesperson for the actress confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that she had died at the age of 71.
In a statement to EW, Mahaffey’s husband, actor and director Joseph Kell, expressed grief at her death. “I have lost the love of my life, and America has lost one of its most endearing actresses,” he joked. “She will be missed.”
In an Instagram tribute, Mahaffey’s daughter, actress Alice Ziolkoski, revealed that her mother was battling cancer. “I don’t really have much to say right now. She wrote, “Cancer sucks.” “I will look for you in all of life’s pleasant moments. I know where you will be 💕🪽. I know we’ll meet again eventually. “I love you infinitely much.”
Scott Howard, the actress’s former manager, also paid tribute to Mahaffey in an EW statement. “I always liked Valerie very much, and only have the nicest things to say about her and her family,” he had written. “She was a lovely woman and wonderful actor, filled with empowerment, strength, and resilience.”
Mahaffey’s career lasted six decades and included a range of supporting roles in television and movies. She received an Emmy for her five-episode appearance on the 1990s comedy-drama Northern Exposure as rich hypochondriac Eve, and she later played Alma Hodge on nine episodes of Desperate Housewives. Her most notable recent project was Young Sheldon, in which she played Victoria MacElroy, Sheldon’s homeroom and English teacher.
Mahaffey was born in Indonesia in 1953 to a Canadian mother and an American father. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Austin and had her Broadway debut as Catherine Howard in Richard Rodgers’ musical Rex in 1976. The next year, she made her television debut in the film Tell Me My Name.
The actress’ second acknowledged screen role was in the NBC soap opera The Doctors. Between 1979 and 1981, she played Ashley Bennett in almost 100 episodes and was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the Daytime Emmy Awards.
Mahaffey participated in every episode of the soap-spoof miniseries Fresno, which also starred Carol Burnett, Dabney Coleman, Teri Garr, and Charles Grodin, and co-starred with Susan Sarandon and Kristy McNichol in the 1986 television film Women if Valor. She spent the next few years making guest appearances on shows such as Newhart, Quantum Leap, and Cheers, as well as playing D.A. Barbara August in two 1989 Perry Mason TV movies.
Mahaffey also appeared as Patrice, Jason Alexander’s George Costanza’s ex-girlfriend, in the 1991 Seinfeld episode “The Truth.” In it, Patrice insists that George explain why he ended his relationship with her, and George acknowledges that her pretentious pronunciation patterns turn him off.
The same year, Mahaffey appeared on Northern Exposure as Eve, the wife of master chef Adam (Adam Arkin). In 1992, Mahaffey won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
Mahaffey also appeared in the short-lived political sitcom The Powers That Be, which aired from 1992 to 1993. The program, produced by David Crane and Marta Kauffman before to their creation of Friends, starred John Forsythe, Holland Taylor, David Hyde Pierce, and a teenage Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
The actress has recurrent appearances on other ’90s dramas like ER, The Client, and Wings. Around the same period, she appeared in a few films as a supporting character, including the Tim Allen comedy Jungle 2 Jungle and the political comedy National Lampoon’s Senior Trip, which also marked Jeremy Renner’s movie debut.
In the 2000s, Mahaffey appeared in episodes of The West Wing, Frasier, CSI, Private Practice, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and a variety of other shows. She also appeared in the 2003 film Seabiscuit and had a recurring part in Showtime’s United States of Tara. Her most well-known role of the 2000s was on Desperate Housewives, where she played Alma Hodge, the first wife of Kyle MacLachlan’s Orson Hodge, for eight episodes in the show’s third season before dying after falling out a window. She reappeared in season 8 in 2012 as a ghost.
During the 2010s, the actress appeared in episodes of Hannah Montana, Grey’s Anatomy, The Mindy Project, Workaholics, and Raising Hope. She appeared in several other television shows, including Glee, Hart of Dixie, Devious Maids, and The Man in the High Castle, for multiple episodes. She also played Katie Holmes’ mother in Adam Sandler’s film Jack and Jill and starred alongside Tom Hanks in Clint Eastwood’s movie Sully.
Mahaffey’s final film credits included Dead to Me, in which she played Christina Applegate’s mother-in-law, and Big Sky, in which she played Brian Geraghty’s mother. She also starred in the film French Exit, where she played Michelle Pfeiffer’s neighbor, and received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female.
Mahaffey is survived by both her husband and daughter.
