Valerie Mahaffey, the actress best known for her roles on Northern Exposure and Young Sheldon, has died.
A representative for the actress confirmed her death at the age of 71 to Entertainment Weekly on Saturday.
Mahaffey’s husband, actor and director Joseph Kell, mourned her death in a statement to EW. “I have lost the love of my life, and America has lost one of its most endearing actresses,” he said. “She will be missed.”
Mahaffey’s daughter, actress Alice Ziolkoski, said her mother had been battling cancer in a tribute to her on Instagram. “Don’t really have the words to say right now. Cancer sucks,” she wrote. “I’ll look for you in all the fun moments of life. I know that’s where you’ll be💕🪽. I know we’ll see each other again someday. I love you infinity much.”
The actress’ former manager, Scott Howard, also remembered Mahaffey in a statement to EW. “I always liked Valerie very much, and only have the nicest things to say about her and her family,” he wrote. “She was a lovely woman and wonderful actor, filled with empowerment, strength, and resilience.”
In a career that spanned six decades, Mahaffey landed a variety of supporting performances across television and film. She won an Emmy for her five-episode stint on the 1990s comedy-drama Northern Exposure playing wealthy hypochondriac Eve, and also portrayed Alma Hodge on nine episodes of Desperate Housewives. Her best-known recent project was Young Sheldon, on which she played Victoria MacElroy, Sheldon’s homeroom and English teacher.
Born in Indonesia in 1953 to a Canadian mother and an American father, Mahaffey earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Austin and made her debut on Broadway as Catherine Howard in the Richard Rodgers musical Rex in 1976. The following year, she made her screen debut in the TV movie Tell Me My Name.
The actress’ second credited screen role came on the NBC soap opera The Doctors. She portrayed Ashley Bennett for over 100 episodes between 1979 and 1981, and earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
In 1986, Mahaffey starred alongside Susan Sarandon and Kristy McNichol in the TV movie Women of Valor, and also appeared in every episode of the soap-spoof miniseries Fresno, which also starred Carol Burnett, Dabney Coleman, Teri Garr, and Charles Grodin. She spent the next several years making one-off appearances on shows like Newhart, Quantum Leap, and Cheers, and also played D.A. Barbara August in two 1989 Perry Mason TV movies.
Mahaffey also played Patrice, the ex-girlfriend of Jason Alexander‘s George Costanza in the 1991 Seinfeld episode “The Truth.” In it, Patrice demands that George explain why he broke up with her, and George admits that he’s put off by her pretentious pronunciation patterns.
The same year, Mahaffey joined Northern Exposure as Eve, the wife of master chef Adam (Adam Arkin). The role earned Mahaffey an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1992.
Mahaffey was also a cast member on the short-lived political sitcom The Powers That Be from 1992 to 1993. Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman before they created Friends, the show also starred John Forsythe, Holland Taylor, David Hyde Pierce, and a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
The actress scored recurring roles on other ’90s shows, including ER, The Client, and Wings. Around the same time, she played supporting roles in a handful of films, including the Tim Allen comedy Jungle 2 Jungle and the political comedy National Lampoon’s Senior Trip, which was also 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 numerous other shows. She also appeared in 2003’s Seabiscuit and had a recurring role on Showtime’s United States of Tara. However, her best-known role of the 2000s was on Desperate Housewives, on which she portrayed Alma Hodge, the first wife of Kyle MacLachlan‘s Orson Hodge, for eight episodes on the show’s third season before dying after falling out a window. She returned in season 8 in 2012 as a ghost.
In the 2010s, the actress acted in episodes of shows like Hannah Montana, Grey’s Anatomy, The Mindy Project, Workaholics, and Raising Hope. She had multi-episode runs on numerous other series, including Glee, Hart of Dixie, Devious Maids, and The Man in the High Castle. She also played Katie Holmes‘ mother in the Adam Sandler vehicle Jack and Jill and acted opposite Tom Hanks in Clint Eastwood‘s biopic Sully.
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Mahaffey’s final slate of projects included Dead to Me, on which she played Christina Applegate‘s character’s mother-in-law, and Big Sky, on which she played the mother of Brian Geraghty’s character. She also starred in the film French Exit, in which she portrayed the neighbor of Michelle Pfeiffer‘s character, and earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female.
Mahaffey is survived by her husband and her daughter.
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