Actress Valerie Mahaffey dies at 71

quote:

---

Valerie Mahaffey, the Emmy-winning actress known for her work on such shows as Northern Exposure, Desperate Housewives, Young Sheldon and Dead to Me, has died after a battle with cancer. She was 71.

Mahaffey's death was announced Friday night by publicist Jillian Roscoe.

Known for playing eccentric characters, Mahaffey received a Spirit Award nomination for her turn as widowed American expat Madame Reynard in French Exit (2020) opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges as mother and son.

From 1991-94, she appeared on five episodes of CBS' Northern Exposure over three seasons and received a supporting actress Emmy in 1992 for portraying the hypochondriac Eve, wife of Adam Arkin's character.

She played the manipulative Alma Hodge, ex-wife of Kyle MacLachlan's Orson Hodge, on ABC's Desperate Housewives from 2006-07; recurred as the teacher Victoria MacElroy on CBS' Young Sheldon from 2017-20; and played Lorna Harding, Christina Applegate's narcissistic mother-in-law, on Netflix's Dead to Me from 2019-22.

She also was recently seen on the Apple TV+ series Echo 3.

Born on June 16, 1953, in Indonesia and raised there until she was 11, Mahaffey graduated from Austin High School and then, in 1975, from the University of Texas.

She began her acting career in New York City and appeared on Broadway six times from 1976-84, with turns in Dracula, starring Raul Julia, and Play Memory, directed by Harold Prince.

---