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Valerie Mahaffey, an actress who won the Emmy for her performance on “Northern Exposure” and who was a stand-out in high-profile series like “Desperate Housewives” and “Devious Maids,” has died after a battle with cancer.
She was 71.
THR reports her husband, Joseph Kell, said in a statement, “I have lost the love of my life, and America has lost one of its most endearing actresses.”‘
Born June 16, 1953, in Indonesia, she lived there until the age of 11 ahead of a move to Texas.
After an early start on Broadway and extensive, Obie Award-nominated theater work in the ’70s, she was cast as Ashley Bennett on the daytime soap “The Doctors” (1979-1980), earning a Daytime Emmy nomination.
She was extremely prolific on television. Her work included the Carol Burnett-led miniseries “Fresno” (1986), appearances on “Newhart” (1987) and “Cheers” (1991), and a memorable part as a pretentious date for George Costanza on a 1991 episode of “Seinfeld.” It wasn’t just the chopsticks she wore in her hair that bothered George, it wasn’t just the earrings, it was “so much more!” — especially her pronunciation of the world “papier-mâché.”
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From 1992-1993, she was a main cast member of the short-lived series “The Powers That Be,” a David Crane and Marta Kauffman production, with Norman Lear serving as executive producer.
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Her work as Eve on five episodes of “Northern Exposure” (1991-1994) led to her Emmy win, and she had effective guest appearances on everything from “Wings” (1993-1996) to “Ally McBeal” (2000).
She had an especially juicy part on “Desperate Housewives” (2006-2012) as manipulative Alma Hodge, ex-wife of Orson Hodge (Kyle MacLachlan), and was equally fun as bonkers Olivia Rice on “Devious Maids” (2013-2015), as a teacher on “Young Sheldon” (2017-2020), and as the over-the-top mother-in-law of Christina Applegate’s character on “Dead to Me” (2019-2022).
Among her feature work, Mahaffey was seen in “Jungle 2 Jungle” (1997), “Seabiscuit” (2003), and “Sully” (2016).
Most recently, she was on the Apple TV+ show “Echo 3” (2022), was nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award for her work in the film “French Exit” (2020), and had completed work on the feature “GRQ the Movie.”
Along with her husband, she is survived by their daughter.
