Valerie Mahaffey, whose career on TV and film spanned half a century, has died aged 71, her family has announced.
Mahaffey had been ill with cancer. 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. She will be missed.“
On Facebook, their daughter Alice wrote, “I don’t really have the words to say right now. Cancer sucks. I’ll look for you in all the fun moments of life. I know that’s where you’ll be.”
Mahaffey was best known for her role in CBS comedy-drama Northern Exposure, which ran from 1990 to 1995. She won an Emmy Award for best supporting comedy actress for her performance as hypochondriac Eve in the fish-out-of-water narrative set in a fictional Alaskan town.
Born in Indonesia and brought up in different countries including the UK and Nigeria, Mahaffey first worked on the stage in New York. She got her breakthrough TV role on daytime drama Doctors, and more recently she appeared in Big Sky (ABC), Dead to Me (Netflix), Young Sheldon (CBS) and AppleTV+’s ECHO 3.
Watch on Deadline
Other work included Seinfeld, Desperate Housewives and Wings. She also earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her role in 20202 indie film French Exit opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges.