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Actress Valerie Mahaffey, best known for her Emmy-winning role on Northern Exposure, as well as Big Sky and Desperate Housewives, has died at the age of 71 following a short battle with cancer, her husband, Jospeh Kell, confirmed in a statement to Variety.
“I have lost the love of my life, and America has lost one of its most endearing actresses. She will be missed,” Kell said on Saturday (May 31), confirming his wife had passed the previous day.
Mahaffey appeared on the NBC soap opera The Doctors from 1979 to 1981, which included being nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1980. The actress went on to appear in five episodes of the CBS series Northern Exposure, winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1992.
Mahaffrey's other notable roles included starring on the ABC detective drama series Big Sky from 2020 to 2021, as well as appearing in nine episodes of the ABC drama Desperate Housewives from 2006 to 2012, 14 episodes of the CBS comedy Young Sheldon from 2017 to 2020, three episodes of the Apple TV series Echo 3 in 2022 and the film the 8th Day earlier this year.