Actress Valerie Mahaffey dies aged 71
Valerie Mahaffey died on Thursday 30 May in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer.
Desperate Housewives actress Valerie Mahaffey has died at the age of 71.
The Emmy-winning actress died on Thursday 30 May in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer, her actor husband Joseph Kell has announced.
"I have lost the love of my life, and America has lost one of its most endearing actresses. She will be missed," Kell said in a statement.
Mahaffey had a string of well-known television roles, including the manipulative Alma Hodge, ex-wife of Kyle MacLachlan's Orson Hodge, on Desperate Housewives between 2006 and 2007, Christina Applegate's mother-in-law Lorna Harding in the Netflix series Dead to Me between 2019 and 2022, and the teacher Victoria MacElroy on Young Sheldon from 2017 to 2020.
The star also won the supporting comedy actress Emmy in 1992 for her portrayal of Eve in Northern Exposure, which ran from 1990 to 1995.
Her other TV roles include Glee, Devious Maids, Grey's Anatomy, Big Sky, Echo 3, and the soap opera The Doctors, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1980.
Her film credits include Seabiscuit, Sully, Jungle 2 Jungle, and the 2020 film French Exit, which earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination.
She is survived by her husband Kell and her daughter Alice.