Valerie Mahaffey, the prolific film and TV actress who played eccentric characters with secret villainous sides on shows like “Northern Exposure” and “Desperate Housewives,” has died, according to multiple media reports. She was 71.
Mahaffey, who played a similar character on “Devious Maids,” died Friday in Los Angeles, according to the New York Times. Her husband Joseph Kell said in a statement that the cause was cancer.
Mahaffey won a best supporting actress Emmy in 1992 for “Northern Exposure,” on which she played a hypochondriac named Eve. She was also nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her regular supporting role on the NBC soap opera “The Doctors” in 1980.
Mahaffey was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for “French Exit,” the 2020 dark comedy in which she plays an eccentric widow. Her most recent role was in the crime thriller film “The 8th Day,” which was released in March.
During her nine-episode run on “Desperate Housewives,” she again played the type of role for which she became known: Alma Hodge, a woman in a loveless marriage who seems friendly, but later fakes her own death to get back at her husband, hoping he would take the blame.
Born in Indonesia to a Canadian mother and American father, her family moved frequently and eventually settled in Austin, Texas. Besides her husband, Mahaffey is survived by their daughter Alice Richards.
