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Valerie Mahaffey Dies: ‘Young Sheldon’ & ‘Northern Exposure’ Star Was 71

Originally posted on TV Insider | Last updated May 31, 2025 1:47 PM ET

Valerie Mahaffey, who won an Emmy for her work on Northern Exposure and later acted on Young Sheldon, has died. She was 71 years old.

Mahaffey died in Los Angeles on Friday, May 30, after a cancer battle, her publicist told The Hollywood Reporter.

She leaves behind a decades-long screen career that also includes roles as Kyle MacLachlan’s onscreen ex-wife on Desperate Housewives and Christina Applegate’s onscreen mother-in-law in Dead to Me.

Mahaffey was born in Indonesia on June 16, 1953, and spent her first 11 years there, per THR. After moving to the United States and graduating from the University of Texas, Mahaffey started her acting career in New York City, landing several Broadway roles in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

On screen, Mahaffey played Ashley Bennett on the NBC soap The Doctors from 1979 to 1981, earning a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for the role.

After guest-starring parts on Newhart, Quantum Leap, and Seinfeld, Mahaffey recurred on Northern Exposure from 1991 to 1994, playing Eve, the hypochondriac wife of Adam Arkin’s character. She only appeared in five episodes of the CBS show but made enough of an impression that she won the 1992 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

Mahaffey’s other TV roles included guest part on Wings, ER, Ally McBeal, Law & Order: SVU, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Glee, and Devious Maids. She appeared in more than a dozen episodes of CBS’ Young Sheldon, playing teacher Victoria MacElroy. She also starred as Helen Pergman, mother of Brian Geraghty’s character, in the first season of ABC’s Big Sky. And she made her last TV appearance in 2022, recurring on Apple TV+’s Echo 3.

She got more award recognition in 2021, earning an Independent Spirit Award for her performance in the 2020 film French Exit. Her other big-screen credits include Seabiscuit, No Pay, Nudity, and Sully.

Mahaffey’s survivors include director Joseph Kell, her husband, and Alice Richards, her daughter, both of whom joined her for the 2010 drama film Summer Eleven, per Variety.

“I have lost the love of my life, and America has lost one of its most endearing actresses,” Kell said in a statement, Variety adds. “She will be missed.”

This article first appeared on TV Insider and was syndicated with permission.

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