Valerie Mahaffey, a deeply recognizable presence on screen for decades, has passed away at the age of 71. Her publicist and husband confirmed the news, stating she died in Los Angeles on Friday, May 30, due to cancer. Her husband, Joseph Kell, shared a heartfelt message, saying he had lost "the love of my life, and America has lost one of its most endearing actresses".
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| Photo by Stewart Cook/Shutterstock |
Mahaffey's career was extensive, spanning over 46 years. She was known for portraying memorable roles in numerous high-profile shows and films. She began her acting journey on Broadway in the late 1970s and early 1980s, featuring in plays such as Dracula and Top Girls. Simultaneously, she was a regular on the NBC daytime soap opera The Doctors from 1979 to 1981, earning a nomination for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1980.
Her television career truly took flight with a long list of guest and recurring roles. In the early 1990s, she had a recurring role as Eve in the CBS series Northern Exposure. This role, where she played a chronic hypochondriac, led to her most celebrated award: a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1992. Notably, she was the only actor from Northern Exposure to win an Emmy Award.
Mahaffey was a versatile and constantly working actress, appearing in a vast array of shows. Her credits include stints on Seinfeld, Cheers, Frasier, Glee, Hart of Dixie, Wings, L.A. Law, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Grey’s Anatomy, CSI, The West Wing, Ally McBeal, Private Practice, Quantum Leap, and ER. Younger audiences may recognize her for her recurring role as the teacher Victoria MacElroy on Young Sheldon from 2017 to 2020. She also played Alma Hodge in nine episodes of Desperate Housewives from 2006 to 2007.
In recent years, she had recurring roles in the Netflix comedy-drama series Dead to Me, playing Lorna Harding from 2019 to 2022. She also starred in the Apple TV+ action-thriller series Echo 3 in 2022, portraying Maggie Chesborough.
Mahaffey also left her mark on film. Her movie credits include Jungle 2 Jungle, Sully, and Seabiscuit. A notable recent role was in the 2020 comedy-drama film French Exit, where she played the widow Madame Reynaud opposite Michelle Pfeiffer. Her performance in French Exit earned her critical acclaim and a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female. Mahaffey spoke about playing quirky characters like Madame Reynard, emphasizing her desire to play them with "absolute honesty" and avoiding artifice. She found it wonderful as an actor to realize things about human nature, even from playing people who might be considered annoying, finding empathy for them.
One of her prominent roles was as Helen Pergman in the ABC crime drama Big Sky. Her character was the repressive, overbearing mother of the kidnapper Ronald. Helen was aware of her son's involvement in a sex-trafficking operation and struggled between trying to get him to do the right thing and protecting him. The balance of power between Helen and Ronald shifted, and Helen became afraid of him. Ultimately, when Ronald indicated he might murder someone to avoid the police, Helen's conscience led her to decide she had to turn him in. She confessed this intention to Ronald, hoping he would see the error of his ways. Instead, he snapped and killed her by strangling her.
Mahaffey reflected on this intense storyline, noting that she suspected her character's fate might be limited due to the episode count David Kelley mentioned when offering her the part. She wasn't told initially that the show was based on C.J. Box's books, where Helen is also featured and meets a similar fate, but once she was creating her own version of the character, she decided not to read ahead. Mahaffey found the power struggle between Helen and Ronald compelling, noting that Helen seemed to have the upper hand for a long time. She didn't know until the end that Helen would attempt to turn her son in, questioning whether the warped but strong love she had for him would lead her to aid him instead. Mahaffey felt it was realistic that Helen might vacillate on the right path. She believed Helen hoped she could reason with Ronald and that he would have an epiphany, but she also had to find courage to try and stop a murder. Mahaffey defended Helen's decision to tell Ronald she would call the police, viewing it as a desperate attempt to get him to reconsider before betraying him.
Discussing the brutal death scene, Mahaffey described it as the most brutal she had filmed. It required choreography and a stunt double, and was tricky to execute, especially needing to die standing up and end up in a chair. She mentioned the strong comparison drawn between her character Helen and Norman Bates' mother, noting it was an interesting theme.
While acknowledging parents bear some responsibility for who their children become, Mahaffey also felt it wasn't entirely a parent's fault, particularly for someone like Ronald who was weak and damaged by extreme repression. She noted that she had known severely repressed people whose rebellion came out badly. Mahaffey mentioned Ronald's final moments with Helen's body, sobbing over her but ultimately leaving her, wryly noting he "left the TV on for her".
Valerie Mahaffey is survived by her husband, Joseph Kell, and their daughter, Alice. Her final on-screen credit is listed as Landon Mooney in The 8th Day, a film from 2025. Her extensive filmography showcases a career dedicated to bringing a wide range of characters to life, leaving a lasting legacy in television and film.