Valerie Mahaffey, the Emmy-winning actress recognized for her work on such exhibits as Northern Publicity, Determined Housewives, Younger Sheldon and Useless to Me, died Friday. She was 71.
Mahaffey died in Los Angeles after a battle with most cancers, publicist Jillian Roscoe introduced.
Identified for taking part in eccentric characters, Mahaffey obtained a Spirit Award nomination for her flip as widowed American expat Madame Reynard in French Exit (2020) reverse Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges as mom and son.
From 1991-94, she appeared on 5 episodes of CBS’ Northern Publicity over three seasons and obtained a supporting actress Emmy in 1992 for portraying the hypochondriac Eve, spouse of Adam Arkin’s character.
She performed the manipulative Alma Hodge, ex-wife of Kyle MacLachlan’s Orson Hodge, on ABC’s Determined Housewives from 2006-07; recurred because the trainer Victoria MacElroy on CBS’ Younger Sheldon from 2017-20; and performed Lorna Harding, Christina Applegate’s narcissistic mother-in-law, on Netflix’s Useless to Me from 2019-22.
She additionally was just lately seen on the Apple TV+ collection Echo 3.
Born on June 16, 1953, in Indonesia and raised there till she was 11, Mahaffey graduated from Austin Excessive Faculty after which, in 1975, from the College of Texas.
She started her performing profession in New York Metropolis and appeared on Broadway six instances from 1976-84, with turns in Dracula, starring Raul Julia, and Play Reminiscence, directed by Harold Prince.
In the meantime, she was showing in 1979-80 as Ashley Bennett on the NBC cleaning soap opera The Docs, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy.
She additionally gained Obie Awards for her work in Prime Women on the Public Theatre and in Alan Bennett’s Speaking Heads on the Minetta Lane. Her different theater credit included turns as Desdemona in Othello reverse Morgan Freeman and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet with Tom Hulce.
Mahaffey was an everyday on the 1992-93 Norman Lear-produced NBC collection The Powers That Be and performed the mom of Jayma Mays’ Emma Pillsbury on Fox’s Glee from 2011-13 and the unstable Olivia Rice on ABC’s Devious Maids from 2013-15.
She additionally confirmed up on episodes of Newhart, Seinfeld — she’s the previous accountant who helps George along with his taxes on the 1991 episode “The Fact” — Wings, ER, Cheers, Massive Sky and The Mindy Venture and in movies together with Jungle 2 Jungle (1997), Seabiscuit (2003), Summer time Eleven (2010), Sully (2016) and No Pay, Nudity (2016).
Survivors embrace her husband, Joseph Kell, and her daughter, Alice. “I’ve misplaced the love of my life, and America has misplaced certainly one of its most adorable actresses,” Kell stated in a press release.