Northern Exposure star Valarie Mahaffey has died. She was 71.
“I have lost the love of my life, and America has lost one of its most endearing actresses,” Valerie’s husband, Joseph Kell, said in a statement to Variety on Friday, May 30, confirming her passing. “She will be missed.”
News of Mahaffey’s death was also reported by several outlets and confirmed by her daughter, Alice Ziolkoski, who shared a photo of the pair in honor of her mother via Instagram on Friday.
“I don’t really have the words to say right now. cancer sucks. i’ll look for you in all the fun moments of life. i know that’s where you’ll be i know we’ll see each other again someday. i love you infinity much,” she captioned the post, which featured a snapshot of her and her late mother lovingly looking at each other.
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Mahaffey was best known for her role as Eve on Northern Exposure, starring on the series from 1990 to 1995. She also starred on the ABC drama Big Sky as Helen, the overbearing mother to a kidnapper, Ronald (played by Doug Ballard). In a February 2021 interview, Mahaffey admitted to Entertainment Weekly that she wasn’t sure how long she would be on the show, but she found the dynamic between her character and her character’s son interesting, “because the power struggle between her and Ronald, it seemed that she had that upper hand for a long time.”
“I didn’t know until the end that she was going to be able to to turn her son in,” Mahaffey added at the time. “Because the love is warped, but it was very strong. And I didn’t know if she was going to aid and abet him.”
Mahaffey also had roles on Young Sheldon, Desperate Housewives and Dead to Me. She received an Emmy for her role on Northern Exposure, and was nominated for a Spirit Award for her portrayal of widow American expatriate Madame Reynard in 2020’s French Exit.
She was born in Indonesia in June 1953 and lived in the country until she was 11, when she moved to Nigeria and then England with her family. Mahaffey ultimately settled in Austin, Texas, where she attended the University of Texas.
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She made her debut on Broadway in the 1970s and landed a part on the soap opera The Doctors during the same time period, which paved the way for her eventual transition to TV. Though she enjoyed a strong career on the big and small screens, she also continued to perform onstage, and her theatrical credits include Othello (with Morgan Freeman) and Romeo and Juliet.
Her most recent roles were in the 2023 Apple TV+ show Echo 3 and 2025’s The 8th Day. In addition to Kell, Mahaffey is survived by her daughter Alice.
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