Valerie Mahaffey, an Emmy-winning performer noted for her appearances in Sully and Desperate Housewives, died at the age of 71.

Her husband, Joseph Kell, shared the devastating news that his wife died yesterday (May 30) in Los Angeles, California, after a cancer diagnosis.

“I’ve lost the love of my life, and America has lost one of its most charming actresses. “She will be missed,” Kell said.

Mahaffey, who was born in Indonesia and spent her first 11 years there, won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1992 for ‘Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series’ for her portrayal of Eve in the television series Northern Exposure.

The experienced performer began her career on Broadway in New York City, performing in plays in the late 1970s.

Mahaffey’s most recent film appearance was in The 8th Day, which was released in March of this year. He played Landon Mahoney.

The film follows two small-time crooks, a young woman trying to leave a small Texas town, and Mahaffey’s character, who has a terrible secret.

After eight days, the four protagonists’ stories come together as they visit a check-cashing establishment full of money in the same Texas town.

Mahaffey also appeared in 14 episodes of Young Sheldon as Victoria MacElroy, an English teacher at the fictitious Medford High School, which Sheldon attends.

She also played Diane Higgins in the Academy Award-nominated film Sully, in which Tom Hanks portrayed Captain Chesley Burnett ‘Sully’ Sullenberger III, who landed a jet on the Hudson River.

Higgins was one of 155 people who escaped the aircraft accident.

While previewing French Exit, a film that was originally scheduled for release in 2020 but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and in which she portrayed a widow, she cited a phrase she assumed was attributed to Jack Nicholson.

In my early days, I had no idea what “acting is 10% preparation and 90% relaxation” meant. “But now, I do,” she told Filmspeak.

She talked about, “What happens is, when you relax—you have your plan that you can do if you have to—but when you relax, stuff happens in the middle of a take that you didn’t plan, but you’re able to receive it from wherever it’s coming from and do it, and it’s a huge gift.”