Celebrated actor Valerie Mahaffey is dead at age 71 after battling cancer. Her publicist said Mahaffey died Friday in Los Angeles.

During her nine-episode run on “Desperate Housewives,” she again played the type of role for which she became known: Alma Hodge, a woman in a loveless marriage who seems friendly, but later fakes her own death to get back at her husband, hoping he would take the blame.

Valerie Mahaffey, a prolific actress of film, stage and TV shows including "Young Sheldon" and "Northern Exposure," has died at 71 from cancer.