Valerie Mahaffey, a character actress with a knack for playing eccentric women who sometimes revealed themselves to be sinister on television shows like “Desperate Housewives,” “Northern Exposure” and “Devious Maids,” died on Friday in Los Angeles. She was 71.

       The cause was cancer, her husband, the actor Joseph Kell, said in a statement.

       Ms. Mahaffey had worked steadily over the past five decades. Her first significant role was on the NBC daytime soap opera “The Doctors,” for which she received a Daytime Emmy nomination for best supporting actress in 1980. She was seen most recently in the movie “The 8th Day,” a crime thriller released in March.

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