Actress Markie Post has passed away at the age of 70 following an almost four-year battle with cancer.
The actress who is mainly known for her roles in There’s Something About Mary and the 80s sitcom Night Court, passed away on Saturday after a three year and ten-month battle with her health.
Markie’s longtime manager and friend Ellen Lubin Sanitsky confirmed the news to Deadline.
The American actress was born in Palo Alto, California in 1950 and raised in the Bay Area in an intellectual household.
Her father was a scientist and her mother was a poet, who also raised two other children, Markie’s siblings.
Markie attended Lewis And Clark College in Portland and first began her showbiz career on the game show circuit.
She worked as a dealer on a program called Card Sharks hosted by Jim Perry and in her early professional life, she also worked with the late Alex Trebek – where she acted as an associate producer on the game show Double Dare which he hosted.
(Image: NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
She joked about her early career on TV years later: “I wrote questions for Family Feud and I found prizes for Price Is Right and I researched Split Second – I learned more researching that game show than I did in four years of college.”
During the 70s, she secured roles on Buck Rodgers In The 25th Century, The Love Boat, Barnaby Jones and The A-Team among others.
Her first spot as a series regular however was The Fall Guy, where she portrayed a bail bondswoman from 1982 until 1985.
Following this, she joined Night Court cast during season three, playing kindhearted public defender Christine Sullivan.
(Image: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
Her character was part of an awkward love triangle on the show between judge Harry (Harry Anderson) and prosecutor Dan (John Larroquette).
She played Christine on Night Court from 1985 until 1992 and then secured a role in the sitcom Hearts Afire from 1992 until 1995.
Markie posed as the wife of a character played by Three’s Company icon John Ritter.
(Image: CBS via Getty Images)
When talking about the show, Markie once said: “It was the best thing I had ever done, the best scripts I had ever gotten to do, the best star.
“I loved John Ritter. I loved that I was a chain smoker. I loved that I was a world travelling journalist who was down on her luck and had to live in his guestroom and fall in love with him in the most beautiful, romantic way.”
In later years, she starred in hit movies and TV roles including There’s Something About Mary and the 2007 comedy Cook Off!.
The star also continued with guest appearances on popular shows such as Scrubs – playing the mother of Sarah Chalke’s character – and 30 Rock – where she played herself.
The star’s death comes less than a month after her Night Court co-star Charles Robinson passed away, who played a legal clerk on the series.
His manager confirmed his death was due to metastatic adenocarcinoma and septic shock that caused him to suffer cardiac arrest with multi-system organ failures.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
