The Warm Mom of an Alien ‘ALF’… Veteran Actress Anne Schedeen Dies at 77

Veteran actress Anne Schedeen, who played the kindhearted and wise mother ‘Kate Tanner,’ welcoming the alien into her family in the legendary American sitcom ‘ALF (ALF)’ that aired in South Korea in the 1980s and drew huge popularity, has died.

■ An icon of the TV golden age, becomes a star in the sky at 77

According to U.S. entertainment outlets including The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline on the 14th (local time), Schedeen died at age 77. In the midst of grief shared by her family and fellow actors, mourning waves have spread not only across Hollywood’s airwaves but also among TV fans around the world who are remembering the 1980s.

■ The forever mother of ‘ALF’… The Hollywood miracle made by a shy girl

Her birth name was Luanne Ruth Schedeen, born in 1949 in a farmhouse in Portland, Oregon, as the daughter of a state lawmaker. As a child, she was so extremely shy and reserved that she would hide under the tablecloth and eavesdrop on adults’ stories. The start of her great acting career came when her mother, worried about her daughter’s severe social anxiety, enrolled her in the youth drama program at the Portland Civic Theater so she could take a step toward the world.

After graduating high school, she studied acting in college and entered Hollywood in 1974, beginning with a minor role in ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’ (the Somers–‘The Six Million Dollar Man’ series). She then strengthened her acting chops by appearing as a regular “go-to” performer and a dependable comic character in numerous “in-demand” productions during the heyday of U.S. TV dramas in the 1970s and 1980s, including the hit emergency drama ‘Emergency!’ and the classic sitcom ‘Cheers’ and ‘Three’s Company.’

Her defining work that changed her life was the sitcom ‘ALF,’ which aired on NBC from 1986 to 1990. Playing ‘Kate Tanner’, the central figure of the Tanner family, who secretly takes in and raises the bearded alien ‘ALF’ that crash-landed on Earth from the planet Melmac, she won international acclaim by perfectly capturing the realistic image of a mother who warmly guides an alien who causes accidents at every opportunity and, at times, reprimands him sharply. ‘ALF’ was an enormous commercial success and became a bible for family sitcoms in living rooms around the world, including in South Korea.

■ A warm personality that shone even behind the camera… Life as a philanthropist beyond the silver screen

After ‘ALF’ ended, Anne Schedeen, who effectively stepped away from the front lines of acting after works such as the film ‘Heaven’s Prisoners’ (1996) and the drama ‘Judging Amy’ (2001), chose a life focused on caring for overlooked neighbors rather than chasing the glare of the spotlight.

In particular, starting in 2015, she served as the official public relations ambassador for the nonprofit charity organization ‘Holiday Heroes.’ She devoted herself to charitable efforts that support children from broken homes and those living in poverty, sharing the same motherly warmth with many people in real life—just like ‘Kate’ in the drama.

At the time of her death, she was survived by her daughter, Taylor, her only child, and she had been married for 10 years to Christopher Barrett, a well-known talent agent, whom she met on the theater stage in 1972. She closed her eyes peacefully amid farewells from her family. The Hollywood Reporter praised her, saying, “Anne Schedeen was the actress who gave the coziest sanctuary to a generation of TV viewers in their home living rooms.”