American actress Markie Post passed away on Saturday due to cancer after battling with the disease for nearly three years and ten months. She was 70. The popular actress' manager Ellen Lubin Sanitsky has confirmed the news of her demise to US media. Known best for her performances on hit television shows like Night Court, The Fall Guy, Hearts Afire to name a notable few, Post's first major on screen appearance was on the show, CHiPs, in 1979. 

Born on November 4, 1950 in Palo Alto, California, Markie Post entered the world of entertainment first by working on game shows like Split Second, including being credited as an associate producer on Alex Trebek’s Double Dare, while also making an appearance as a card dealer on the NBC show, Card Sharks. The late actress also appeared on Barnaby Jones, The Incredible Hulk, The Lazarus Syndrome, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Hart to Hart, The Love Boat, Cheers, Fantasy Island and The A-Team. Her first regular role was in ABC’s The Fall Guy in which she played the character of a bail bondswoman named Terri Michaels for 65 episodes between 1982 and 1985.

Markie Post was also a series regular on NBC's Night Court, in which she portrayed the public defender Christine Sullivan for 159 episodes, with the show airing from 1985 to 1992. She also made heads turn on the CBS sitcom, Hearts Afire, as the character Georgie Anne Lahti Hartman, opposite John Ritter. She later played a recurring role on Scrubs, as the mother of Dr. Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke), including making appearances on Chicago P.D., while portraying herself in an episode of 30 Rock in 2008.

Apart from her stint on television, Markie Post's most memorable role on film was when she played the mother of Cameron Diaz’s Mary in Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s smash hit 1998 comedy, There’s Something About Mary. Despite getting sick, Post continued to pursue acting and worked on the Lifetime Christmas movie, Four Christmases and a Wedding and the ABC series, The Kids Are Alright, as she continued to receive chemo treatments. "But for us, our pride is in who she was in addition to acting; a person who made elaborate cakes for friends, sewed curtains for first apartments and showed us how to be kind, loving and forgiving in an often harsh world," Post’s family issued a statement remembering her. She is survived by her husband, writer Michael A. Ross; daughters, actress Kate Armstrong Ross and Daisy Schoenborn; son-in-law Bryce Schoenborn and her and Michael’s five-month-old granddaughter. 

American actress, businesswoman, author and producer Hilarie Burton Morgan expressed her condolences remembering Markie Post in an emotional Instagram post and said, "Devastated just isn’t a strong enough word. To know Markie Post was to fall head over heels in love with her. Yesterday, I got a call from @meganparkithere that we had lost her. Back in June of 2013, we’d had this magical summer together making a movie in Louisiana with @dllewis82 . @tylerhilton and I reunited for the first time since OTH, and Markie was cast as my mother. When Tyler’s girlfriend came to stay with us during the shoot (Megan) he confessed to us that she was “the one” and Markie and I had so much fun getting to know this pretty blonde girl. Our little gang went everywhere together. Markie bought us all harmonica necklaces and we’d break out into Old Susanna at a moments notice. Markie came to my apartment and read books to my son and nurtured me as a young mother. She was just so good at loving people. It came so easy to her. The way she talked about her husband and daughters….I wanted to be loved like that. I wanted to LOVE like that.  I’m not being eloquent because I am deeply sad. But I have scores of letters from this magical woman where she calls me things like “my darling girl”. She was gentle with me, and made me feel safe and seen. Especially in an industry where being a girl was sometimes a danger. I could put my guard down with her. She was the perfect mix of lady and dame, a master of domestic arts…but also quick to call someone on their shit. She played @sophiabush ‘s mom not long after, making us tv sisters of a sort.  She was the kind of person whom everyone considered their dear friend, cause I don’t think she knew how to be anything less than that. But to her husband Michael and daughters Kate and Daisy….thank you for sharing her with us. Loving her has been a joy. 🌸 #markiepost"

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Hilarie Burton Morgan (@hilarieburton)