Markie Post of 'Night Court' Dies at 70 After Cancer Battle

Markie Post, the actress best known for her role on the '80s "must-see TV" comedy "Night Court," died Saturday at 70.

Post's manager, Ellen Lubin Sanitsky, confirmed her passing to THR. Sanitsky told Deadline Post had waged a "three-year, ten-month battle with cancer."

In a statement, her family said, "[O]ur 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."

Longtime friend Ed Asner tweeted bluntly about her struggle with cancer, "I am devastated to hear of the passing of my friend Markie Post.  She was a true talent. We did Hearts Afire together and to work with her and John was a gift. F&@k Cancer!"

Post was born on November 5, 1950, in Palo Alto, California. She first made a splash working for such game shows as "Card Sharks," on which she was a model, and "Double Dare" with Alex Trebek, on which she was an associate producer.

She got her start in acting in the 1978 beach-party throwback TV movie "Frankie and Annette: The Second Time Around," and rapidly appeared in guest spots on popular fare like "CHiPs" (1979), "Barnaby Jones" (1979), "The Incredible Hulk" (1979), "Eight Is Enough" (1980), "Simon & Simon" (1981), "The Love Boat" (1982 & 1983), "Cheers" (1983), and "Fantasy Island" (1983 & 1984), also landing a meaty role on the 1981 miniseries "The Gangster Chronicles."

From 1982-1985, Post starred in 65 episodes of the Lee Majors hit "The Fall Guy," but found even greater success as plucky public defender Christine Sullivan on NBC's "Night Court" (1984-1992), which she joined as the female lead in Season 3, following in the footsteps of Paula Kelly and Ellen Foley.

Post appeared on 159 episodes of the show, which was considered such a classic that she and other cast members appeared on a 2008 episode of "30 Rock" playing themselves in what they think is a new series but which is really a gift from one character to another.

She went on to a successful run opposite John Ritter on "Hearts Afire" (1992-1995), and made a rare feature-film appearance as the title character's mom in "There's Something About Mary" (1998).

Acting steadily ever since, Post's other credits include three episodes of "Scrubs" (2002, 2003 & 2006), 18 episodes of "Chicago P.D." (2014-2017), and several appearances on the series "The Kids Are Alright" (2018-2019), on the set of which she is pictured above with Caleb Foote and Nancy Daly.