As the patient, grounded matriarch Kate Tanner, she was the human heart of a household upended by a wisecracking alien from Melmac. Anne Schedeen, the veteran actress whose work on the global sitcom hit 'ALF' made her a household name, died June 15, 2026, at the age of 77.

What made Schedeen memorable was the steadiness she brought to a role built on imbalance. Kate Tanner was the straight woman to a puppet, a deceptively difficult comic assignment that demanded precision, patience, and a face that could keep the story believable while the set around it bent toward chaos. As one television critic put it, “Kate Tanner was the straight man to a puppet, which is one of the hardest jobs in comedy. Anne made it look effortless.” That effortlessness was the point: she made the family feel real, and in doing so helped make 'ALF' feel larger than a sitcom.

The show’s reach was extraordinary. 'ALF' became a global phenomenon, airing in over 80 countries and cementing Schedeen’s place in television history, but she later described the process as anything but easy. “It was a technical nightmare, extremely slow, hot and tedious... A 30-minute show took 20, 25 hours to shoot,” she said in People Magazine. Even so, the scale of the series depended on the calm center she provided. Jerry Stahl, who wrote for 'ALF', remembered that “Anne was the anchor. On a set that was often chaotic and technically demanding, she was the professional who kept us grounded.”

Before that defining role, she had already built a working actor’s career through the long, unglamorous rhythm of television. Born Luanne Ruth Schedeen in Portland, Oregon, she studied acting at the Portland Civic Theatre and later moved to New York City to pursue the profession. In the early 1970s, she signed as a contract player for Universal Pictures, which led to guest-starring roles and to recurring work that kept her visible in a crowded medium. She played Nurse Carol in 'Emergency!' for several seasons and later appeared as Linda on 'Three’s Company', roles that showed the range and reliability that would eventually make her ideal for Kate Tanner. Her casting in 'ALF' became the peak of that arc, the moment when a steady television craft met a premise the world could not ignore.

Her life after acting carried a different kind of grace. After retiring from full-time acting, she transitioned into interior design and antique decorating, and she described that world as “a different kind of stage” where she could still be creative without cameras. In that quieter work, the tactile pleasures of objects and rooms replaced the pressure of studio lights. She also served as an ambassador for Holiday Heroes, a nonprofit that provides parties for critically ill children, extending her public life into service as well as style.

Schedeen’s personal life moved alongside that professional one. She married talent agent Christopher Barrett in 1982, and their daughter, Taylor Barrett, was born in 1989; that pregnancy was written into the third season of 'ALF'. She died in Los Angeles, surrounded by family.

What remains of Anne Schedeen is not only the memory of a beloved sitcom mother, but the harder, rarer achievement beneath it: the discipline to hold a comic world together without ever asking for the spotlight to explain itself. She gave warmth to a machine of a show, then found peace in rooms, antiques, and design, proving that a career can contain both public wonder and private quiet. That balance, more than any single credit, is what she will be remembered for.