Markie Post, Plucky TV Favorite Who Became a Star on ‘Night Court,’ Dies at 70

Markie Post, who became a star in the 1980s playing a plucky public defender on “Night Court” and had a long run of TV roles, died Saturday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 70.

Post waged a nearly four-year fight with cancer. She kept working until very recently despite her illness.

Post co-starred in the 2019 Lifetime movie “Christmas Reservations” and logged a guest shot that year on the first season of Netflix drama “Soundtrack.” In recent years, Post had recurring roles on NBC’s “Chicago, P.D.,” ABC’s “The Kids are Alright” and Netflix’s “The Santa Clarita Diet.”

Post grew up in Northern California and got her start working behind the scenes on game shows such as “Double Dare” and “Card Sharks” in the 1970s. She moved into working in front of the camera with game show appearances and guest shots on such series as “CHiPs,” “Barnaby Jones,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “Hart to Hart,” “B.J. and the Bear” and “Eight is Enough.”

Post was known for her versatility in drama and comedy, and she racked up more than two dozen TV movie credits from the 1970s through 2019.

In 1980, Post co-starred opposite Bruce McGill and David Hasselhoff in the short-lived ABC comedy “Semi-Tough,” based on the comedic sports novel by Dan Jenkins. She continued to rack up guest shots — “Simon & Simon,” “The Love Boat,” “Cheers,” “Fantasy Island” and “The A-Team” — and in 1982 landed a co-starring roll opposite Lee Majors for three seasons on the ABC action-drama “The Fall Guy.”

In 1985, Post switched gears to the NBC sitcom “Night Court,” an ensembler led by Harry Anderson as the quirky judge presiding over a late-shift court in Manhattan. She joined the show in its third season and quickly became a fan favorite who stayed through the end of the series run in 1992.

Post’s Christine Sullivan was resourceful and naive, sexy and wholesome all at once. She helped bring a sense of heart to “Night Court” and she was a love interest at times for both Anderson and John Larroquette, who played the sleazy assistant District Attorney Dan Fielding.

After “Night Court,” Post starred with John Ritter for three seasons from 1992 to 1995 in the CBS political romcom “Hearts Afire,” in which she played an out of work liberal journalist who becomes press secretary to an aging Southern senator. Ritter played a legislative aide and Post’s love interest. The show was well received by critics but never caught fire with viewers.

Post’s film roles over the years included character turns in 1998’s “There’s Something About Mary” and 1981’s “Gangster Wars.” Her TV movie roles over the years ranged from 1982’s “Massarati and the Brain” and “Not Just Another Affair” to 1988’s “Glitz” and “Tricks of the Trade.” In the 1990s and 2000s, Post was a regular in supporting roles in telepics for Lifetime and Hallmark. She was no stranger to Christmas movie tropes, having co-starred in 2007’s “Holiday in Handcuffs,” 2013’s “Christmas on the Bayou,” 2017’s “Four Christmases and a Wedding” and 2019’s “Christmas Reservations.”

Post’s long list of credits over the past two decades include guest shots on “30 Rock,” “Scrubs,” “The District,” “Dave’s World” and “Ghost Whisperer.” She was a regular on the one-season ABC comedy “Odd Man Out.” And Post was part of the voice cast for the “Transformers Prime” animated series that aired on Discovery’s now-defunct kids channel the Hub.

Post’s survivors include her husband, writer Michael A. Ross; daughters, actress Kate Armstrong Ross and Daisy Schoenborn, and a granddaughter.

Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton, Ed Asner and Marsha Warfield were among the celebrities posting remembrances of Post on social media. Read their tributes below.

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