Anne Schedeen, who played mom Kate Tanner on NBC’s “ALF” for four seasons, has died at 77. Her family confirmed the news in a message on her official Facebook page on June 14, writing that “Annie has passed peacefully.” A cause of death was not given. For anyone who grew up watching “ALF,” she will always be the woman who kept her family together after a wisecracking alien crashed into the garage and decided to stay.
“ALF” premiered in September 1986 with one of the stranger premises in sitcom history. An alien named Gordon Shumway, nicknamed ALF for “Alien Life Form,” slams his spacecraft into the garage of a suburban California family and moves right in. The puppet got most of the laughs, but the show needed real people to hold it down, and Schedeen did that better than anyone. As Kate, she was the practical one, the mother whose patience got tested every week by a furry houseguest who ate cats and insulted the neighbors. She reacted the way you imagined you would, and that gave the whole thing its center.
Schedeen once explained how she ended up taking the part. After reading pilot script after pilot script, she said, she finally found one that made her laugh. She met the people behind it, met ALF, and decided she was in. The instinct paid off. “ALF” ran four seasons, from 1986 to 1990, racked up more than a hundred episodes, and became a genuine pop culture fixture, spawning an animated spinoff and a fan base that never really went away. Through all of it, Kate stayed the steady one.
She was born Luanne Ruth Schedeen in Portland, Oregon, in January 1949, and she had a solid television career going well before ALF. She started in the mid-1970s with guest spots and a supporting role in the sci-fi film “Embryo,” then turned up on shows like “Emergency!,” “Marcus Welby, M.D.,” “The Bionic Woman,” “Three’s Company,” and “Simon & Simon.” She was a regular on the primetime drama “Paper Dolls” in 1984 before ALF came along. After the show wrapped, she appeared in the 1996 thriller “Heaven’s Prisoners” and had a recurring role on “Judging Amy” in 2001. Her last on-screen credit came in 2014.
Her family’s tribute made clear she was a lot more than the role she’s known for. They wrote about her “creative energy, whip smart humor, delight in her family, adoration for little dogs,” and her love of thrifting and a good story. They mentioned the artwork, handmade jewelry, oil paintings, sculptures, costumes, and the belly laughs she leaves behind. They called her “a force,” and noted that, as she liked to say, “I’m always with you.” The post ended with a request that fans raise a margarita in her honor.
Schedeen is survived by her husband of many years, talent agent Christopher Barrett, her daughter Taylor and her partner Hilary, a brother and sister-in-law, a sister, and a niece. The family has asked that donations go to Habitat for Humanity in her memory. As of this writing, ALF creator and puppeteer Paul Fusco has not commented publicly.
If you want to revisit the Tanner house, “ALF” is easy to find. It streams free with ads on Tubi, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, and Xumo Play, and full episodes are up for free on the official Shout! Factory YouTube channel. It’s also on Peacock and Prime Video by subscription, with seasons available to buy or rent on Apple TV and Fandango at Home.
It’s a funny thing to be remembered as the woman who lived with an alien, but Anne Schedeen carried it well. For millions of people tuning in on weeknights in the late ’80s, Kate Tanner made a very strange house feel like home. That’s a real thing to leave behind, and by all accounts it matched the warmth her family says she had off camera too. She’ll be missed.
