SEATTLE - (AP) -- Margaret ''Peg'' Phillips, a retired accountant who took acting classes at age 65 and became tart-tongued shopkeeper Ruth-Anne Miller in the television series Northern Exposure, died Thursday of lung disease. Phillips, an unrepentant smoker, was 84.

CBS issued a statement saying, 'Peg Phillips' memorable portrayal of Ruth-Anne Miller on Northern Exposure left an indelible imprint with the millions of loyal fans of this groundbreaking series, as well as with everyone at the network who had the opportunity to know and work with her.''

In 1990, she was cast in what was supposed to be an intermittent role in Northern Exposure, a series on the travails of a New York doctor working off his student loan in the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska.

Shot in Washington state, the show began as a summer replacement series but became so strong in the ratings it ran through 1995.

Similarly, Phillips turned her character into a regular role. On occasion, she wrote her own lines.

Criticized for smoking in one episode, she retorted: ``I've been smoking since I was 13 years old, and during the Eisenhower administration I peaked at three packs a day. I'm not about to stop now.''

Scorning pretension, she wore blue jeans, a red and white checked blouse, blue suspenders and brown sandals to the Emmy Awards ceremony when she was nominated for best supporting actress in 1993. When asked who designed her outfit, she replied, ``Me.''

Phillips appeared in eight movies and made guest appearances in such TV series as Seventh Heaven, Touched By an Angel and ER. She appeared with Shirley MacLaine in Waiting for the Light (1990) and in made-for-TV movies How the West Was Fun (1994) and Chase (1985).

Born in Everett, Phillips overcame polio, a ruptured aorta and, at 81, a broken hip from being hit by a car.