Yahoo Lifestyle Linda Lavin, Star of CBS’ Alice and Tony Award Winner, Dead at 87
Actress Linda Lavin, best known to TV fans for starring in the CBS sitcom Alice, has died, TVLine has confirmed. She was 87.
According to a representative for Lavin, she died unexpectedly on Sunday due to complications from recently discovered lung cancer.
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Lavin got her start on the small screen with episodes of shows like Rhoda, Phyllis and Barney Miller. Her most memorable TV role, though, was that of widowed diner waitress Alice Hyatt in the CBS sitcom Alice, which ran for nine seasons from 1976 to 1985. Lavin starred in the series for all 202 episodes, picking up a Primetime Emmy nomination in 1979 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, as well as two Golden Globe wins.
Post-Alice, Lavin co-starred in the short-lived sitcoms Room for Two (opposite Patricia Heaton) and Conrad Bloom, appeared in a number of TV movies, and guest-starred on series like The O.C., The Good Wife, Bones and Madam Secretary. More recently, her small-screen credits included the CBS comedies 9JKL and B Positive, a guest stint on Good Wife spinoff Elsbeth and, just earlier this month, three episodes of the Lisa Kudrow-Ray Romano Netflix series No Good Deed.
Lavin was also an accomplished stage actress, appearing in numerous productions on and off-Broadway. Throughout her career, she garnered six Tony Award nominations and won the Best Leading Actress in a Play trophy in 1987 for Broadway Bound.
She was next set to co-star in the Hulu comedy Mid-Century Modern, a Golden Girls-esque series led by Nathan Lane and Matt Bomer. The series, in which Lavin played mom to Lane, has three of 10 episodes left to shoot. TVLine has reached out to Hulu regarding any impact on the show’s production.
“Working with Linda was one of the highlights of our careers,” Mid-Century Modern creators David Kohan, Max Mutchnick and Jimmy Burrows said in a statement. “She was a magnificent actress, singer, musician, and a heat seeking missile with a joke. But more significantly, she was a beautiful soul. Deep, joyful, generous and loving. She made our days better. The entire staff and crew will miss her beyond measure. We are better for having known her.”
Added 20th Television and Hulu: “Our deepest and heartfelt condolences go to Linda Lavin’s family and loved ones. She was a legend in our industry, bringing her tremendous talent to audiences for over seven decades. She will be forever missed by her Mid-Century Modern family, as we mourn this incredible loss together.”
Heaton, who played Lavin’s TV daughter on Room for Two in 1992, reflected on her experience working with Lavin in a video posted to X on Sunday.
“She was my mentor, my guardian angel,” Heaton said. “She really looked out for me, taught me a lot — not just about acting, but about life. And we had dinner a couple months ago when I was in L.A., and she was just as sharp and funny and energetic as she always has been… I’m going to miss her. She was a good friend.”
“She was so good to work with,” added The Good Wife and Elsbeth co-creator Robert King. “Such a voice. Such reality. And, yet, great comic instincts.”
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