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Veteran American television and stage actress Linda Lavin, who is best known for her performances on and off Broadway and for playing the role of Alice in the eponymous 1976 sitcom, died on December 29. Lavin was 87 at the time of her demise.
A PR representative of the veteran actress confirmed that she died because of complications related to her recently discovered lung cancer. The news comes as a shock as Lavin was working to promote her new Netflix series No Good Deed as recently as this month. She was also filming the upcoming Hulu comedy series Mid-Century Modern, where she is one of the protagonists.
In Mid-Century Modern, Lavin will appear alongside Matt Bomer, Nathan Lame, and Nathan Lee Graham. The show reportedly filmed seven of its ten episodes before the Christmas holiday break and is scheduled to resume in mid-January. However, it is unclear how it will proceed without one of the lead characters.
Linda Lavin's final public appearance was on December 4, when she walked on the red carpet for the premiere of No Good Deed.
Exploring the illustrious career of veteran actress Linda Lavin
Linda Lavin was born in Portland to a mother who was once a coloratura soprano opera singer on the radio and onstage. The veteran actress's first acting gig came at age five. In 1959, she graduated from the College of William and Mary with a degree in theater.
In 1962, Linda Lavin made her Broadway debut with A Family Affair, a musical comedy directed by Harold Prince. It was followed by The Riot Act before she took on another Harold Prince-directed musical comedy called It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman.
Other Broadway shows of Linda Lavin include Something Different, Cop Out, Oh, Kay!, On A Clear Day, You Can See Forever, The Emmy Is Dead, and many more. Lavin was nominated for the Tony Awards six times in her career for her performances as a stage actress.
The Doctors and Nurses marked Lavin's television debut in 1963. Four years later, she appeared in a show called Damn Yankees, followed by a segment of CBS Playhouse called Sadbird in 1969. Thereafter, she did a few shows like Rhoda and Harry O before starring as Detective Janice Wentworth in the one-season run of ABC's Barney Miller. The actress started playing Alice in the eponymous show in 1976 while continuing to guest star in creatives like Family and Phyllis.
For over a decade, Linda Lavin starred in the CBS comedy series Alice, which was adapted from Martin Scorcese's 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Lavin received various accolades for her efforts in the show, including the Golden Globe for actress in a comedy or music in 1979 and 1980. She was nominated for the same award in 1981 but failed to win it.
After finishing Alice, Lavin kept herself busy with stage shows, making only occasional forays into television. However, she frequently guest-starred in many television shows. In 1992, she starred with Patricia Heaton on the ABC sitcom Room For Two and was also involved in shows like The OC, The Good Wife, and The Sopranos. Linda Lavin notably guest-starred in a 2002 episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Although the actress was never into films during the initial days of her career, she was eventually drawn to them. She started with supporting roles in films like The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), See You in the Morning (1989), and I Want to Go Home.
In the 21st century, she starred in multiple big-budget films like The Back-up Plan featuring Jennifer Lopez and the Jennifer Aniston-Paul Rudd starter Wanderlust. In 2014, she played an Alzheimer-affected mother in the Michael Maren film A Short History of Decay.
In 2015, Linda Lavin appeared in the Nancy Mayer comedy The Intern, starring Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro. The actress has also starred in films like Manhattan Nocturn and My Bakery in Brooklyn. During the latter stages of her career, she has starred in various creatives for Netflix, CBS, and other streaming giants.
After her first two marriages ended in divorce, the actress met actor-drummer Steve Bakunas in 2002. They married in 2005 and subsequently moved to Wilmington, N.C. They also converted their garage into the Red Barn Studio Theater and ran it together.
In 2011, Linda Lavin was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
