⁠Who was Linda Lavin? Tony-winning Broadway actress dies at 87

Linda Lavin, the Tony-winning Broadway actor and star of the 1976 sitcom Alice, passed away today, December 29, at age 87. Deadline has reported that her untimely demise was the result of complications from "recently discovered lung cancer."

Lavin was born in Portland, Maine, to an opera singer. She began her career in the early 1960s, and some of her earliest credits include Oh, Kay! (1960), A Family Affair, (1962), and Last of the Red Hot Lovers, for which she was nominated for a Tony in 1969. In her private life, she was married thrice: the first time to Ron Leibman, the second to Kip Niven, and the third to Steve Bakunas.

---

The life and legacy of actress Linda Lavin explored

Deadline reported that Linda Lavin's demise was untimely, as she was working just earlier this month to promote her latest Netflix series No Good Deed. In it, she stars alongside Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano. She was also on set filming for Matt Bomer and Nathan Lane's forthcoming Hulu comedy series Mid-Century Modern.

Following her start on Broadway, Lavin ventured into Hollywood as well. She held a role on the ABC sitcom Barney Miller for a year, from 1975-1976, and it was then that she was hired for the cast of Alice. The show, created by Robert Getchell, was directed by Martin Scorsese.

Based on the 1974 by Warner Bros., Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, the show saw Lavin embody the titular character, who was a widowed young mother working as a diner waitress. Working at Mel's Diner, the mom of a young son tries her best to make ends meet. The CBS show spanned nine seasons and over 200 episodes.

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Linda Lavin reflected on what it was like working on Alice in 2012:

"I knew it behooved me to learn about single mothers and working women,” she said. “So I went to Gloria Steinem, whom I had met briefly, and she hooked me up with writers and columnists and newspeople who were writing about working women. I learned that Alice represented 80 percent of all the women who work in this country who were still struggling at 69 cents to the dollar that men were making for the same quality of work. Suddenly, I had a rhetoric, I had a commitment.”

Lavin was a vocal supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment and working on the National Commission on Working Women, she would often address the masses while sporting her waitress uniform from the show, “so she would speak for me.” Back in 1992, she told Charlie Rose that women "by the thousands" were contacting her:

"[They were saying,] thank you, thank you for showing me ‘me,’ thank you for being real, thank you for showing what the issues are, thank you for giving me hope, thank you for showing me that if Alice can do it, I can do it.”

Over the course of her decades-long career, Linda Lavin can be credited with several roles, including on Sean Saves the World, 9JKL, and B Positive. As for Mid-Century Modern, Deadline has revealed that the late actress filmed 7 episodes out of the ten before the cast went on their holiday break. Productions were expected to resume in mid-January.

At the time of writing, it remains unclear how filming will pick up in the wake of Linda Lavin's death. Mutchnick, Kohan, and Burrows said to the outlet:

"Working with Linda was one of the highlights of our careers. 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.”

Per the outlet, Hulu and 20th Television also weighed in with a joint statement.

“Our deepest and heartfelt condolences go to Linda Lavin’s family and loved ones,” the companies said. “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.”

---

Linda Lavin leaves behind her husband, Steve Bakunas, whom she has been married to for 19 years.