Linda Lavin, the beloved veteran stage and TV actress known for her Emmy-nominated role in the 1976 sitcom Alice and for her Tony-winning performance in the 1986 play Broadway Bound, died today, Dec. 29. She was 87.
The news comes as a shock as Lavin has been working as recently as this month, promoting her new Netflix series No Good Deed and filming the upcoming Hulu comedy series Mid-Century Modern, on which she is one of the leads. She died unexpectedly due to complications from recently discovered lung cancer, her PR representative told Deadline.
A former child stage actor, Lavin started her Broadway career in the 1960s, appearing in the musical It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman and the play Last of the Red Hot Lovers, which earned her the first of six Tony Award nominations in 1970.
For the next five decades, Lavin juggled theater and Hollywood careers. Following a memorable recurring role on the ABC sitcom Barney Miller from 1975-1976, she landed the the title role of a roadside diner waitress and widowed young mother in the 1976 comedy series Alice, based on the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, which ran on CBS for nine seasons and 202 episodes.
Lavin has worked steadily in television since. Loved by series creators and producers, she found a new gear over the past decade with a slew of major roles, including series regular turns on comedy series Sean Saves the World on NBC as well as 9JKL and B Positive on CBS. This year alone, she guest starred on CBS’ Elsbeth, recurred on Netflix’s No Good Deed, which is currently streaming on Netflix, and was a series regular on the upcoming Hulu comedy series Mid-Century Modern, taping her most recent episode just a couple of weeks ago.
Mid-Century Modern, in which Lavin starred alongside Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer and Nathan Lee Graham, had filmed seven episodes of its 10-episode order before the holiday break. Production on the multi-camera comedy, created/executive produced by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan and directed/executive produced by James Burrows, was scheduled to resume in mid-January. It is unclear how the show will proceed without one of its leads.
“Working with Linda was one of the highlights of our careers,” Mutchnick, Kohan and Burrows said. “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.”
((Excerpt) Read more in: Deadline