Celebrity

Linda Lavin, Sitcom Legend, Dead at 87

The Tony-winning actress died of complications related to lung cancer.

CBS via Getty Images

Linda Lavin, the Tony-winning actress who played single working mother Alice Hyatt on CBS’ Alice, died Sunday, Dec. 29 due to complications from recently discovered lung cancer, her rep told The Hollywood Reporter. Lavin was 87.

The Portland, Maine native was born Oct. 15, 1937, to singer and radio personality Lucille and furniture business owner David. Graduating from the College of William & Mary as a theater arts major in 1959, Lavin moved to New York, where she soon began performing in off-Broadway shows including a revival of George and Ira Gershwinโ€™s Oh, Kay!

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In 1962, Lavin got her big break after being pulled from the chorus and being given a speaking part on Broadway. Lavin would go on to be nominated for six Tony Awards throughout her career, including for her role as Elaine in 1970โ€™s Last of the Red Hot Lovers, before winning in 1987 for her performance as Kate in Broadway Bound. Her other Tony nominations came in 1998, 2001, 2010 and 2012 for her roles in The Diary of Anne Frank, The Tale of the Allergistโ€™s Wife, Collected Stories and The Lyons, respectively, and Lavin was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2011.

Alice cast members Polly Holliday (as Flo), Linda Lavin (as Alice Hyatt) and Beth Howland (as Vera Louise Gorman). (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

On television, Lavin appeared as the recurring character Det. Janice Wentworth during the first two seasons of ABCโ€™s Barney Miller when she was hired to star in Alice in 1976 โ€” a show based on the 1974 Martin Scorsese film Alice Doesnโ€™t Live Here Anymore starring Ellen Burstyn in an Oscar-winning performance.

In Alice‘s nine seasons, Lavin earned an Emmy nomination and two Golden Globes, becoming a cultural icon for working women and single mothers. She marched in support of the Equal Rights Amendment and was invited to join the National Commission on Working Women.

In 1992, Lavin told Charlie Rose that she heard from women “by the thousands” who were saying, “Thank you, thank you for showing me โ€˜me,โ€™ 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.โ€

Linda Lavin in 1983. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

Lavin also took to the big screen, appearing in films including The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), See You in the Morning (1989), I Want to Go Home (1989), Wanderlust (2012), The Intern (2015), How to Be a Latin Lover (2017), and Being the Ricardos (2021).

Most recently, Lavin appeared on CBS’ B Positive and Elsbeth and Netflixโ€™s No Good Deed. She was co-starring on the Hulu comedy Mid-Century Modern at the time of her death.