Linda Lavin, "Alice" Star and Tony Winner, Dies at 87: 'A Beautiful Soul'

12/30/2024 05:06 AM

Lavin starred on the hit sitcom from 1976 to 1985 and most recently appeared in the Netflix series 'No Good Deed' alongside Lisa Kudrow

Linda Lavin has died unexpectedly at the age of 87.

Lavin was a Broadway star and Tony nominee who guest-starred on Barney Miller before getting her own TV series, Alice. She returned to Broadway in the '80s and won a Tony, while continuing to appear on TV and in film. The actress had been promoting her new Netflix series No Good Deed and filming for her upcoming Hulu series Mid-Century Modern just a few weeks ago. Her unexpected death on Sunday, Dec. 29. was confirmed by her PR representative, per Deadline. The rep confirmed to the outlet that her shock death was due to complications from recently discovered lung cancer.

Lavin was born in Portland, Maine, in 1937. Both sets of grandparents emigrated from Russia, and her family was involved in the local Jewish community. Her mother, who had been a singer, encouraged her toward the theater.

"There's a picture of me at 1 1/2 — I use it at the end of my show — where I'm in my rompers, looking out at the world with wonder and joy and hope," Lavin told PEOPLE in 1992. "That's still me. I am still her."

She acted in high school and during her time in college at Virginia's William and Mary. She eventually ended up in New York City. "It took me 10 years to become established in New York," she told PEOPLE in 1978. In 1966, she appeared in the famous Broadway flop It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman. 

Though the musical was unsuccessful, Lavin sang the show's most famous song, "You've Got Possibilities." She heard it for the first time while auditioning for the show, she told BroadwayWorld in 2018.

"If you've seen that show and listened to that song, you know it's an impossible song to learn. It's got 87 verses, and it changes keys a million times," she said. The producers wanted a blonde, so she wore a wig to the audition. "By that time, I knew the song backwards and forwards, and they gave me the part right there and then," she recalled.

Other early theater credits for Lavin included 1967's Something Different, 1970's Paul Sills' Story Theatre and 1969's Last of the Red Hot Lovers, which earned her a Tony nomination. In 1969, she married actor Ron Leibman, and they moved to Los Angeles in 1973.

Her early TV roles included episodes of The Nurses, Rhoda, Harry O and Kaz. She landed a recurring spot as Detective Janice Wentworth on Barney Miller and appeared in the show's first two seasons.

Executives, impressed with her work on Barney Miller, cast her on Alice, a sitcom based on Ellen Burstyn's Oscar-winning role in 1974's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Lavin was worried, she said in 1978: "How can you do something that already's been done so well?" 

But she succeeded and the show — in which she played a widow and single mom who becomes a waitress in Phoenix — was a success. Philip McKeon played her son. Lavin, who had no children, told PEOPLE she took the role so seriously she asked Gloria Steinem for advice.

"Alice's foremost responsibility is to her kid, but her first responsibility is to herself," she said. "A lot of shows depict women as backbiting, clawing and competitive for the attention of men. I want this program to show women who are lonely and brave and have a sense of humor. Alice is a woman who is scared shitless. What I like to do is to make people laugh and, in the same moment, reach out to millions and say, 'You're not alone.' "

Alice ran from 1976 to 1985. Lavin received one Emmy nomination and won two Golden Globes. She told the Los Angeles Times in 2013 that the show politicized her and made her a figure in the women's movement. "I was asked to speak at events," she said. "I had never been asked to speak in public before. I was a musical comedy actress." She had to get "educated" on important issues.

In 1981, she and Leibman divorced. In 1982, she wed actor-director Clifford "Kip" Niven and became stepmother to his two children. They divorced in 1992. In the 1991 divorce proceedings, she accused him of mental and emotional cruelty, adultery and "profligate spending" of her income. She told PEOPLE in 1992 that testifying was "painful and empowering."

Lavin returned to Broadway in the late '80s and won a Tony for the play Broadway Bound. She ultimately received four more nominations, including for 1998's The Diary of Anne Frank and 2012's The Lyons. She also worked as a cabaret performer throughout her life.

Lavin starred in the 1992 TV series Room for Two and appeared in episodes of The Sopranos, The Good Wife, Bones, The O.C. and Elsbeth. She also had a main role on the 2013 sitcom Sean Saves the World. Beginning in 2020, she appeared on the CBS sitcom B Positive, and she also had a recurring role on the 2024 Netflix limited series No Good Deed. Her film roles included 1967's Damn Yankees!, 1984's The Muppets Take Manhattan, 2015's The Intern and 2021's Being the Ricardos.

Lavin plays Phyllis in No Good Deed alongside Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano and attended the show's premiere in Hollywood on Dec. 4., the last time she was seen in public. At that event she noted to PEOPLE that she'd been doing more stuff on the big screen recently. "That's pretty much where the career is flowing right now. I always go with the material is," she said.

The star also reflected to finding inspiration for her roles from her everyday life. "As an actor, I like to expose myself through the character," she added. "I have a wonderful life, a wonderful husband who's standing over there and I have a very rich and full life and I'm happy to show up. I'm thrilled to show up at this time in my life. I'm really grateful."

Series creator Liz Feldman paid tribute to the star on Instagram, posting: "Getting to work with you once was an honor and a joy. I loved writing for you on 9JKL all those years ago. I just loved YOU. Being around you. In your magnetic orbit. That we got to collaborate again on No Good Deed was simply a gift. You were, as always, incredibly gracious, totally hilarious and pitch perfect. Ready to play and full of life. Your warmth and kindness was unparalleled."

Ahead of the holidays Lavin had filmed seven episodes of Mid-Century Modern with production scheduled to resume in January, per Rolling Stone. Producer Max Mutchnick and David Kohan and director and executive producer James Burrows released a joint statement following Lavin's death, per the outlet, saying, "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."

Many of Lavin's costars shared memories of her on social media following the news of her heath. Patricia Heaton, who starred with her in Room for Two, called the actress "a true friend and a total force of nature" in a post on X, while Criminal Minds actor Joe Mantegna posted, "One of the rarest gifts in life is to make a 'new' old friend. Linda Lavin was that for me and my family."

"There used to be a saying in the industry that if you made it to 70, things would start picking up," she told The New York Times in 2014. "They were right. I have, and they did."

In 2005, Lavin married artist and drummer Steve Bakunas, whom she'd met in 1999. "I had no interest in another romance or marriage," she told CBS in 2020, saying their bond "surprised the hell outta me."

"I didn't think I was very good at relationships. And I found out that it takes work, and I'm willing to do the work, and so is he. Somebody said to me: 'Wear life like a loose garment, Linda. Lighten up!' " Bakunas also collaborated with her on her cabaret act.

Lavin is survived by her husband.