Linda Lavin, Star of CBS’ Alice and Tony Award Winner, Dead at 87
Actress Linda Lavin, best known to TV fans for starring in the CBS sitcom Alice, has died, TVLine has confirmed. She was 87.
According to a representative for Lavin, she died unexpectedly on Sunday due to complications from recently discovered lung cancer.
Lavin got her start on the small screen with episodes of shows like Rhoda, Phyllis and Barney Miller. Her most memorable TV role, though, was that of widowed diner waitress Alice Hyatt in the CBS sitcom Alice, which ran for nine seasons from 1976 to 1985. Lavin starred in the series for all 202 episodes, picking up a Primetime Emmy nomination in 1979 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, as well as two Golden Globe wins.
Post-Alice, Lavin co-starred in the short-lived sitcoms Room for Two (opposite Patricia Heaton) and Conrad Bloom, appeared in a number of TV movies, and guest-starred on series like The O.C., The Good Wife, Bones and Madam Secretary. More recently, her small-screen credits included the CBS comedies 9JKL and B Positive, a guest stint on Good Wife spinoff Elsbeth and, just earlier this month, three episodes of the Lisa Kudrow-Ray Romano Netflix series No Good Deed.
Lavin was also an accomplished stage actress, appearing in numerous productions on and off-Broadway. Throughout her career, she garnered six Tony Award nominations and won the Best Leading Actress in a Play trophy in 1987 for Broadway Bound.
She was next set to co-star in the Hulu comedy Mid-Century Modern, a Golden Girls-esque series led by Nathan Lane and Matt Bomer. The series, in which Lavin played mom to Lane, has three of 10 episodes left to shoot. TVLine has reached out to Hulu regarding any impact on the show’s production.
“Working with Linda was one of the highlights of our careers,” Mid-Century Modern creators David Kohan, Max Mutchnick and Jimmy Burrows said in a statement. “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.”
Added 20th Television and Hulu: “Our deepest and heartfelt condolences go to Linda Lavin’s family and loved ones. 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.”
Heaton, who played Lavin’s TV daughter on Room for Two in 1992, reflected on her experience working with Lavin in a video posted to X on Sunday.
“She was my mentor, my guardian angel,” Heaton said. “She really looked out for me, taught me a lot — not just about acting, but about life. And we had dinner a couple months ago when I was in L.A., and she was just as sharp and funny and energetic as she always has been… I’m going to miss her. She was a good friend.”
“She was so good to work with,” added The Good Wife and Elsbeth co-creator Robert King. “Such a voice. Such reality. And, yet, great comic instincts.”
RIP Linda. For me, the Alice TV show was a Sunday Night comfort in the 70’s and 80’s.
Looked forward to anything with her in it. Great in Elsbeth and No Good Deed. RIP.
I grew up watching Alice and was happy to see Linda pop up in episodes of Mom and later B Positive. I had forgotten that she was to be in a new series. Hope that they will consider honoring her when they do start filming it.
And now Polly Holiday is the only surviving original cast member for Alice.
Lavin shot 7 out of 10 episodes for Mid-Century Modern before she died. They will have to write her character out going forward or reshoot all her scenes with another actress.
Why reshoot or write her off? We all watch daytime soaps and don’t have a problem with recast. Recast her and leave the scenes she already filmed in it. They don’t even have to mention she looks different. Daytime soaps don’t even bother with explanation.
This won’t be a soap & it’s unlikely that a recast would go over well, especially if that person originally in the role did such a great job in those episodes. Some people are just irreplaceable & Linda would definitely be one of those actors.
Some legendary characters have been replaced on soaps a lot did not go over well with me. But other people like them Linda Lavin could be replaced, it’s not like she was on the show for untold years. I know this would not happen but I would like to see Polly Holliday replace her. It would be justice for how badly Linda Lavin treated her on Alice.
Why do you want Polly Holliday in Linda Lavin’s role if she’s been retired for too long a time (since 2010) and she’s probably not the best health (although who knows?)?
You have a point a lot of legendary characters have been replaced on the soaps in recent years. Some other actors never came close to the original actor, while others did only a small amount made the character their very very own and outshined the original actor.
You have a point a lot of legendary characters have been replaced on the soaps in recent years. Some other actors never came close to the original actor, while others did only a small amount made the character their very very own and out shined the original actor. I tried responding to you Jinjeon and my response went farther down not sure what happened.
I don’t see them recasting & reshooting the scenes, especially that many episodes. Doing it after one or even two episodes, yes, but not 7.
She was incredible on B positive and a lot of her more recent work that I was familiar with. A great loss for her family and for the industry.
She will always be Alice to me. RIP
She was just passing through, but if things work out, she’s going to stay
… awhile. Ba ba bum bum bummmm
Rest in peace I just saw her Friday on the Netflix no good deeds very great actor my favorite show Alice
So sad. R.I.P. She always lit up the screen with her performances.
I am looking forward to her last work with Nathan Lane.
On Alice the one who truly lit up the screen was Polly Holliday’s Flo. I personally did not like how Linda Lavin treated Polly so badly on Alice. Linda had to be the only one in the most control and she was very demanding on the Alice set. I am surprised the show lasted as long as it did becasue it was never the same and not as good after Flo left.
I hope they recast her role in Mid Century Modern. I hate when they kill characters off when the actor dies even tho most of the time it ruins the storyline. I’m sure Linda would have loved for her character to continue.
Maybe Ellen Burstyn is available.
I was going to suggest Bernadette Peters… OR, Jessica Lange loves working with Ryan Murphy and she can be really funny! Let’s wait and see….
Oh no, she’s older than Ms. Lavin, and we’re not going to have two actresses in the same role in a particular show dying and the producers being forced to recast that role twice. If you’re joking, I’m not going to have this become real.
Yes, that happened on Night Court when Selma Diamond died. They replaced her with Florence Halop who in turn passed away a season later. Finally they got it right when they cast Marsha Warfield who is still with us today.
She was a lovely lady. I grew up watching Alice, so she was a part of my childhood. Rest in peace. You will be remembered.
Room for Two was a great series. Which it has been given more of a chance.
Loved her on Alice.
RIP
Loved Linda Lavin! She was great in everything she did!
Linda Lavin was also scary good as Ursula Sussman in a “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” episode, “Shandeh”, from S2, who had her daughter-in-law killed because she wanted a divorce from her mama’s boy hubby, and since she converted to Judaism from Catholicism, Ursula was afraid she would not raise the kids in the Jewish faith. The late Ned Eisenberg – who had numerous franchise roles – was also great as Danny Sussman, her son.
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Of course, my Gex-X self also remembers Linda Lavin for “Alice”. May she rest in peace!
I’m just really disappointed, given that Linda Lavin was still active and Polly Holliday had been retired from acting since 2010 (and is said to be in poor health per a post I saw last Saturday on Quora). When I first saw the words “Linda Lavin” trending on Twitter/X last Sunday evening, and first seeing the news of Ms. Lavin’s death, I began feeling like the wrong cast member of Alice had died. I wouldn’t have minded if that was Polly Holliday passing away and Linda Lavin were the last remaining original cast member of Alice instead.😢 I guess that new Mid-Century Modern show will have to be cancelled after one season now; I wouldn’t have beared to watch it because of Ms. Lavin’s death, anyway.😭
I guess all the people giving my other comments a thumbs down. Sadly don’t like to hear the truth about how badly Linda Lavin Treated Polly Holliday, because she was the true breakout character on Alice. Linda was very difficult on the Alice set she demanded that scripts had to be rewritten to make her funnier. And that she got all the better lines because she didn’t like that the fact that the Flo character was more popular than she was. Polly was a true professional who did not deserve Linda’s nasty treatment towards her, just because she was jealous of Polly. All of this happened and is well documented I also read other articles where Linda treated many others very badly. Linda for me was the weakest character on Alice and her singing on the show was just awful.
I was first exposed to Linda they way many of us were – on Alice. But I learned over the years what a powerhouse performer she was, and mastered every medium. Whenever I was watching anything and Linda showed up, I knew I was in for a treat. RIP Linda Lavin.
She will be missed. Deepest sympathy to her family.