Linda Lavin (/ˈlævɪn/; October 15, 1937 – December 29, 2024) was an American actress and singer. Known for her roles on stage and screen, she received several awards including threeDrama Desk Awards, twoGolden Globe Awards, twoObie Awards, and aTony Award, as well as nominations for aDaytime Emmy Award and aPrimetime Emmy Award. She was inducted into theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame in 2010.

Linda Lavin
Lavin in a 1965 publicity photo
Born	(1937-10-15)October 15, 1937 Portland, Maine, U.S.
Died	December 29, 2024(2024-12-29) (aged 87) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Education	College of William & Mary HB Studio
Occupations	Actress singer
Years active	1958–2024
Known for	Alice Broadway Bound Barney Miller
Spouses	Ron Leibman ​ ​ (m. 1969;div. 1981)​ Kip Niven ​ ​ (m. 1982;div. 1992)​ Steve Bakunas ​ ​ (m. 2005)​
Awards	American Theater Hall of Fame

After acting as a child, Lavin joined theCompass Players in the late 1950s. She made her television debut inRhoda and had a recurring role inBarney Miller (1975–1976). She gained fame for playing the title role of a waitress at a roadside diner in theCBSsitcomAlice (1976–1985), a role for which she was nominated for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and won two consecutiveGolden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy. She later starred inNBC's sitcomSean Saves the World and theCBS sitcom9JKL and took recurring roles in the legal dramaThe Good Wife (2014–2015) and the sitcomB Positive (2020–2022).

On stage, she won theTony Award for Best Actress in a Play playing a strong-willed mother in theNeil Simon playBroadway Bound (1987). She was Tony-nominated for her roles inLast of the Red Hot Lovers (1970),The Diary of Anne Frank (1998),The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (2001),Collected Stories (2010), andThe Lyons (2012). She is also known for acting inIt's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman (1966),On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1967),Gypsy (1990),The Sisters Rosensweig (1993), andFollies (2011). She made her film debut inThe Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), and later had roles inI Want to Go Home (1989),See You in the Morning (1989) andBeing the Ricardos (2021).

Lavin was born inPortland, Maine, the younger daughter of David Joseph Lavin, a businessman, and Lucille Dorothy (née Potter), an opera singer.^[1][2][3] The Lavin family were active members of the localJewish community.^[4] Both sets of grandparents emigrated from Russia.^[5] Her family was musically talented, and Lavin was on stage from the age of five.^[1]

She attendedWaynflete School^[6] andDeering High School before enrolling in theCollege of William & Mary.^[1]

She studied acting atHB Studio in New York City.^[7]

In the summer of 1958, she played one of the leads inThe Common Glory,^[8] an outdoor drama written byPaul Green and staged at an amphitheater on campus. Upon her graduation from college,^[4] she had already received herActors' Equity Association card. She was a member of theCompass Players in the late 1950s.^[9]

In 1960 Lavin appeared at theEast 74th Street Theater inGeorge Gershwin'sOh, Kay!, withPenny Fuller andMarti Stevens.^[10][11][12]

Lavin began her career withBroadway appearances in the musicalA Family Affair (1962)^[13] and plays such asThe Riot Act (1963)^[14] andCarl Reiner'sSomething Different (1967).^[15] In hisNew York Times review ofJohn Guare's two one-act plays,Cop-Out (1969),Clive Barnes wrote: "Miss Lavin...carries versatility almost to the point of paranoia, and camps up a storm."^[16]

Lavin also appeared in numerousOff-Broadway productions, including the revueWet Paint (1965),^[17] the musicalThe Mad Show (1966)^[18] (in which she introduced the cabaret standard "The Boy From...", written byStephen Sondheim andMary Rodgers),^[19] andLittle Murders (1969). Lavin won theTheatre World Award forWet Paint^[20] and aDrama Desk Award forLittle Murders.^[21][22] In 1975, she appeared in theShakespeare in the Park production ofThe Comedy of Errors at theDelacorte Theater.

She "arrived at showbiz stardom with a featured role" in the musicalIt's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman (1966).^[23][24] She received her firstTony Award nomination in 1970, for her role in theNeil Simon playLast of the Red Hot Lovers (1969). Clive Barnes, in his review forThe New York Times, wrote: "Linda Lavin, eyebrows, [sic] flaunting like telegraphed messages, mouth twitching and pouting, voice as dry as thunder and with a cough like electric static, is beautiful as Elaine, the sex cat feeling coolly kittenish and looking for a safe tin roof."^[14][25] Lavin's last Broadway credit before she moved to Hollywood was inPaul Sills' Story Theatre in 1971.^[26]

In 1984, Lavin played the character of "The Mother" inLuigi Pirandello'sSix Characters in Search of an Author in a production directed by Robert Brustein at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts.^[27]

After more than a decade away, Lavin returned to the Broadway stage in 1987, winning aTony Award for Best Actress in a Play^[28] and her secondDrama Desk Award for her role as Kate in Simon's playBroadway Bound. In his review inThe New York Times,Frank Rich wrote: "One only wishes that Ms. Lavin, whose touching performance is of the same high integrity as the writing, could stay in the role forever."^[29] Theatre critic Charles McNulty wrote of her performance that it "is widely considered one of the most memorable in contemporary Broadway history, winning not just awards but praise approaching the level of myth. The theater criticGordon Rogoff, extolling 'the power available only to an actor at the height of her own command of detail,' went so far as to describe Lavin's portrayal as 'one of those textbook lessons in great acting...' "^[30]

She then starred on Broadway inGypsy as Mama Rose Hovick, replacingTyne Daly in July 1990.^[31]June Havoc saw Lavin's performance inGypsy and sent Lavin a photo of Havoc's mother, the real Rose Hovick, with a note of appreciation for Lavin's portrayal of the character.^[32]

Her subsequent Broadway roles includedThe Sisters Rosensweig, as a replacement Gorgeous Teitelbaum starting in September 1993^[33] and Mrs. Van Daan inThe Diary of Anne Frank (1997–1998), oppositeNatalie Portman, for which she garnered a Tony nomination as Featured Actress in a Play.^[26][34] In 1995 she appeared in the Off-BroadwayDeath-Defying Acts, which consists of three one-act plays; Lavin performed in theElaine May (Hotline) andWoody Allen plays (Central Park West).^[35] She was nominated for a Drama Desk Award (Outstanding Actress – Play)^[36] and won anObie Award (Performance)^[37] and theLucille Lortel Award. She also directed theater during this period.

She played Marjorie inThe Tale of the Allergist's Wife (2000–2001), co-starringTony Roberts andMichele Lee, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award, Leading Actress in a Play, and Drama Desk Award,^[38] and "nanny" for Helen (youngCarol Burnett, played bySara Niemietz andDonna Lynne Champlin) inHollywood Arms in Chicago and on Broadway in 2002.^[39]

In 2010, Lavin appeared as Ruth Steiner in a Broadway revival of the playCollected Stories oppositeSarah Paulson as her student,^[40] reprising her role for aPBS production of the play,^[41] and received a fifth Tony nomination for the role. She appeared in the new play byJon Robin Baitz,Other Desert Cities,Off-Broadway at theMitzi Newhouse Theater (now the Vivian Beaumont Theater) atLincoln Center, beginning in previews in December 2010, closing February 27, 2011.^[42] Lavin was featured in theKennedy Center (Washington, DC) production of the musicalFollies, from May 2011 to June 2011, as Hattie Walker.^[43]

She appeared in the premiere of theNicky Silver playThe Lyons at the Off-BroadwayVineyard Theatre, beginning in September 2011, through November 11.^[44]Ben Brantley,The New York Times reviewer, commented: "Watching Ms. Lavin, I found myself thinking of Nora from Ibsen'sDoll's House – well, a pursed-lipped, lemony-sour, older Nora in pseudo-Chanel, one who's never at a loss for what to say and when to say it. Rita may be a little behind schedule in discovering herself, but no one can fault the hair-trigger timing of the actress playing her or the surprising dimensions she finds within one-liners."^[45] She reprised her role in the Broadway production, which opened at theCort Theatre on April 23, 2012, and closed on July 1, 2012.^[46][47]

Lavin appeared in the Nicky Silver playToo Much Sun, which opened Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre on May 18, 2014. Ben Brantley, in his review forThe New York Times wrote: "And it's an unconditional treat to witness an actress like Ms. Lavin tuned so precisely into the writer's wavelength that script and performance become a marriage of true minds."^[48]

Lavin appeared in 2015/16 on Broadway at theSamuel J. Friedman Theatre in aManhattan Theatre Club production ofRichard Greenberg'sOur Mother's Brief Affair.^[49]

In January 2017, Lavin appeared inNew York City Opera's production of Leonard Bernstein'sCandide at the Rose Theatre atLincoln Center in the role of The Old Lady.^[50]

In 2020, Lavin performed "The Boy From..." as part ofTake Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration.^[51][52] Writing inThe New York Times, criticBen Brantley called her performance of the song "deliciously undersold," and noted that she had introduced it 54 years earlier.^[53]

She appeared on the 1966cast recordings ofThe Mad Show performingStephen Sondheim's "The Boy From...". FromIt's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman, one of her numbers, "You've Got Possibilities", was the album's best-received song and was called "The one memorable song...flirty, syncopated" by theDallas Observer.^[54]

Lavin appeared in cabaret and concert performances.^[55] In 2005 she appeared at the Empire Plush Room in San Francisco, accompanied byBilly Stritch^[56] and her husband, Steve Bakunas. TheTalkin' Broadway reviewer summed up her performance: "Linda Lavin is funny, warm and full of personality."^[57] In April 2006 she performed atBirdland (New York) "with her critically acclaimed cabaret act The Song Remembers When", with Billy Stritch.^[58] She performed with the Wilmington Symphony (Wilmington, North Carolina) in March 2012.^[59]

Her recordingPossibilities was released by Ghostlight Records in 2012. Steven Suskin wrote: "There is still that sweet, friendly sound of long ago (and 'sweet' and 'friendly' are not words you'd use to describe Lavin-the-actress)."^[60]

In 1967, Lavin made an appearance as Gloria Thorpe in atelevision version of the baseball musicalDamn Yankees withPhil Silvers.^[61] In 1969, Lavin married actorRon Leibman,^[62] and by 1973, the couple had moved toHollywood, California. After various guest appearances on episodic television series such asThe Nurses,Rhoda,Harry O, andKaz, Lavin landed a recurring role as Detective Janice Wentworth onBarney Miller during the first and second seasons (1975–1976).^[63]

She leftBarney Miller to star in the lead role inAlice, which was a sitcom success that ran from 1976 to 1985 on theCBS network. The series was based on theMartin Scorsese–directedEllen Burstyn filmAlice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Lavin portrayed Alice Hyatt, a waitress and aspiring singer, the character that Burstyn had played. Lavin performed the series' theme song, "There's a New Girl in Town," which was written byDavid Shire andAlan and Marilyn Bergman and was updated for each of the first six seasons. During the series' nine-season run, Lavin won twoGolden Globe Awards and received aPrimetime Emmy Award nomination,^[64] and gained experience directing, especially during the later seasons. Lavin also played a dual role inAlice, as Debbie Walden, the wizened and former landlady of the character Vera Louise Gorman-Novak.^[65] Lavin also made numerous television appearances outside ofAlice, including hosting her own holiday special for CBS,Linda in Wonderland (1980). She acted in two sitcoms,Room for Two (1992–93)^[65] and 1998'sConrad Bloom.^[66] InRoom for Two, she played a mother who moved in with her daughter, played byPatricia Heaton, who has a show on a local television station. The daughter gives Lavin's character her own segment, called "Just a Thought", at the end of her program.^[67]

She made numerous television guest appearances, including roles onThe Muppet Show (1979),Law & Order: Criminal Intent,The O.C.,Touched by an Angel (1999), andHBO'sThe Sopranos (2002).

She also appeared in many othertelefilms between 1967 and 1998, including:Sadbird,The Morning After,Jerry,Like Mom, Like Me,The $5.20 an Hour Dream,Another Woman's Child,Maricela,Lena: My 100 Children,Whitewash,A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes: TheAnnette Funicello Story,Stolen Memories: Secrets from the Rose Garden,For the Future: The Irvine Fertility Scandal,The Ring, andBest Friends for Life. Lavin produced and starred inA Matter of Life and Death, the 1981 telefilm based on the work of nursethanatologistJoy Ufema.^[68] She directed the 1990 telefilmFlour Babies.^[65]

Lavin provided the voice of the Mother Vulture in the animated seriesCourage the Cowardly Dog for the episode "Watch The Birdies".

After working in theater for many years, Lavin was cast in the NBC television sitcomSean Saves the World (2013–14) playingSean Hayes' pushy, meddling mother Lorna. TheLos Angeles Times interviewer noted: "A highlight of the show is the wonderful chemistry between Lavin and Hayes, who exchange repartee and quips with breezy ease. And the cast seems smitten with her."^[69]

In 2015, she guest starred as a judge approached to stop an execution in the episode ofBones titled "The Verdict in the Victims".^[70][71][72]

Lavin played Judy Roberts in theCBS sitcom9JKL (2017–18) alongsideMark Feuerstein andElliott Gould.^[73]In 2019, Lavin joined the cast of theNetflix comedy/horrorSanta Clarita Diet, starringDrew Barrymore andTimothy Olyphant.^[74] In 2020, Lavin performed the song "The Boy From..." fromThe Mad Show inTake Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration.^[75][76][77] Lavin appeared in the CBS comedyB Positive, which aired from 2020 to 2022, in a recurring role as Norma, one of the senior citizens at a local retirement home.

In June 2024, it was announced thatMax Mutchnick andDavid Kohan had created aThe Golden Girls-like TV series set inPalm Springs, withMatt Bomer cast as a Rose (played byBetty White) character type andNathan Lane as Bunny Schneiderman, a Dorothy (who was played byBea Arthur) character type. Lavin played Lane's mother, Sybil Schneiderman. The series,Mid-Century Modern streams onHulu.^[78][79][80] At the time of her death, seven of ten episodes of the series had been filmed, and Lavin's character was subsequently written out of the series in the episode "Here's To You Mrs. Schneiderman."^[81][82]

While residing inWilmington, North Carolina, Lavin worked as a stage director. One of her directorial credits was a 1998 production ofWilliam Shakespeare'sAs You Like It, updated to aBrazilian jazz style. In both Wilmington and New York City, she taughtmaster classes in acting and singing.^[83]

Lavin made her feature film debut inThe Muppets Take Manhattan (1984).^[84] Her other feature film appearances includeSee You in the Morning, starringJeff Bridges;Alain Resnais'sI Want to Go Home, oppositeGérard Depardieu (both 1989); andThe Back-up Plan (2010).^[83]

Lavin was married three times. Her first marriage to actorRon Leibman ended in divorce in 1981. Her second marriage, to actorKip Niven, whom she met on the set ofAlice, ended in a bitter divorce in 1992.^[85] While Lavin had no biological children, she was the stepmother of the children of her second husband.^[86] She married Steve Bakunas in 2005. The couple resided inWilmington, North Carolina,^[43] where they were committed community members who were working together to rehabilitate impoverished neighborhoods including renovating many homes, donating a park to the city and creating acommunity theater, the Red Barn Studio. In 1997, Lavin founded The Linda Lavin Arts Foundation in Wilmington, "to promote and foster the advancement of the performing and visual arts, with special emphasis on arts in education. Her foundation has created a theater program called Girl Friends, whose purpose is to raise the self-esteem of at-risk teenage girls of the inner city."^[83]

In September 2012, Lavin announced that she intended to sell her home in Wilmington and return to New York City.^[87] Lavin and Bakunas resided in New York City beginning circa 2013–2014.^[88] She continued to work in California as well.

Lavin battledlung cancer but continued performing. She died from cardiopulmonary arrest from complications from cancer in Los Angeles, on December 29, 2024, aged 87.^[89][90]

Putt, Barry M. Jr. (2019).Alice: Life Behind the Counter in Mel's Greasy Spoon (A Guide to the Feature Film, the TV Series, and More). Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media.ISBN 978-1629334264.

• Linda Lavin atIMDb
• Linda Lavin atRotten Tomatoes
• Linda Lavin at theInternet Broadway Database 
• Linda Lavin atPlaybill Vault 
• Linda Lavin at theInternet Off-Broadway Database
• Linda Lavin biography, as "Alice" cast member
• Linda Lavin discography atDiscogs