R.I.P. Linda Lavin (US sitcom "Alice", stage show, etc.)

    Linda Lavin, Star of TV's 'Alice' and a Tony Winner, Dies at 87
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    Linda Lavin, star of CBS' long-running sitcom "Alice" and a
    Tony winner for Neil Simon's play "Broadway Bound" who remained
    active in TV and on stage, died Sunday. She was 87.
    A representative for Lavin confirmed the actress died
    unexpectedly Sunday due to complications from lung cancer that
    had been recently discovered. As recently as Dec. 4 Lavin
    attended the premiere of Netflix's dark comedy series
    "No Good Deed" at the streamer's Tudum Theater in Hollywood.
    Lavin was also ready to co-star with Matt Bomer and Nathan Lane
    in the upcoming Hulu comedy "Mid-Century Modern," which is in
    the midst of filming its first season. The show hails from
    "Will & Grace" creators/executive producers David Kohan and
    Max Mutchnick and director-producer James Burrows for
    20th Television.
    "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," Kohan, Mutchnick
    and Burrows said in a joint statement.
    Hulu and 20th Television, both part of Disney, also paid
    tribute to the veteran thespian.
    "Our deepest and heartfelt condolences go to Linda Lavin's
    family and loved ones," the statement from the streamer and
    studio said. "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."
    Lavin established herself as a beloved character actor with her
    decade-long stint on "Alice," the CBS comedy series adapted from 
    Martin Scorsese's 1974 film "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore,"
    with Ellen Burstyn in the title role. The series, which ran from
    1976-85, starred Lavin as Alice Hyatt, a widow with a young son
    (played by Philip McKeon) who starts life again in Arizona,
    where she works at Mel's Diner (whose eponymous owner was played
    by Vic Tayback), alongside fellow waitresses Flo (Polly Holliday)
    and Vera (Beth Howland).
    Lavin was Emmy nominated for her work on the series in 1979. She
    won the Golden Globe for actress in a comedy or music for "Alice"
    in 1979 and 1980 and was nommed again in 1981.
    "Alice" was a top-30 show throughout its first eight seasons,
    finishing the 1979-80 season at No. 4, before finally dropping
    off in its last season. The series subsequently appeared in
    syndication.
    In 2015 she appeared in Nancy Meyers' comedy "The Intern,"
    starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway, and she had the films
    "My Bakery in Brooklyn" and "Manhattan Nocturne" set for release
    in 2016. In the last decade, Lavin was busy with roles on such
    series as Netflix's "No Good Deed" and CBS' "Elsbeth" as well as
    the CBS comedy "9JKL." Other recent TV shots include CBS'
    "B Positive," Amazon Prime's "Being the Ricardos," IFC's
    "Brockmire," Netflix's "Santa Clarita Diet," CBS'
    "Madam Secretary," "Mom" and "The Good Wife," Fox's "Bones" and
    "The O.C.," "HBO's "The Sopranos" and "Room 104" and more. Film
    roles included 2019's "Girls Weekend," 2017's "How to Be a
    Latin Lover" and 2010's "The Back-up Plan."
    Though Lavin made appearances on television after "Alice," she was
    actually more of a stage actress - one who was Tony nominated six
    times, for featured actress in a play in 1970 for Neil Simon's
    "Last of the Red Hot Lovers"; leading actress in a play in 1987
    for Simon's "Broadway Bound," which she went on to win; featured
    actress in a play in 1998 for "The Diary of Anne Frank"; leading
    actress in a play in 2001 for Charles Busch's "The Tale of the
    Allergist's Wife"; leading actress in a play in 2010 for Donald
    Margulies' "Collected Stories"; and leading actress in a play in
    2012 for Nicky Silver's "The Lyons."
    Lavin was noted for her charismatic work in both drama and comedy,
    to say nothing of musicals. When "The Lyons" was still
    Off Broadway, the New York Times praised her in particular for
    "the surprising dimensions she finds within one-liners."
    In 1990 Lavin replaced Tyne Daly in the starring role of Rose in
    a Broadway revival production of the musical "Gypsy." In 1994 she
    was a replacement in Wendy Wasserstein's "The Sisters Rosenzweig,"
    and in 2002 she starred in "Hollywood Arms," written by
    Carol Burnett and her daughter Carrie Hamilton.
    After "Alice" Lavin, kept busy with theater work, making only
    occasional forays into TV. But the Peak TV moment of the past
    decade kept her busy with a steady stream of guest shots and
    supporting roles in comedies and dramas. She starred with
    Patricia Heaton as a sparring mother and daughter on the ABC
    sitcom "Room for Two" in 1992, and she was a series regular on
    the brief series "Conrad Bloom" in 1998 and Sean Hayes vehicle
    "Sean Saves the World" in 2013-14.
    She appeared in a number of TV movies, and guested on shows
    ranging from "Touched by an Angel" and "The OC" to "The Good Wife"
    and "The Sopranos," on the latter of which she appeared as a
    psychotherapist that Tony Soprano's daughter Meadow goes to see.
    She memorably guested on a 2002 episode of "Law & Order: Criminal
    Intent" as a ruthless Jewish matriarch who has her
    daughter-in-law murdered.
    Born in Portland, Maine, to a mother, Lucille Potter Lavin, who
    once a coloratura soprano opera singer onstage and on the radio,
    Lavin first took the stage at the age of 5. She graduated from
    the College of William and Mary in 1959 with a degree in theater.
    The actress made her Broadway debut in 1962 in the Harold
    Prince-directed musical comedy "A Family Affair," followed by
    "The Riot Act" the next year. She returned to the Rialto in 1966,
    again for Prince, in the musical comedy "It's a Bird...It's a Plane
    ...It's Superman." Also during the 1960s, she appeared on Broadway
    in "Something Different," written and directed by Carl Reiner,
    and John Guare's "Cop-Out." Other New York credits during the
    period include "Oh, Kay!" in 1960, "On a Clear Day, You Can See
    Forever" in 1966 and 1973's "The Enemy Is Dead." Also, for TV,
    she appeared in a 1967 production of "Damn Yankees."
    Lavin made her television debut in a 1963 episode of
    "The Doctors and Nurses"; after "Damn Yankees" she appeared in a
    1969 segment of "CBS Playhouse" called "Sadbird." There were a
    few TV movies and guest appearances on "Rhoda" and "Harry O"
    before she did a one-season run from 1975-76 on ABC's hit police
    comedy "Barney Miller" as Det. Janice Wentworth." After starting
    "Alice" in 1976 she continued guested on other shows, including
    "Phyllis" and "Family."
    For decades, the actress never really had a film career; she
    played Kermit's doctor in "The Muppets Take Manhattan" in 1984;
    in 1989 she had supporting roles in Alan J. Pakula's "See You in
    the Morning" and Alain Resnais' Jules Feiffer-penned "I Want to
    Go Home." But she was drawn to film later in her career. She had
    supporting roles in Alan Poul's Jennifer Lopez vehicle
    "The Back-up Plan" in 2010 and Jennifer Aniston-Paul Rudd comedy
    "Wanderlust" in 2012, and was excellent as an
    Alzheimer's-afflicted mother in Michael Maren's 2014 film
    "A Short History of Decay."
    She appeared on Broadway in 2016 in "Our Mother's Brief Affair."
    Variety said: "Not even the sainted Linda Lavin can save the
    deeply unpleasant character she plays in 'Our Mother's Brief
    Affair,' a lazy play by Richard Greenberg commissioned and first
    produced by South Coast Rep, now being given a Broadway airing by
    Manhattan Theater Club. Stubbornly lacking in dramatic tension,
    the uneventful narrative features a mean-spirited woman who may
    or may not be on her deathbed, recounting a closely held secret
    to her disagreeable grown children."
    After meeting actor-drummer Steve Bakunas during the 2002 run of
    "Hollywood Arms," the couple married in 2005 and subsequently
    established residence in Wilmington, N.C., and converted a garage
    into the Red Barn Studio Theatre, which they ran together. The
    actress appeared there in productions of "Doubt," "Collected
    Stories," "Driving Miss Daisy" and "The Tale of the Allergist's
    Wife," among others, and also directed plays in the region.
    Lavin was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2011.
    She was thrice married, the first time to actor Ron Liebman from
    1969-81, the second time to actor Kip Niven from 1982-92.
    Lavin is survived by third husband Bakunas.
    <https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/linda-lavin-dead-alice-tony-winner-1236261740/>