# Linda Lavin
**Linda Lavin** (October 15, 1937 – December 29, 2024) was an American actress and singer who won a Tony Award for her stage work and became a television icon as the title character of the CBS sitcom *Alice*, playing waitress Alice Hyatt from 1976 to 1985.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) The role brought her an Emmy nomination and two [Golden Globe Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-globe-awards), and came to symbolize the working-class woman of the 1970s and 1980s.[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | October 15, 1937, Portland, Maine; December 29, 2024, Malibu, California, at age 87[3](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/linda-lavin) • [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/) |
| Signature role | Alice Hyatt on *Alice* (CBS, 1976–1985), a widowed mother waitressing at Mel's Diner outside Phoenix; she sang the theme song, "There's a New Girl in Town"[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) |
| Television honors | Emmy nomination, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, 1979; two Golden Globe Awards[3](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/linda-lavin) • [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/) |
| Stage honors | Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for Neil Simon's *Broadway Bound* (1987), with Drama Desk, Outer Critics, and Helen Hayes awards; six Tony nominations in all[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) • [4](https://atlantictheater.org/bio/linda-lavin/) |
| Other honors | Obie Award for *Death Defying Acts* (1995); Theatre World Award (1965); Theatre Hall of Fame induction (2011)[5](https://www.goodmantheatre.org/artists/linda-lavin/) • [6](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/linda-lavin/) • [4](https://atlantictheater.org/bio/linda-lavin/) |
| Marriages | Ron Leibman (1969–1981), Kip Niven (1982–1992), Steve Bakunas (2005–2024)[7](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/linda-lavin-49068) |
| Cause of death | Complications from recently discovered lung cancer; the death certificate listed cardiopulmonary arrest from the underlying cancer[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) • [8](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-01-28/linda-lavin-dead-alice-cause-of-death) |
## Early life and stage beginnings
Lavin grew up in [Portland, Maine](https://www.edgepedia.org/portland-maine), in a musical family; her mother, Lucille, had trained as an opera singer, and Lavin was on stage from the age of 5.[9](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0492089/bio/) • [10](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/12/linda-lavin-obituary) She attended the College of William and Mary in Virginia, whose theater program ran year-round, performed summer stock there, and graduated with a theater degree already holding an Equity card.[9](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0492089/bio/) • [10](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/12/linda-lavin-obituary)
Moving to New York, she sang in nightclubs and worked off-Broadway, making her off-Broadway debut in a 1960 revival of *Oh, Kay!* and her Broadway debut in 1962 in the musical *A Family Affair*.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) • [6](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/linda-lavin/) Producer and director Hal Prince gave her what she called her first big break by casting her as Sydney, the secretary in the 1966 musical comedy *It's a Bird ... It's a Plane ... It's Superman*, where her number "You've Got Possibilities" drew critical notice.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) • [6](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/linda-lavin/) In 1969, director [Alan Arkin](https://www.edgepedia.org/alan-arkin) hired her for an off-Broadway revival of Jules Feiffer's *Little Murders*, and that same year she earned her first Tony nomination as Elaine in [Neil Simon](https://www.edgepedia.org/neil-simon)'s *Last of the Red Hot Lovers*, establishing that she could act comedy as well as sing.[11](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/linda-lavin-takes-comedy-stage-32996/) • [1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538)
## Alice and television stardom
After Broadway success, Lavin moved to Hollywood in the mid-1970s.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) Her first notable television part was the recurring character Detective Janet Wentworth on ABC's *Barney Miller* in the 1975–76 season.[12](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/linda-lavin/umc.cpc.15lq0kh63am1yh4q8x4j8lmr) In 1976 she was chosen to star in a CBS sitcom adapted from *Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore*, Martin Scorsese's 1974 film for which [Ellen Burstyn](https://www.edgepedia.org/ellen-burstyn) had won a Best Actress Oscar.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538)
The title was shortened to *Alice*, and Lavin played Alice Hyatt, a widowed mother with a 12-year-old son who, intending to resume a singing career in California, takes a job at a roadside diner outside Phoenix when her car breaks down.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) • [10](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/12/linda-lavin-obituary) The cast included [Polly Holliday](https://www.edgepedia.org/polly-holliday) as the tart-tongued waitress Flo, whose "Kiss my grits" became a national catchphrase, [Beth Howland](https://www.edgepedia.org/beth-howland) as Vera, and [Vic Tayback](https://www.edgepedia.org/vic-tayback) as Mel, the diner's gruff owner.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) • [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/) The series drifted around the CBS schedule for its first two seasons, then became a hit leading into *All in the Family* on Sunday nights in October 1977 and ranked among primetime's top 10 series in four of the next five seasons.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) It ran nine seasons, from 1976 to 1985, ending after 202 episodes.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) • [10](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/12/linda-lavin-obituary)
The role carried a public meaning beyond entertainment. In 1979, the National Commission of Working Women polled its constituents and found they considered Alice, of all prime-time television characters, the one who represented them best.[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/) Lavin said the part "totally politicized" her: she became involved in equal-pay advocacy and efforts to pass the [Equal Rights Amendment](https://www.edgepedia.org/equal-rights-amendment), spoke at labor rallies and women's rights marches, and sometimes appeared in public in her Alice uniform because audiences knew what the character stood for.[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/) • [13](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/linda-lavin-ive-worked-more-in-these-2-12-months-than-i-have-in-2-12-years/) The role earned her a 1979 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and two Golden Globe Awards.[3](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/linda-lavin) • [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/)
Using the series as a springboard, she directed episodes of *Alice* and formed her own production company, Big Deal Films, Inc., producing and starring in CBS television movies such as *The $5.20 an Hour Dream* (1980).[12](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/linda-lavin/umc.cpc.15lq0kh63am1yh4q8x4j8lmr)
## Return to Broadway
When *Alice* ended, Lavin immediately returned to the theater and won the 1987 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for Neil Simon's *Broadway Bound*, playing the playwright's Jewish mother; the performance also brought Drama Desk, Outer Critics, and [Helen Hayes](https://www.edgepedia.org/helen-hayes) awards.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) • [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/) Reviewing the play in The New York Times, Frank Rich wrote that one only wished Lavin "could stay in the role forever."[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/)
Her later Broadway and off-Broadway work included an Obie Award for *Death Defying Acts* (1995) and Tony nominations for *The Diary of Anne Frank* (1998), Charles Busch's *The Tale of the Allergist's Wife* (2000), Donald Margulies's *Collected Stories* (2010), and Nicky Silver's *The Lyons* (2012).[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/) • [4](https://atlantictheater.org/bio/linda-lavin/) She also succeeded original stars in two long-running shows, replacing [Tyne Daly](https://www.edgepedia.org/tyne-daly) as Rose in *Gypsy* and [Madeline Kahn](https://www.edgepedia.org/madeline-kahn) in *The Sisters Rosensweig*.[10](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/12/linda-lavin-obituary) Her last Broadway appearance came in 2016 in Richard Greenberg's *Our Mother's Brief Affair*.[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/)
## Later screen work and the Red Barn
Lavin's screen career continued alongside the stage. Her films included *The Muppets Take Manhattan* (1984, a cameo), *The Back-Up Plan* (2010), in which she played [Jennifer Lopez](https://www.edgepedia.org/jennifer-lopez)'s grandmother, *A Short History of Decay* (2014), *Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase* (2019), and *Being the Ricardos* (2021).[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) • [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/) On television she starred in the short-lived 1990s sitcoms *Room for Two* and *Conrad Bloom*, and later appeared in *Sean Saves the World*, *Mom*, *9JKL*, *B Positive*, *Santa Clarita Diet*, and a 2024 guest role in *Elsbeth*, the spinoff of *The Good Wife*.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) • [3](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/linda-lavin) • [10](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/12/linda-lavin-obituary)
**Wilmington years.** With her third husband, the artist and musician Steve Bakunas, whom she married in 2005, Lavin converted an old automotive garage in [Wilmington, North Carolina](https://www.edgepedia.org/wilmington-north-carolina), into the 50-seat Red Barn Studio Theatre, which opened in 2007.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) Their productions there included *Doubt*, *Glengarry Glen Ross*, *Rabbit Hole*, and *The Tale of the Allergist's Wife*, the last of which Lavin also starred in on Broadway, earning a Tony nomination.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) She also taught acting, including a master class at [William and Mary](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-and-mary), and oversaw an arts foundation dedicated to empowering young women through the performing arts.[14](https://www.portlandmonthly.com/pdf/WG18%20Linda%20Lavin.pdf)
**Final roles.** Lavin was working until the end of her life. She appeared in three 2024 episodes of the Netflix comedy *No Good Deed* as a nosy neighbor, and had completed seven episodes of the Hulu series *Mid-Century Modern*, playing Nathan Lane's mother, when she died; the series addressed her death within its first season.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) • [15](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2024-12-30/linda-lavin-appreciation-alice-no-good-deed) • [16](https://www.tvinsider.com/1182407/mid-century-modern-linda-lavin-death-lung-cancer-sybil-heart-attack/) She received posthumous 2025 nominations for her *Mid-Century Modern* performance from the Online Film & Television Association, the Dorian Awards, the Astra Television Awards, and the Gotham TV Awards.[17](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0492089/awards)
## Death
Lavin died on December 29, 2024, at her home in Malibu, California, at age 87.[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/) Her representative attributed the death to complications from recently discovered lung cancer.[1](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538) Accounts differ on the timing of the diagnosis: her husband told The Washington Post the cancer was diagnosed 10 days before her death,[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/) while The Guardian wrote that she died weeks after the diagnosis.[10](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/12/linda-lavin-obituary) Her death certificate, issued by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, listed the immediate cause as cardiopulmonary arrest due to the underlying lung cancer.[8](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-01-28/linda-lavin-dead-alice-cause-of-death) She was survived by her husband, two stepchildren from her second marriage, a sister, seven grandchildren, and a great-grandson.[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/)
## References
1. [Linda Lavin, Tony-winning Broadway actor who starred in the landmark sitcom 'Alice,' dies at 87, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/d2fd2a9ffc3f4c078ea4d86da877d538)
2. [Linda Lavin, Broadway actress who starred as TV's 'Alice,' dies at 87, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/01/03/linda-lavin-alice-tv-dead/)
3. [Linda Lavin, Emmy Awards and Nominations, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/linda-lavin)
4. [Linda Lavin, Atlantic Theater Company biography](https://atlantictheater.org/bio/linda-lavin/)
5. [Linda Lavin, Goodman Theatre artist page](https://www.goodmantheatre.org/artists/linda-lavin/)
6. [Linda Lavin, Masterworks Broadway](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/linda-lavin/)
7. [Linda Lavin, IBDB (Internet Broadway Database)](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/linda-lavin-49068)
8. ['Alice' star Linda Lavin's immediate cause of death revealed, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-01-28/linda-lavin-dead-alice-cause-of-death)
9. [Linda Lavin Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0492089/bio/)
10. [Linda Lavin obituary, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/12/linda-lavin-obituary)
11. [Linda Lavin Takes Comedy to the Stage, Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/linda-lavin-takes-comedy-stage-32996/)
12. [Linda Lavin Movies and Shows, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/linda-lavin/umc.cpc.15lq0kh63am1yh4q8x4j8lmr)
13. [Linda Lavin: "I've worked more in these 2½ months than I have in 2½ years", CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/linda-lavin-ive-worked-more-in-these-2-12-months-than-i-have-in-2-12-years/)
14. [The childhood home of Linda Lavin, Portland Monthly](https://www.portlandmonthly.com/pdf/WG18%20Linda%20Lavin.pdf)
15. [For 50 years, Linda Lavin was TV's go-to touch of class, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2024-12-30/linda-lavin-appreciation-alice-no-good-deed)
16. [How 'Mid-Century Modern' Handled Linda Lavin's Death, Explained, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/1182407/mid-century-modern-linda-lavin-death-lung-cancer-sybil-heart-attack/)
17. [Linda Lavin Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0492089/awards)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames Ki to La*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license