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Linda Lavin Dead: ‘Alice’ Actress Dies at 87 Due to Complications From Recently Discovered Lung Cancer
Linda Lavin, the star of the television series Alice, has died. She was 87 years old.
Her PR representative confirmed the news to Deadline on Sunday, December 29, saying she “passed unexpectedly due to complications from recently discovered lung cancer.”
Lavin’s career spanned decades, earning critical acclaim for her work on television and in theater. She starred as Alice Hyatt in the CBS sitcom Alice from 1976 to 1985, earning an Emmy nomination for the role in 1979 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Additionally, Lavin earned two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy in 1978 and 1979 for Alice.
“Alice represented 80 percent of all the women who work in this country who are single mothers and fighting for equal pay and benefits like health care and childcare,” she told Closer in September 2021 of the life-changing show. “My favorite thing about it was that it inspired women to go after a better life for themselves. And over the years, it reached five generations of kids, families and women.”
And her talent also transcended onto the Broadway stage. She earned a Tony in 1987 for Best Leading Actress in a Play for Broadway Bound, as well as five more nominations for other plays she was in, including Last of the Red Hot Lovers and Collected Stories.
From 1992 to 1993, Lavin played Edie Kurland in the sitcom Room for Two, alongside Patricia Heaton, Peter Michael Goetz and Paula Kelly.
“I just heard the news that my dear friend Linda Lavin died . Totally unexpected, even at the age of 87. A true friend and a total force of nature,” Heaton wrote on X after Lavin’s death.
Lavin also starred as Yvette Slosch in Yvette Slosch, Agent in 2020. Most recently, Lavin appeared as Norma in B Positive from 2020 to 2022 and the 2021 film Being the Ricardos. She also portrayed Gloria Blecher in a 2024 episode of Elsbeth and Phyllis Adelman in No Good Deed in 2024.
Lavin is survived by her husband, Steve Bakunas, whom she wed in 2005. She once opened up about their marriage exclusively to Closer.
“The happiness or the satisfaction of a marriage comes from communication and hard work,” she previously told Closer. “Learning how to communicate and how to listen, how to understand, how to have compassion for yourself and for the other, how to find ways to laugh, how to find the lovability in yourself. It isn’t just one thing, it’s a lot.”
In the years before her death, Lavin said she was most proud of her career and strong marriage.
“What I’m most proud of is that I have a wonderful life and that I’ve been able to make a living doing what I love. I’m in a relationship with my husband and a life with him that is full of adventure and growth,” she shared. “I’m proud and grateful for great good health, people in my life whom I love, and the capacity to find myself loving and lovable.”
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