Stage and Screen Star Linda Lavin Dies at 87

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that stage and screen star, Broadway veteran Linda Lavin has died at age 87. She passed away following complications from lung cancer. 

Linda Lavin won a Tony Award, as well as a Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Helen Hayes Award for her performance in Broadway Bound in 1987. She is a six-time Tony Award-nominee for her roles in The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, Collected Stories, and The Lyons. In 2017, Linda was seen in Candide, directed by Hal Prince.

Inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2011, other notable credits include The New Century (Drama Desk Award), Other Desert Cities (LCT), and Too Much Sun (Vineyard Theatre). She also appeared in the 1989 Broadway revival of Gypsy, as well as Follies at the Kennedy Center. Most recently, she appeared off-Broadway in productions of You Will Get Sick (Drama League nomination) and The Bedwetter.

Lavin is a two-time Golden Globe-winner and Emmy nominee for her role as Alice on the nine-year hit TV series “Alice” on CBS, and she co-starred with Sean Hayes in the NBC Series “Sean Saves the World.” Linda recently guest starred on “Mom,” “The Good Wife,” and “Madam Secretary.” She featured as a series regular on the CBS sitcom “9JKL” opposite Mark Feurstein and Elliot Gould, and was most recently seen on the series “Brockmire” and “The Santa Clarita Diet.” Her recent feature films include A Short History of Decay, Manhattan Nocturne with Adrien Brody, How to Be a Latin Lover opposite Rob Lowe and Eugenio Derbez, Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase, and the upcoming Naked Singularity with John Boyega and Bill Skarsgaard. She also appeared with Robert De Niro in Nancy Meyer's The Intern.

Over the past decade, Lavin appeared as a series regular on comedy series Sean Saves the World on NBC as well as 9JKL and B Positive on CBS. In 2024, she also guest starred on CBS’ Elsbeth. Most recently, she appeared on screen in Netflix's No Good Deed, and she was filming the upcoming Hulu comedy series Mid-Century Modern.

Linda was born in Portland, Maine and is a graduate of the College of William & Mary, which recently conferred on her an honorary doctor of arts degree where she endows a theater program. She performed her concert act in clubs, theatres and concert halls with her band and full orchestra and music director Billy Stritch. Possibilities, their debut album of jazz standards and show tunes, was released in 2011.  In March 2020, Lavin released her album, Love Notes. She was married to artist and musician Steve Bakunas since 2005.