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Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Linda Lavin, the Tony Award-winning actor best known for playing Alice Hyatt on the CBS sitcom Alice, died in Los Angeles on December 29, 2024, at age 87. Her representative told The Associated Press that she died from complications of recently discovered lung cancer. A later report based on her death certificate gave more specific cause-of-death wording.
How did Linda Lavin die?
On December 30, 2024, The Associated Press reported that Lavin’s representative, Bill Veloric, said she had died from complications of recently discovered lung cancer. The Los Angeles Times later reported, on January 28, 2025, that her death certificate listed cardiopulmonary arrest due to underlying lung cancer as the cause. The Times also reported that the certificate did not say how long she had been living with the cancer.
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What was Linda Lavin famous for?
Lavin became widely known to television audiences as Alice Hyatt, the widowed mother and roadside-diner worker at the center of Alice. The CBS sitcom ran from 1976 to 1985 and drew on Martin Scorsese’s film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Lavin’s character worked at a diner outside Phoenix; Polly Holliday played Flo, and Vic Tayback played diner owner and head chef Mel. “Kiss my grits” became one of the show’s best-known catchphrases.
Lavin’s career extended well beyond the sitcom. She was a stage actor with a long Broadway career, and she won the 1987 Tony Award for best actress in a play for Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound. She had previously received a Tony nomination for Simon’s Last of the Red Hot Lovers in 1969. The Television Academy records one Primetime Emmy nomination for Lavin: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Alice in 1979.
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A career on stage and screen
Born in Portland, Maine, Lavin moved to New York after graduating from the College of William and Mary. The Associated Press reported that director and producer Hal Prince gave her an early major opportunity in the Broadway musical It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman.
Her theater credits also included The New Century, Collected Stories, The Lyons, Other Desert Cities and Follies. Those roles sit alongside her television and film work; they are among the credits reported by the AP, not a complete list of her performances.
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She continued working late in life
Lavin appeared in No Good Deed and Elsbeth in 2024. At the time of her death, she was filming Hulu’s Mid-Century Modern, according to the AP.
She and her husband also helped turn an old automotive garage in Wilmington, North Carolina, into Red Barn Studio Theatre. The venue opened in 2007 and, as reported by the AP, had 50 seats.
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Linda Lavin’s music
The AP reported that Lavin released her first CD, Possibilities. That confirms the album’s title and format, but does not establish whether it is currently available to buy.
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Sources
- The Associated Press obituary reported Lavin’s death, her representative’s account, and details of her career.
- The Television Academy biography lists her date of passing and 1979 Emmy nomination.
- The Los Angeles Times report gives the later death-certificate details.
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