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Broadway legend Linda Lavin, who also became known for her role as a paper-hat-wearing waiter on the TV sitcom Alice, has died at the age of 87.
Lavin died in Los Angeles on Sunday (December 29) of complications from recently discovered lung cancer, her representative, Bill Veloric, confirmed in an email to The Associated Press.
Following her success on Broadway, Lavin moved to Hollywood in the mid-1970s to try her hand at screen acting. She was cast to star in a new CBS sitcom based on Martin Scorsese’s hit 1974 rom-com Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, which won Ellen Burstyn an Oscar for her role as the titular waiter.
The title was shortened to Alice and Lavin became a role model for working moms as Alice Hyatt, a widowed mother with a 12-year-old son working in a roadside diner outside Phoenix. The show, with Lavin singing the theme song “There’s a New Girl in Town,” ran from 1976 to 1985.
The show turned “Kiss my grits” into a catchphrase and co-starred Polly Holliday as waiter Flo and Vic Tayback as the gruff owner and head chef of Mel’s Diner.
The series bounced around the CBS schedule during its first two seasons but became a hit leading into All in the Family on Sunday nights in October 1977. It was among primetime’s top 10 series in four of the next five seasons.
Lavin soon went on to win a Tony for Best Actress in a play for Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound in 1987.
She was working as recently as this month promoting Netflix’s new comedy No Good Deed, in which she appears, as well as filming for a forthcoming Hulu series, Mid-Century Modern.
The Netflix series’ creator/executive producer Liz Feldman paid tribute to Lavin on Instagram, writing: “Getting to work with you once was an honor and a joy. I loved writing for you on 9JKL all those years ago. I just loved YOU. Being around you. In your magnetic orbit. That we got to collaborate again on No Good Deed was simply a gift. You were, as always, incredibly gracious, totally hilarious and pitch perfect. Ready to play and full of life. Your warmth and kindness was unparalleled. I just loved you. We all did. I’m so glad I got to see you a few weeks ago at the premiere and introduce you to my parents. They were thrilled to meet you. And my father made it very clear to me that you were his favorite part of No Good Deed. He wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Thank you for letting me into your stunning orbit. And for allowing me to spin with you for a while.”
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Lavin grew up in Portland, Maine, and moved to New York City after graduating from the College of William and Mary. She sang in nightclubs and in ensembles of shows.
Iconic producer and director Hal Prince gave Lavin her first big break while directing the Broadway musical It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman. She went on to earn a Tony nomination in Simon’s Last of the Red Hot Lovers in 1969 before winning 18 years later for another Simon play, Broadway Bound.
After her success in Hollywood, she returned to Broadway and starred in Paul Rudnick’s comedy The New Century, had a concert show called “Songs & Confessions of a One-Time Waitress” and earned a Tony nomination in Donald Margulies’ Collected Stories.
Lavin basked in a burst of renewed attention in her 70s, earning a Tony nomination for Nicky Silver’s The Lyons. She also starred in Other Desert Cities and a revival of Follies before they transferred to Broadway.
She also appeared in the film Wanderlust with Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd, and released her first CD, Possibilities. She played Jennifer Lopez’s grandmother in The Back-Up Plan.
When asked for guidance from up-and-coming actors, Lavin stressed one thing. “I say that what happened for me was that work brings work. As long as it wasn’t morally reprehensible to me, I did it,” she told the AP in 2011.
She and Steve Bakunas, an artist, musician and her third husband, converted an old automotive garage into the 50-seat Red Barn Studio Theatre in Wilmington, North Carolina.
It opened in 2007, and their productions included Doubt by John Patrick Shanley, Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet, Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire and The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife by Charles Busch, in which Lavin also starred on Broadway, earning a Tony nomination.
She returned to TV in 2013’s one-season Sean Saves the World, starring Will & Grace’s Sean Hayes. Lavin also made appearances on Mom and 9JKL.
Additional reporting from The Associated Press
