Linda Lavin (; October 15, 1937 – December 29, 2024) was an American actress and singer. Known for her roles on stage and screen, she received several awards including three Drama Desk Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Obie Awards, and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for a Daytime Emmy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2010.
After acting as a child, Lavin joined the Compass Players in the late 1950s. She had a guest role role in Rhoda, and had a recurring role in Barney Miller (1975–1976). She gained fame for playing the title role of a waitress at a roadside diner in the CBS sitcom Alice (1976–1985), a role for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and won two consecutive Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy. She later starred in NBC's sitcom Sean Saves the World and the CBS sitcom 9JKL and took recurring roles in the legal drama The Good Wife (2014–2015) and the sitcom B Positive (2020–2022).
On stage, she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play playing a strong-willed mother in the Neil Simon play Broadway Bound (1987). She was Tony-nominated for her roles in Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1970), The Diary of Anne Frank (1998), The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (2001), Collected Stories (2010), and The Lyons (2012). She is also known for acting in It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman (1966), On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1967), Gypsy (1990), The Sisters Rosensweig (1993), and Follies (2011). She made her film debut in The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), and later had roles in I Want to Go Home (1989), See You in the Morning (1989) and Being the Ricardos (2021).
Early life, family and education Lavin was born in Portland, Maine, the younger daughter of David Joseph Lavin, a businessman, and Lucille Dorothy (née Potter), an opera singer. The Lavin family were active members of the local Jewish community. Both sets of grandparents emigrated from Russia.United States Census, 1910 Her family was musically talented, and Lavin was on stage from the age of five.
She attended Waynflete SchoolMerrill, Daphne Winslow (1983). A Salute to Maine. New York: Vantage Press. p. 60. . and Deering High School before enrolling in the College of William & Mary.
She studied acting at HB Studio in New York City.
Career Early years In the summer of 1958, she played one of the leads in The Common Glory, an outdoor drama written by Paul Green and staged at an amphitheater on campus. Upon her graduation from college, she had already received her Actors' Equity Association card. She was a member of the Compass Players in the late 1950s.
Theater In 1960 Lavin appeared at the East 74th Street Theater in George Gershwin's Oh, Kay!, with Penny Fuller and Marti Stevens.Donna H. Krasnow, Daniel E. Lewis (2020). Daniel Lewis; A Life in Choreography and the Art of Dance
Lavin began her career with Broadway appearances in the musical A Family Affair (1962)Ruhlmann, William. "'A Family Affair' Review". AllMusic. Accessed April 8, 2012. and plays such as The Riot Act (1963)"Linda Lavin Broadway credits". Internet Broadway Database. Accessed February 16, 2012. and Carl Reiner's Something Different (1967).Barnes, Clive (November 29, 1967). "Theater: 'Something Different' Opens: Carl Reiner Comedy Staged by Carl Reiner Claudia McNeil Plays a Mother for Hire The Cast". The New York Times. p. 52. In his New York Times review of John Guare's two one-act plays, Cop-Out (1969), Clive Barnes wrote: "Miss Lavin...carries versatility almost to the point of paranoia, and camps up a storm."Barnes, Clive (April 8, 1969). "Theater: Guare's Humorous 'Cop-Out': Ron Leibman and Linda Lavin Star at Cort". The New York Times. p. 42.
Lavin also appeared in numerous Off-Broadway productions, including the revue Wet Paint (1965), the musical The Mad Show (1966)"The Mad Show". . Internet Off-Broadway Database, retrieved October 15, 2010 (in which she introduced the cabaret standard "The Boy From...", written by Stephen Sondheim and Mary Rodgers), and Little Murders (1969). Lavin won the Theatre World Award for Wet Paint"Wet Paint". Internet Off-Broadway Database. Retrieved October 15, 2010. and a Drama Desk Award for Little Murders."Drama Desk Awards, 1968–1969 . Drama Desk. Retrieved October 15, 2010."Little Murders". . Internet Off-Broadway Database. Retrieved October 15, 2010. In 1975, she appeared in the Shakespeare in the Park production of The Comedy of Errors at the Delacorte Theater.
She "arrived at showbiz stardom with a featured role" in the musical It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman (1966)."Nightlife" listings. New York. April 1, 1996. p. 97.Henderson, Kathy (May 3, 2010). "Collected Stories Star Linda Lavin on Her 50 Years Onstage and Her Real-Life Love Story". Broadway.com. She received her first Tony Award nomination in 1970, for her role in the Neil Simon play Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1969). Clive Barnes, in his review for The New York Times, wrote: "Linda Lavin, eyebrows, [sic] flaunting like telegraphed messages, mouth twitching and pouting, voice as dry as thunder and with a cough like electric static, is beautiful as Elaine, the sex cat feeling coolly kittenish and looking for a safe tin roof."Barnes, Clive. "Stage: 'Red Hot Lovers': Comedy by Neil Simon Opens at the O'Neill", The New York Times, December 29, 1969, p. 37 Lavin's last Broadway credit before she moved to Hollywood was in Paul Sills' Story Theatre in 1971."Linda Lavin Stage Performances". Broadwayworld.com. accessed February 16, 2012.
In 1984, Lavin played the character of "The Mother" in Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author in a production directed by Robert Brustein at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
After more than a decade away, Lavin returned to the Broadway stage in 1987, winning a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play"1987 Tony Awards". . broadwayworld.com. Accessed February 16, 2012. and her second Drama Desk Award for her role as Kate in Simon's play Broadway Bound. In his review in The New York Times, Frank Rich wrote: "One only wishes that Ms. Lavin, whose touching performance is of the same high integrity as the writing, could stay in the role forever."Rich, Frank (December 5, 1986). "Theater: Simon's 'Broadway Bound'". The New York Times. Theatre critic Charles McNulty wrote of her performance that it "is widely considered one of the most memorable in contemporary Broadway history, winning not just awards but praise approaching the level of myth. The theater critic Gordon Rogoff, extolling 'the power available only to an actor at the height of her own command of detail,' went so far as to describe Lavin's portrayal as 'one of those textbook lessons in great acting...' "McNulty, Charles (February 20, 2011). "Linda Lavin is awash in good fortune". Los Angeles Times.
She then starred on Broadway in Gypsy as Mama Rose Hovick, replacing Tyne Daly in July 1990.Rich, Frank (September 18, 1990). "Review/Theater; Linda Lavin Takes Her Turn as Mama Rose". The New York Times. June Havoc saw Lavin's performance in Gypsy and sent Lavin a photo of Havoc's mother, the real Rose Hovick, with a note of appreciation for Lavin's portrayal of the character.
Her subsequent Broadway roles included The Sisters Rosensweig, as a replacement Gorgeous Teitelbaum starting in September 1993Brantley, Ben (September 24, 1993). "New Cast for 'Sisters Rosensweig'". The New York Times. p. C3. and Mrs. Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (1997–1998), opposite Natalie Portman, for which she garnered a Tony nomination as Featured Actress in a Play."1998 Tony Awards". . Broadwayworld.com. Accessed February 16, 2012. In 1995 she appeared in the Off-Broadway Death-Defying Acts, which consists of three one-act plays; Lavin performed in the Elaine May (Hotline) and Woody Allen plays (Central Park West).Gerard, Jeremy. "'Death Defying Acts'". Variety, March 12, 1995 She was nominated for a Drama Desk Award (Outstanding Actress – Play)"Drama Desk, 1994–95" Drama Desk. Accessed April 8, 2012. and won an Obie Award (Performance)"Obies, 1995 Award Winners". . The Village Voice. Accessed April 8, 2012. and the Lucille Lortel Award. She also directed theater during this period.
She played Marjorie in The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (2000–2001), co-starring Tony Roberts and Michele Lee, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award, Leading Actress in a Play, and Drama Desk Award,Jones, Kenneth (July 29, 2001). . Playbill. and "nanny" for Helen (young Carol Burnett, played by Sara Niemietz and Donna Lynne Champlin) in Hollywood Arms in Chicago and on Broadway in 2002.Murray, Matthew (October 31, 2002). "Broadway Reviews: Hollywood Arms". Talkin' Broadway. Accessed January 7, 2023.
In 2010, Lavin appeared as Ruth Steiner in a Broadway revival of the play Collected Stories opposite Sarah Paulson as her student,Jones, Kenneth (April 9, 2010). "Lavin & Paulson Star in Collected Stories, Making Broadway Bow April 9". . Playbill. reprising her role for a PBS production of the play,"Collected Stories information" pbs.org, retrieved October 15, 2010 and received a fifth Tony nomination for the role. She appeared in a new play by Jon Robin Baitz, Other Desert Cities, Off-Broadway at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, beginning in previews in December 2010, closing February 27, 2011." 'Desert Cities' Listing" Lincoln Center, accessed May 29, 2011 Lavin was featured in the Kennedy Center (Washington, DC) production of the musical Follies, from May 2011 to June 2011, as Hattie Walker.Gans, Andrew (May 7, 2011)."Hats Off, Here They Come, Those Beautiful Girls": Starry 'Follies' Begins Kennedy Center Run May 7". . Playbill.
She appeared in the premiere of the Nicky Silver play The Lyons at the Off-Broadway Vineyard Theatre, beginning in September 2011, through November 11.Jones, Kenneth (October 11, 2011). "Nicky Silver's Lyons, Led by Linda Lavin and Dick Latessa, Opens in NYC; Extension to Nov. 11 Announced" . Playbill. Ben Brantley, The New York Times reviewer, commented: "Watching Ms. Lavin, I found myself thinking of Nora from Ibsen's Doll's House – well, a pursed-lipped, lemony-sour, older Nora in pseudo-Chanel, one who's never at a loss for what to say and when to say it. Rita may be a little behind schedule in discovering herself, but no one can fault the hair-trigger timing of the actress playing her or the surprising dimensions she finds within one-liners."Brantley, Ben (October 11, 2011). "Theater Review: The Curse of Kinship, but a Fear of Isolation". The New York Times. She reprised her role in the Broadway production, which opened at the Cort Theatre on April 23, 2012, and closed on July 1, 2012.Jones, Kenneth (April 5, 2012). "The Lyons, Led By Linda Lavin and Dick Latessa, Set Up Their Den on Broadway". . Playbill.Jones, Kenneth (July 1, 2012). "Nicky Silver's The Lyons Ends Its Broadway Roar July 1". . Playbill.
Lavin appeared in the Nicky Silver play Too Much Sun, which opened Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre on May 18, 2014. Ben Brantley, in his review for The New York Times wrote: "And it's an unconditional treat to witness an actress like Ms. Lavin tuned so precisely into the writer's wavelength that script and performance become a marriage of true minds."Brantley, Ben (May 18, 2014). "Nicky Silver's Too Much Sun Stars Linda Lavin". The New York Times.
Lavin appeared in 2015/16 on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in a Manhattan Theatre Club production of Richard Greenberg's Our Mother's Brief Affair.Clement, Olivia (December 28, 2015). "'Our Mother's Brief Affair', with Linda Lavin, Begins Previews On Broadway Tonight". Playbill.