Broadway and TV star Linda Lavin, 87, died on Dec. 29. Best known for the sitcom Alice (1976-85), she started out in college and regional productions, working her way up to Broadway (The Riot Act, It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman, The Last of the Red-Hot Lovers, Broadway Bound, Gypsy, The Sisters Rosensweig, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, and others). Her strong features and Broadway belt voice did not bode well for films, but worked on TV: she got a few TV-movies and sitcoms guests sports, but it wasn’t until Alice that Lavin really broke through. From then through her death, she became the female version of her one-time husband Ron Liebman: an old crank with a heart of gold. In addition to several better-forgotten sitcoms, she turned up in Mom, The Sopranos, The Good Wife, Madam Secretary, Bob’s Burgers, and, most recently, Elsbeth and No Good Deed. Of her busy old age, she told AP’s Frazier Moore, “I have a wonderful life. I have a husband. A little dog. A great house. I have financial security. Friends. I love to cook. I love to travel. I love to sit. And when I read a script that I love, I have to be there. That’s what I’m really all about now: Am I gonna have a good time? Otherwise, I ain’t doing it!”
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