Hollywood has paid tribute to US acting icon Linda Lavin, a star of stage and screen, after her death aged 87.
Lavin was best known for playing the titular role of a widowed waitress starting life again with a job at a roadside diner in CBS sitcom Alice for which she won two Golden Globe awards for Best Actress.
She died on Sunday in LA after complications from recently discovered lung cancer her representative, Bill Veloric, told The Associated Press.
Sarah Paulson, 50, who starred opposite Lavin on Broadway’s Collected Stories, shared her memory of working with the ‘brilliant’ actor on Instagram.
‘I love you forever,’ she wrote alongside photos of the pair.
Sarah also included pictures of them taking a bow after a performance of Collected Stories, writing: ‘One of the great honors of my life. (I wasn’t very good, she was brilliant).’
Patricia Heaton, 66, starred opposite Lavin in the 1987 sitcom A Room For Two, described her as a ‘force of nature.’
She wrote on X: ‘I just heard the news that my dear friend Linda Lavin died . Totally unexpected, even at the age of 87. A true friend and a total force of nature.’
Criminal Minds legend Joe Mantenga also shared a tribute on the social media site, sharing: ‘One of the rarest gifts in life is to make a “new” old friend. Linda Lavin was that for me and my family. Rest in peace dear Linda.’
Lavin starred in Alice for nearly a decade from 1976 until 1985 before going on to star in numerous hit TV shows, including an episode of The Sopranos.
Her other credits include The OC, The Good Wife,9JKL and Santa Clarita Diet.
More recently, Lavin appeared in the Netflix thriller No Good Deed alongside Friends legend Lisa Kudrow.
She also plays a series regular in Hulu’s upcoming comedy series Mid-Century Modern, which also stars Matt Bomer.
According to Deadline, Lavin had filmed seven of its 10 episodes before the Christmas holidays. It’s unclear how the show will now proceed.
On the big screen, Lavin starred in films including the Jennifer Lopez romcom The Back-up Plan and Paul Rudd comedy Wanderlust.
She also had roles in The Intern, which starred Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro, and Manhatten Night, alongside Adrian Brody, among others.
Lavin was also a revered stage actor, and started her career as a child in theatre productions.
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Her first Broadway roles began in the 1960s, including in It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman in 1968, for which she also received a Tony nod.
Lavin also went on to win a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress for Broadway Bound.
Her other theatre productions include The Diary of Anne Frank, Gypsy, Collected Stories, Follies and The Lyons.
Lavin has no biological children but was stepmother to second husband Kip Niven’s children, after they met on the set of Alice.
The pair divorced in 1992 and in 2005 she wed third husband Steven Bakunas, best known for his appearances on One Tree Hill.
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