After Linda Lavin died on Sunday at the age of 87, tributes have poured in from her co-stars and collaborators in the industry.
Lavin became known as a character actor for her Emmy-nominated work on the CBS comedy series “Alice,” which ran from 1976 to 1985. In recent years, she appeared in “The Intern” alongside Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway and “Being the Ricardos” with Nicole Kidman.
Liz Feldman, creator of the Netflix show “No Good Deed” — in which Lavin co-starred — shared a tribute to Lavin on Instagram. She wrote: “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.”
Lavin had also appeared in two episodes of the CBS sitcom “Mom.” Allison Janney, who starred alongside Lavin, wrote on Instagram: “She was TV royalty, she was kind, generous, and I was honored to act with her … Linda Lavin, you will be missed. I send love to her family and friends.”
Sarah Paulson also took to Instagram to talk about her fond memories of Lavin, sharing a picture of the two performing a production of “Collected Stories” together that Paulson framed. She recalled a story when the window got stuck within the first five minutes of the play and Lavin suggested, in front of the crowd, that they simply restart the production.
“The audience went wild, roaring with laughter and applause,” Paulson wrote. “This was quintessentially why she was untouchable as a performer — she knew that the audience had seen the window fall, so we couldn’t continue as if it hadn’t — so we fixed it and began again — and they stayed with us.”
