Linda Lavin, the popular stage and television actress, known for her Emmy-nominated role in the 1976 sitcom Alice and for her Tony-winning performance in the 1986 play Broadway boundShe died today, December 29th. She was 87 years old.

The news comes as a shock since Lavin has been working on promoting her new Netflix series just this month Not a good deed and filming the upcoming Hulu comedy series Mid-Century Modernin which she plays one of the main roles. She died unexpectedly as a result of recently discovered lung cancer, her publicist told Deadline.

A former children’s stage actress, Lavin began her Broadway career in the 1960s with an appearance in the musical It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s Superman and the play Last of the Red Hot Loverswhich earned her the first of six Tony Award nominations in 1970.

Over the next five decades, Lavin juggled theater and Hollywood careers. After a memorable recurring role on the ABC sitcom Barney Miller From 1975 to 1976, she landed the title role of a roadside restaurant waitress and a widowed young mother in the 1976 comedy series Alicebased on the film Alice doesn’t live here anymorewhich ran for nine seasons and 202 episodes on CBS.

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Since then, Lavin has appeared regularly on television. Loved by series creators and producers, she found a new path in the last decade with a number of important roles, including regular appearances in comedy series Sean saves the world on NBC as well 9JKL And B Positive on CBS. This year alone she was a guest star on CBS’ Elsbethrepeatedly on Netflix Not a good deed, which is currently streaming on Netflix and is a series regular on the upcoming Hulu comedy series Mid-Century Modernwhich recorded its last episode just a few weeks ago.

In her last public appearance, Lavin walked the red carpet for the premiere of Not a good Deed on December 4th.

“Alice was one of the many sitcoms that made me fall in love with television; “I was eight years old and watched every episode,” he said 9JKL Executive producer Aaron Kaplan. “More than three decades later, I had the great privilege of working on it with Linda JKL and she was just the most amazing partner – funny and talented and kind and generous. Linda Lavin was and always will be Hollywood royalty.”

On Broadway, her 1970 Tony nomination was followed by a win for Lavin Broadway bound in 1987. His last Tony nomination was in 2012 for The Lyonnais.

Lavin’s film credits include: Damn Yankees! which marked her feature film debut, The Ring, The Intern, And Being the Ricardos.

She is survived by her husband of 19 years – and the love of her life – Steve Bakunas.