Linda Lavin, a Broadway star and Tony winner, has died. She was 87.

Lavin, who in “ Barney Miller before she got her own TV series, Alicedied on Sunday, December 29, according to Deadline. Her PR representative told the outlet that her unexpected death was due to complications from recently discovered lung cancer. PEOPLE has reached out to a representative for Lavin for comment.

In the ’80s, the actress returned to Broadway and won a Tony in 1987 while continuing to appear on television and in films. Just weeks before her death, Lavin had been promoting her new Netflix series Not a good deed and filming her upcoming Hulu series Mid-Century Modern.

Lavin was born in Portland, Maine in 1937. Both sets of grandparents emigrated from Russia, and her family became involved in the local Jewish community. Her mother, who had been a singer, encouraged her to go to the theater.

“There’s a picture of me in 1 1/2 – I use it at the end of my show – where I’m in my rompers, looking at the world with wonder and joy and hope,” Lavin told PEOPLE in 1992. “That’s still me. I’m still her.”

She played in high school and while studying at William and Mary in Virginia. Eventually she ended up in New York City. “It took me 10 years to establish myself in New York,” she told PEOPLE in 1978. In 1966 she appeared in the famous Broadway flop It’s a bird… It’s a plane… It’s Superman.

Although the musical was not a success, Lavin sang the show’s most famous song, “You’ve Got Possibilities.” She first heard it while auditioning for the show, she told BroadwayWorld in 2018.

“If you’ve seen this show and heard this song, you know it’s impossible to learn this song. It has 87 verses and changes key a million times,” she said. The producers wanted a blonde, so she wore a wig to the audition. “At that point I knew the song inside and out, and they immediately gave me the role,” she recalls.

Lavin’s other early plays included “1967.” Something else1970s Paul Sills’ Story Theater and 1969s Last of the Red Hot Loverswhich earned her a Tony nomination. In 1969 she married actor Ron Leibman and they moved to Los Angeles in 1973.

Her early television roles included episodes of The nurses, Rhoda, Harry O And Kaz. She landed a recurring role as Detective Janice Wentworth Barney Miller and appeared in the first two seasons of the series.

Managers, impressed by their work Barney Millerthrow it on Alicea sitcom based on Ellen Burstyn’s Oscar-winning role from 1974 Alice doesn’t live here anymore. Lavin was worried, she said in 1978, “How can you do something that has already been done so well?”

But she succeeded, and the show — in which she played a widow and single mother who becomes a waitress in Phoenix — was a success. Philip McKeon played her son. Lavin, who had no children, told PEOPLE that she took the role so seriously that she asked Gloria Steinem for advice.

“Alice’s greatest responsibility is to her child, but her first responsibility is to herself,” she said. “Many shows portray women as slanderous, argumentative and competing for men’s attention. I want this program to show women who are lonely, brave and have a sense of humor. Alice is a woman who is terribly afraid. What I like to do is make people laugh while reaching millions and saying, “You are not alone.” ”

Alice ran from 1976 to 1985. Lavin received an Emmy nomination and won two Golden Globes. She told that Los Angeles Times In 2013, it was noted that the show politicized her and made her a figure in the women’s movement. “I’ve been asked to speak at events,” she said. “I had never been asked to speak publicly. I was a musical comedy actress.” She needed to be “educated” about important issues.

In 1981, she and Leibman divorced. In 1982 she married actor and director Clifford “Kip” Niven and became stepmother to his two children. They divorced in 1992. In the 1991 divorce proceedings, she accused him of mental and emotional cruelty, adultery and “lavish waste” of her income. In 1992, she told PEOPLE that the statement was “painful and empowering.”

Lavin returned to Broadway in the late ’80s and won a Tony for the play Broadway bound. She ultimately received four more nominations, including for “1998.” Anne Frank’s diary and 2012 The Lyonnais. She also worked as a cabaret artist throughout her life.

Lavin starred in the 1992 television series Space for two and appeared in episodes of The sopranos, The good woman, Bone, The OK And Elsbeth. She also had a starring role in the 2013 sitcom Sean saves the world. As of 2020, she appeared in the CBS sitcom B Positiveand she also had a recurring role in the 2024 Netflix limited series Not a good deed. Her film roles included the 1967s Damn Yankees!1984s The Muppets conquer Manhattan2015s The intern and 2021 Being the Ricardos.

Lavin plays Phyllis Not a good deed alongside Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano and attended the show’s premiere on December 4th in Los Angeles. At the event, she told PEOPLE that she’s been doing more things on the big screen lately. “That’s pretty much where the career is right now. I always orientate myself on the material,” she said.

The star also reflected on finding inspiration for her roles from her everyday life. “As an actress, I like to show myself through the character,” she added to PEOPLE. “I have a wonderful life, a wonderful husband (Steve Bakunas) standing over there and I have a very rich and full life and I’m happy to be here. I’m thrilled to be here at this time in my life. I’m really grateful.”

Series creator Liz Feldman paid a sweet tribute to the star on Instagram, posting: “Getting to work with you was an honor and a joy.” I loved writing for you 9JKL All those years ago. I just loved YOU. Be near you. In your magnetic orbit. That we could work together again Not a good deed was simply a gift. As always, you were incredibly kind, totally funny and absolutely perfect. Ready to play and full of life. Their warmth and kindness were unparalleled.”

Before the holidays, Lavin had filmed seven episodes of Mid-Century Modern Production is scheduled to resume in January Rolling Stone. Producers Max Mutchnick and David Kohan and director and executive producer James Burrows released a joint statement after Lavin’s death saying, “Working with Linda was one of the highlights of our career.” She was a great actress, singer, musician and a heated rocket of wit. But more importantly, she was a beautiful soul. Deep, joyful, generous and loving. She made our days more beautiful. She will be missed beyond measure by all the staff and crew. We are better for having known them.”

Many of Lavin’s co-stars shared memories of her on social media following the news of her death. Patricia Heaton, who starred with her Space for twoIn a post on X, he called the actress “a true friend and an absolute force of nature.” Criminal minds Actor Joe Mantegna wrote: “One of the rarest gifts in life is finding a ‘new’ old friend. Linda Lavin was that for me and my family.”

“There used to be a saying in the industry: If you make it to 70, things will look up again,” she said The New York Times in 2014. “They were right. I did it and they did it.”

In 2005, Lavin married artist and drummer Steve Bakunas, whom she met in 1999. “I had no interest in another romance or marriage,” she told CBS in 2020, saying their commitment “caught me completely by surprise.”

“I didn’t think I was particularly good at relationships. And I’ve found that it takes work, and I’m willing to do the work and so is he. Someone said to me, ‘Wear life like a loose garment, Linda.’ Relax!’ “Bakunas also worked with her in her cabaret act.

Lavin leaves Bakunas behind.