Frail Linda Lavin seen in final photos before death at 87 following lung cancer battle

Linda Lavin died unexpectedly on Sunday at the age of 87 due to complications from recently discovered lung cancer.

The Alice star looked healthy and happy when she was last seen in early September in Los Angeles.

The acclaimed actress sported a colorful outfit of blue slacks with slits up the legs and a printed shirt for the outing. She was nicely made up with light pink-toned makeup as she wore her hair partially back.

Lavin easily glided out of her SUV vehicle without the help of a walker or cane as well. 

Lavin was still working as recently as this month. She was on No Good Deed and also worked on the upcoming Hulu show, Mid-Century Modern.

Meanwhile, several celebrities such as Sarah Paulson and Patricia Heaton have shared loving tributes for the stage and screen star. 

Lavin was a Tony Award-winning stage actress.

Lavin died in Los Angeles on Sunday of complications from recently discovered lung cancer, her representative, Bill Veloric, told The Associated Press in an email.

A success on Broadway, Lavin tried her luck in Hollywood in the mid-1970s. She was chosen to star in a new CBS sitcom based on Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, the Martin Scorsese-directed film that won Ellen Burstyn an Oscar for playing the title waitress.

The title was shortened to Alice and Lavin became a role model for working moms as Alice Hyatt, a widowed mother with a 12-year-old son working in a roadside diner outside Phoenix. The show, with Lavin singing the theme song There's a New Girl in Town, ran from 1976 to 1985.

The show turned 'Kiss my grits' into a catchphrase and co-starred Polly Holliday as waitress Flo and Vic Tayback as the gruff owner and head chef of Mel´s Diner.

The series bounced around the CBS schedule during its first two seasons but became a hit leading into All In The Family on Sunday nights in October 1977. It was among primetime´s top 10 series in four of the next five seasons. Variety magazine listed it among the all-time best workplace comedies.

Lavin soon went on to win a Tony for best actress in a play for Neil Simon's 'Broadway Bound' in 1987, which also garnered her Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Helen Hayes awards.

'She was a tremendous performer with a generous heart,' the union Actors Equity said on X. The group in 2023 honored her with the Richard Seff Award - given to veteran performers in supporting roles - for her work in Noah Diaz´s 'You Will Get Sick.'

She was working as recently as this month promoting a new Netflix series in which she appears, No Good Deed, and filming a forthcoming Hulu series, Mid-Century Modern, according to Deadline, which first reported her death. She also appeared in 2024 as a guest star in Elsbeth, the spinoff of The Good Wife.

Lavin grew up in Portland, Maine, and moved to New York City after graduating from the College of William and Mary. She sang in nightclubs and in ensembles of shows.

Iconic producer and director Hal Prince gave Lavin her first big break while directing the Broadway musical It's a Bird ... It's a Plane ... It's Superman.

She went on to earn a Tony nomination in Simon's 'Last of the Red Hot Lovers' in 1969 before winning 18 years later for another Simon play, Broadway Bound.

In the mid 1970s, Lavin moved to Los Angeles. 

She had a recurring role on Barney Miller and in 1976 was chosen to star in a new CBS sitcom based on Ellen Burstyn´s Oscar-winning waitress comedy-drama, Alice Doesn´t Live Here Anymore.

Back on Broadway, Lavin later starred in Paul Rudnick's comedy The New Century, had a concert show called Songs & Confessions of a One-Time Waitress and earned a Tony nomination in Donald Margulies´ Collected Stories.

'A star in every medium, but pure theatrical genius. Blissfully funny, deeply emotional, and audiences adored her. She never disappointed: I worked with her, and just watching her rehearse and build a performance was an education and the greatest joy,' Rudnick wrote on X.

Michael Kuchwara of the AP gave Lavin a rave in 'Collected Stories,' writing that she 'gives one of those complete, nuanced performances, capturing the woman´s intellectual vigor, her wry sense of humor and her increasing physical frailty with astonishing fidelity. And Lavin´s sense of timing is superb, whether delivering a joke or acerbically dissecting the work of her protegee.'

Lavin basked in a burst of renewed attention in her 70s, earning a Tony nomination for Nicky Silver's 'The Lyons.' 

She also starred in 'Other Desert Cities' and a revival of 'Follies' before they transferred to Broadway.

The AP again raved about Lavin in 'The Lyons,' calling her 'an absolute wonder to behold as Rita Lyons, a nag of a mother with a collection of firm beliefs and eye rolls, a matriarch who is both suffocating and keeping everyone at arm´s length.'

She also appeared in the film 'Wanderlust' with Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd, and released her first CD, 'Possibilities.' She played Jennifer Lopez's grandmother in 'The Back-Up Plan.'

When asked for guidance from up-and-coming actors, Lavin stressed one thing. 'I say that what happened for me was that work brings work. As long as it wasn't morally reprehensible to me, I did it,' she told the AP in 2011.

She and Steve Bakunas, an artist, musician and her third husband, converted an old automotive garage into the 50-seat Red Barn Studio Theatre in Wilmington, North Carolina.

It opened in 2007 and their productions include 'Doubt' by John Patrick Shanley, 'Glengarry Glen Ross' by David Mamet, 'Rabbit Hole' by David Lindsay-Abaire and 'The Tale of the Allergist's Wife' by Charles Busch, in which Lavin also starred on Broadway, earning a Tony nomination.

She returned to TV in 2013 in 'Sean Saves the World,' starring 'Will & Grace´s' Sean Hayes, a show which lasted a season. Lavin also made appearances on 'Mom' and '9JKL.'

Sarah Paulson and Patricia Heaton were among those paying tribute to Broadway star and sitcom actress Linda Lavin following her passing at age 87.

Paulson, 50, who starred opposite Lavin on Broadway's Collected Stories, posted a slew of selfies accompanied by sweet messages about the star.

'I love you forever,' she wrote alongside a photo booth shot of the duo. 

She also included a picture of them taking their bows following a performance of Collected Stories. 'One of the great honors of my life,' Paulson remarked. '(I wasn't very good, she was brilliant),' she added.

One of the photos Paulson shared appeared to have been taken from her recent 50th birthday bash, which was attended by Lavin. She dated the photo December 14, 2024. 

'I love you so,' Paulson wrote in the snap of her, Lavin, and another friend.  

Paulson added Lavin was 'always showing up for me' as she shared a snap of them taken earlier this year.  

Heaton, 66, starred opposite Lavin in the 1987 sitcom A Room For Two, praised the actress as a 'true friend' and 'total force of nature' as she took to X to mourn the loss   

While A Room For Two, which Heaton described as her 'first major TV' role, last for just two seasons, their friendship endured, and they even had dinner together just a few months ago. 

'I'm down here in my basement looking through some old photos and ran across some pictures of me and my dear friend Linda Lavin,' she said in the video. 'She was such a legend. The first major role in television I had was playing her daughter in a short-lived but wonderful show called A Room For Two. She was my mentor, my guardian angel.

'She really looked out for me, taught me a lot. Not just about acting but about life. And we had dinner a couple of months ago when I was in LA. And she was just as sharp and funny and energetic as she always has been.

'And she passed away today,' she said before taking a long pause. 'I'm going to miss her. She was a good friend.'

She posted the clip to X, writing along with a string of broken-heart emojis, '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.' 

Producer Liz Feldman, who worked with Lavin on No Good Deed and 9JKL , also paid tribute.

She shared a selfie of her with Lavin followed with a cast photo from No Good Deed and a lengthy, sweet message praising the late star.'Oh sweet, brilliant, talented, beautiful @linda_lavin. Getting to work with you once was an honor and a joy,' she captioned the post. '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.