Linda Lavin
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
Linda Lavin was barely off the bus from the College of William and Mary when she landed her first professional New York engagement in the chorus of the off-Broadway revival of the Gershwin musical "Oh, Kay!" (1960). Two years later she made her Broadway debut in "A Family Affair," but she really came to prominence in 1966 for her work in the musical revue "The Mad Show" and as the show-stopping Sydney singing the Strouse-Adams score's best song, "You've Got Possibilities," in the Robert Benton-David Newman musical "It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman." A role in Alan Arkin's off-Broadway revival of Jules Feiffer's black comedy "Little Murders" and her Tony-nominated turn in Neil Simon's "The Last of the Red Hot Lovers" (both 1969) proved Lavin was more than just a musical actress, as did her participation in Paul Sills' experimental "Story Theatre" (1970), but with the downturn in NYC's theater fortunes during the early 70s, she decided to try her luck in California.
The petite, dark-eyed Lavin made her TV-movie debut in "The Morning After" (ABC, 1974), starring Dick Van Dyke, and went on to create the recurring character of Detective Janet Wentworth for the 1975-76 season of ABC's "Barney Miller" before finding her niche as strong, independent single mother and waitress Alice Hyatt on the long-running sitcom, "Alice" (CBS, 1976-85). Using the series as a springboard, she began directing episodes of "Alice" and formed her own production company (Big Deal Films, Inc.), ultimately producing and starring in a number of CBS movies (i.e., "The $5.20 an Hour Dream" 1980) that reinforced her image as a struggling, underappreciated, working woman. Following the demise of "Alice," Lavin made a triumphant return to Broadway and won a Tony award playing the mother in the third installment of Simon's autobiographical trilogy, "Broadway Bound" (1986). Nightly delivering a memorable monologue about once dancing with George Raft, she managed to create a heartbreaking, showstopping moment. In 1990 ,she--somewhat less successfully--replaced Tyne Daly as the archetypal stage mother, Mama Rose, in the Broadway revival of "Gypsy."
Lavin earned an Emmy nomination as executive producer of "Flour Babies" (1990), a "CBS Schoolbreak Special" which she also directed, and executive produced and starred as Edie Kurland, a mother who finds a second career as a TV commentator working alongside her daughter, in ABC's short-lived sitcom "Room for Two" (1992-93). Broadway beckoned in 1993, and she scored again, replacing Tony-winner Madeline Kahn as Gorgeous Teitelbaum in Wendy Wasserstein's "The Sisters Rosensweig," followed by an OBIE-winning performance in "Death Defying Acts" (1995-96), a series of three one-acts written by Woody Allen, David Mamet and Elaine May (she starred in the Allen and Mamet plays). Lavin was back on the Great White Way earning acclaim (and another Tony nomination) as Mrs. Van Daan in the revival of "The Diary of Anne Frank" (1997-98) but left the production earlier than she had originally planned in order to co-star as Florrie Bloom, the recently widowed mother of an advertising executive, in the NBC sitcom "Conrad Bloom" (1998). Although her feature films are few (most notable is her debut, "The Muppets Take Manhattan" 1984), she continues to frequently star in TV-movies like "Best Friends For Life" (CBS, 1998).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Director (Special)
Cast (Special)
Producer (Special)
Music (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Producer (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1960
Made off-Broadway debut in the revival of the Gershwin musical "Oh, Kay!"
1962
Made Broadway debut in the musical "A Family Affair"
1966
Gained notice for her appearance in the Broadway musical "It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman"
1966
Made TV debut in the NBC made-for-TV movie "Damn Yankees," playing Gloria Thorpe
1966
Toured with the national company of "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever"
1970
Received a Tony nomination for her supporting role in Neil Simon's "The Last of the Red Hot Lovers"
1974
Appeared in the TV-movie "The Morning After" (ABC)
1975
Landed recurring role as Detective Janice Wentworth on "Barney Miller" (ABC)
1976
Starred as Alice Hyatt on the CBS sitcom "Alice"; also sang the theme song; earned an Emmy nomination in 1979 and a Golden Globe nomination in 1981
1980
Starred in the CBS TV-movie "The $5.20 an Hour Dream"
1980
Began directing episodes of "Alice"
1983
Made producing debut with "Another Woman's Child" (CBS), also starred
1984
Made her feature film debut in "The Muppets Take Manhattan"
1986
Re-teamed with Simon for her Tony winning role in "Broadway Bound"
1990
Replaced Tyne Daly as Mama Rose in the Broadway revival of "Gypsy"
1990
Received an Emmy nomination as executive producer for "Flour Babies" (CBS), also directed
1992
Executive produced and starred as Edie Kurland on the short-lived ABC series "Room for Two"
1993
Assumed stage role of Gorgeous in Wendy Wasserstein's "The Sisters Rosensweig"
1995
Co-starred in the off-Broadway show "Death Defying Acts"
1995
Portrayed Annette Funicello's mother Virginia in "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story" (CBS)
1996
Executive produced and starred opposite Mary Tyler Moore in the Family Channel movie "Stolen Memories: Secrets from the Rose Garden"
1997
Appeared in the stage revival of "The Diary of Anne Frank"; received a Tony Award nomination
1998
Returned to series TV playing the widowed mother of the title character on the NBC sitcom "Conrad Bloom"
1999
Starred opposite Samatha Mathis in the L.A. stage production of "Collected Stories"
2000
Co-starred with Tony Roberts and Michelle Lee in the off-Broadway and Broadway production of "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife"; earned a Tony nomination
2002
Reprised her role for a PBS production of "Collected Stories"
2004
Guest starred on the Fox drama "The O.C." as Sandy Cohen's (Peter Gallagher) mother
2010
Reprised role as the celebrated fiction writer in the Broadway production of "Collected Stories"; earned a Tony Award nomination for Leading Actress in a Play
2011
Starred in the off-Broadway and Broadway production of "The Lyons"
2012
Acted opposite Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston in the comedy feature "Wanderlust"
Family
Companions
