Allison Janney, Sarah Paulson and more react to Linda Lavin’s death
After Linda Lavin passed away on Sunday at the age of 87, tributes poured in from her co-stars and industry collaborators.
Lavin rose to fame 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” — which Lavin co-starred in — shared a tribute to Lavin on Instagram. She wrote: “It was an honor and a pleasure to ever work with you. I enjoyed writing for you on ‘9JKL’ all those years ago. I just loved YOU. Being near you. In your magnetic orbit. The fact that we were able to work together again on ‘No Good Deed’ was simply a gift. You were, as always, incredibly kind, completely hilarious and perfect. Ready to play and full of life. Your warmth and kindness were second to none. I just loved you. We all did that.”
Lavin had also appeared in two episodes of the CBS sitcom ‘Mom’. Allison Janney, who co-starred with Lavin, wrote on Instagram: “She was TV royalty, she was kind, generous, and I was honored to perform with her…Linda Lavin, you will be missed. Sending love to her family and friends.”
Sarah Paulson also took to Instagram to talk about her fond memories of Lavin, sharing a photo of the two performing a production of “Collected Stories” together that Paulson framed. She recalled a story in which the window jammed within the first five minutes of the play and Lavin suggested in front of the audience that they simply restart the production.
“The audience went wild, roaring with laughter and applause,” Paulson wrote. “This was essentially why she was untouchable as a performer – she knew the audience had seen the window fall, so we couldn’t continue as if that wasn’t the case – so we fixed it and started again – and they stuck with us . ”
Matt Bomer took over Instagram Monday to share some memorable words for Lavin, sharing a photo of them together on the set of “Mid-Century Modern” and writing, “I am deeply grateful to have been touched by the genius of Linda Lavin. She is an icon, a phenomenal artist and a deeply caring human being who will continue to be an inspiration to many (myself included), and she will be deeply missed by all of us. She did incredible work throughout her adult life, touching everyone who was fortunate enough to know her. My heart goes out to her husband Steve and all her loved ones. Thank you, Ms. Lavin, for showing us all the way to do it.
