An iconic 1970s sitcom star was unrecognisable as she appeared in Los Angeles this week at the age of 86.
Born in Maine, she initially had a successful career on Broadway before heading to Hollywood to make it big on television.
She became a small screen sensation on the television sitcom Alice, which was based on Martin Scorsese’s film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
After the show ended, she returned to the New York stage, winning a Tony Award for Neil Simon’s beloved play, Broadway Bound.
As she stepped out in California this week, she cut a lithe and vivacious figure, sporting a chic floral blouse and high-slit trousers.
Who is she?
An iconic 1970s sitcom star was unrecognisable as she appeared in Los Angeles this week at the age of 86.
This is Linda Lavin, who played the title character on the hit CBS sitcom Alice for nine seasons from 1976 to 1985.
The television show was an adaptation of the 1974 film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, directed by Martin Scorsese.
Ellen Burstyn starred in the film as a new widow with a young son who moves to Arizona and begins working at a restaurant.
Eventually, she strikes up a romantic connection with one of the restaurant’s young patrons, played by rock star turned actor Kris Kristofferson.
Alice, the comedy adaptation, ran for more than 200 episodes, with Linda playing the title role in a cast that included Philip McKeon as her son Tommy.
Born to a Russian Jewish family in Portland, Maine, Linda enjoyed the benefits of a musical background, as her mother was an opera singer.
He began his career on the New York stage, appearing in Broadway shows such as It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman in 1968.
Her early concerts included The Mad Show, an off-Broadway revue inspired by Mad magazine, in which she sang Stephen Sondheim’s parody of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s classic bossa nova number The Girl From Ipanema.
As she stepped out in California this week, she cut a vivacious and energetic figure, sporting a chic floral blouse with a pair of youthful jeans.
This is Linda Lavin, who played the title character on the hit CBS sitcom Alice for nine seasons from 1976 to 1985.
Alice, the comedy adaptation, ran for more than 200 episodes, with Linda playing the title role amid a cast that included Philip McKeon as her son Tommy.
In 1970 she earned her first Tony nomination for Neil Simon’s Last Of The Red Hot Lovers, starring Doris Roberts and James Coco.
However, she only achieved true national stardom after moving to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s to act on screen.
One of his first breakthrough television roles was a recurring role as a detective in the first two seasons of the police sitcom Barney Miller in 1975 and 1976.
Then, in 1976, she landed the role that made her a household name, playing Alice on CBS for nine years and earning an Emmy nomination for the show in 1979.
After the series ended in 1986, he made his grand return to the Great White Way in Broadway Bound, the final play in a semi-autobiographical trilogy by Neil Simon.
Playing a character loosely based on the playwright’s own mother, Linda won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play in 1987.
One of his first breakthrough television roles was a recurring role as a detective in the first two seasons of the police sitcom Barney Miller in 1975 and 1976.
In 1987, a year after Alice ended, Linda won a Tony Award for her role in Neil Simon’s Broadway play Bound, in which she appeared opposite Jonathan Silverman.
He also kept up the pace on television, guest-starring on beloved shows like The Sopranos (pictured), The OC, Bob’s Burgers and The Good Wife.
He continued acting on Broadway and earned another Tony Award nomination in 1998 for The Diary of Anne Frank, which starred a then 16-year-old Natalie Portman in the title role.
Linda also replaced Madeline Kahn in The Sisters Rosensweig, the hit play by Broadway star Wendy Wasserstein.
He also kept up the pace on television, guest-starring on such beloved shows as The Sopranos, The OC, Bob’s Burgers and The Good Wife.
Just this year he filmed a pilot called Mid-Century Modern, Ryan Murphy’s gay version of The Golden Girls, starring Nathan Lane and Matt Bomer.
In her personal life, she has been divorced twice: first from fellow Broadway star Ron Leibman and then from her Alice co-star Kip Niven.
Since Valentine’s Day 2005, she has been happily married to Steve Bakunas, an actor 20 years her junior who has appeared in series such as One Tree Hill.