Linda Lavin started her acting career with theater at age 5, and later earned several accolades for her stage-performances. Her first screen-appearance was in TV-series ‘The Doctor & the Nurses’ (1963). In the TV-movie version of the musical ‘Damn Yankees’ (1967) she played ‘Gloria Thorpe.’
Initially, Lavin appeared on single episodes of several TV-series—‘CBS Playhouse,’ ‘Rhoda,’ ‘Harry O,’ ‘Phyllis,’ and 1974 TV-movies ‘The Morning After’ and ‘Jerry.’ In sitcom ‘Barney Miller’ she played ‘Detective Janice Wentworth’ (1975-1976).
Lavin was cast in sitcom-series ‘Alice’ (1976-1985) in the title-role of ‘Alice Hyatt,’ a widow who moves with young son to start a new life. The hit series, based on film ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,’ ran for 9 seasons fetching Lavin ‘Primetime Emmy’ nomination and 2 ‘Golden Globe Awards.’ She also directed some episodes and performed the theme-song.
Lavin starred in several TV-movies including ‘Like Mom, Like Me’ (1978), ‘The $5.20 an Hour Dream’ (1980), ‘Another Woman’s Child’ (1983), ‘Maricela’ (1986), ‘A Place to Call Home’ (1987), ‘Lena: My 100 Children’ (1987), ‘A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes’ (1995), ‘Stolen Memories: Secrets from the Rose Garden’ (1996), ‘For the Future: The Irving Fertility Scandal’ (1996), ‘The Ring’ (1996), ‘Best Friends for Life’ (1998), ‘Collected Stories’ (2002), ‘Girls Weekend’ (2019). She was producer-star of TV-film ‘A Matter of Life & Death’ (1981), based on life of ‘Nurse Joy Ufema.’ In 1990, she directed TV-movie ‘Flour Babies.’
Lavin’s debut feature-film was ‘The Muppets Take Manhattan’ (1984) as ‘Kermit’s doctor.’ Further she appeared in romantic-comedy film ‘See You in the Morning’ (1989), French comedy-film ‘I Want to Go Home’ (1989), romantic-comedy ‘The Back-up Plan’ (2010), ‘Comedy ‘Wanderlust’ (2012), comedy-drama ‘A Short History of Decay’ (2013), comedy ‘How to be a Latin Lover’ (2017), Teen mystery-comedy ‘Nancy Drew & the Hidden Staircase’ (2019), dark-comedy crime-thriller ‘Naked Singularity’ (2021), biographical-drama ‘Being the Ricardos’ (2021) and more.
Lavin appeared in several such series as ‘Family,’ ‘The Muppet Show,’ ‘Touched by an Angel,’ ‘The Sopranos,’ ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent,’ ‘The O.C.’ ‘The Good Wife,’ ‘Bones,’ ‘Mom’ amongst others, and also many TV-specials, including holiday-special ‘Linda in Wonderland’ (1980).
Lavin had major roles in TV-sitcom ‘Room for Two’ (1992-1993), ‘Conrad Bloom’ (1998), ‘Sean Saves the World’ (2013-2014), ‘9JKL’ (2017-2018), ‘Santa Clarita Diet’ (2019) and ‘Yvette Slosch, Agent’ (2020). Presently she is seen in comedy-series ‘B Positive’ (2020—present).
The Muppets Take Manhattan is a musical adventure comedy drama film which revolves around Kermit and his friends who go to New York City in order to get their musical on Broadway. Soon, they come to know that this task is not as easy as they thought it would be.
70 years old Ben Whittaker becomes an intern in the fast-growing fashion company. While initially skeptical about him, the company’s young CEO Jules Ostin is won over by his charm and dedication along with her co-workers. Ben not only becomes her friend but his wisdom helps her deal with her personal issues.
Tabloid writer Porter Wren is hired by a beautiful widow to investigate her husband's mysterious death. While Porter digs deep into the filmmaker's death mystery, he gets drawn into a very unpleasant case of blackmailing and sexual obsession - one that threatens his marriage, his job and his life.
Maximo made a career out of seducing rich older women. After twenty years of marriage, Maximo gets dumped by his 80 year-old wife, who settles with a young car salesman. Desperate to relive the luxurious life that he was used to, he hatches a scheme to seduce a widowed billionaire.
After the economy crashes down, a married couple finds themselves unemployed, forcing them to sell their apartment. They start looking for other living options, and they eventually find themselves in a commune in Georgia, which is filled with eccentric residents.
Previously known as Plan B, the film explores the relationship between Joe, who is fed up with waiting for the right man, and Stan who bumps into her the day she undergoes artificial insemination. Continuing to bump into each other, they fall in love. But by that time, Joe realizes that she is pregnant and does not know how to break the news to Stan.
Linda Lavin Awards
| Alice | Best Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical | 1980 |
| Alice | Best Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical | 1979 |
