According to The Hollywood Reporter, the main star of Alice, Linda Lavin (How to Be a Latin Lover, No Good Deed), has passed away at 87. Her representative informed THR that the cause of death was complications of lung cancer, which was recently discovered.

Lavin was born Oct. 15, 1937 to Radio Personality and coloratura soprano Lucille and furniture business man David. At 22, she graduated with a theater arts degree from the College of William & Mary. A few months after, she moved to New York and starred in Oh, Kay! an off-Broadway revival.

Hal Prince was responsible for giving Lavin her first role on Broadway in 1962 as she was on the chorus of A Family Affair when Prince saw her potential. In a 2018 Broadway World Interview, Lavin stated, “I’d never met him before, dynamo of a man … [he] pointed at me and said, ‘You’re terrific, I’ll see you later,’ and the next day he was introduced as our new director and I got three speaking parts. At that time, you got $5 apiece for each speaking part. So, I was now an actor.” From then, her career as a Broadway actress took off and starred in various plays including Hotel Passionato, The Ride Act and Wet Paint. She was hired again by Prince in 1966.

The Hollywood Reporter stated Lavin had six Tony nominations in 1998, 2001, 2010, 2012 for The Diary of Anne Frank, The Tale of the Allegist’s Wife, Collected Stories, The Lyons and many more.

In 1976, the actress was hired to star in the Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore based-series Alice. The show was created by Robert Getchell. The TV series landed her many opportunities including joining the National Commission on Working Women, one Emmy nomination and two Golden Globes. She has worked with Neil Simon on two separate occasions and honored him in her Tony acceptance speech.