American actress Linda Lavin passed away at 87 years old, and her cause of death has now been revealed. The star of Alice unexpectedly passed away on December 29 in connection to her lung cancer.
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Initially, when the Tony-winning and Emmy-nominated actress died, we didn't know the exact cause. Lavin had only recently discovered she had lung cancer, so her death shocked her family and fans. Unfortunately, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in America according to the American Cancer Society.
Linda Lavin Passed Away Due To Lung Cancer Complications
Now a month later, as discovered by TMZ after obtaining her death certificate, Lavin suffered from a cardiopulmonary arrest. This causes your blood to stop pumping into your heart, and her lung cancer was the underlying cause. People who suffer from this can fall unconscious and become unresponsive.
Lavin's big career began with her hit role as Alice Hyatt in Alice which ran from 1976 to 1985. The actress who hailed from Maine was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series due to this role. Meanwhile, she won a Tony for Best Actress in a Play and two Golden Globes for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
More recently, Lavin promoted her new Netflix show No Good Deed alongside her Hulu comedy Mid-Century Modern. While the former came out in 2024, the latter is set to premiere in 2025. Some of the top creators of these shows spoke up about her passing, mentioning how working with Lavin was "one of the highlights" of their careers.
TMZ also reported that the document said Lavin was cremated in January at her husband's Los Angeles home. The actress married Steve Bakunas in 2005, and it was her third marriage.
The outlet also found out that Lavin received a bronchoscopy in 2024. In this procedure, a doctor looks into your airways to treat or diagnose your lung condition.
On the day of her death, Bill Veloric, Lavin's representative, confirmed her death. He revealed that Lavin had "passed unexpectedly due to complications from recently discovered lung cancer."
Although Lavin did not have any biological children, she was reportedly active in her stepchildren's lives from her second husband, Kip Niven.
