Linda Lavin born October 15 1937 is an American actress and singer She is known for playing the title character in the sitcom Alice and for her stage performances both on and offBroadway After acting as a child Lavin joined the Compass Players in the late 1950s She began appearing on Broadway in the 1960s earning notice in Its a BirdIts a PlaneIts Superman in 1966 and receiving her first Tony Award nomination for Last of the Red Hot Lovers in 1970 She moved to Hollywood in 1973 and began to work on television making recurring appearances on the sitcom Barney Miller before landing the title role on the hit comedy Alice which ran from 1976 to 1985 She appeared in many telefilms and later she appeared in other TV works She has also played roles in several feature films In 1987 she returned to Broadway starring in Broadway Bound winning a Tony Award Gypsy 1990 The Sisters Rosensweig 1993 The Diary of Anne Frank 19971998 and The Tale of the Allergists Wife 20002001 among others In 2010 she appeared as Ruth Steiner in Collected Stories garnering her fifth Tony nomination She starred in NBCs shortlived sitcom Sean Saves the World as Lorna and the CBS sitcom 9JKL She also starred in the CBS sitcom B Positive Description above from the Wikipedia article Linda Lavin licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia