“I used to be sad, I used to be shy,” sang Linda Lavin, who has died aged 87, in the theme song of the US television sitcom Alice, in which she played the eponymous lead. The show ran from 1976 until 1985, becoming the longest-running sitcom starring a woman (eventually Roseanne would overtake it), and was based on Martin Scorsese’s 1974 film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, which had starred Ellen Burstyn as Alice. On TV, Lavin played the widowed mother who leaves New Jersey with her son intending to move to California and resume her youthful dream of a singing career. But her car breaks down in Phoenix, Arizona, and she takes a temporary job at Mel’s Diner, which becomes the setting for a comedic family group including grouchy Mel and two waitresses, sassy Flo and ditzy Vera.
Audiences embraced Alice’s struggle to overcome a single mother’s sadness and shyness. It was a part made for Lavin’s experience in theatre, where she began in vivacious musical comedy, and moved to serious straight acting. Alice became iconic to working women in this era of nascent feminism, and won Lavin an Emmy nomination and two Golden Globe awards. Yet when the show ended after 202 episodes, Lavin returned to Broadway to resume her career on stage.
