Stage and screen actor Linda Lavin’s immediate cause of death has been revealed.
The “Alice” star’s death certificate, obtained and posted online Monday by TMZ, said that her immediate cause of death was cardiopulmonary arrest due to her underlying lung cancer. Cardiopulmonary arrest, which is also known as cardiac arrest, occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating effectively and prevents blood from circulating through the body, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Confirming her death in late December, her representative, Bill Veloric, said the 87-year-old died in Los Angeles after complications from recently discovered lung cancer. Lavin’s death certificate said that it was not known how long she had been living with lung cancer.
The document, issued by the Los Angles County Department of Public Health, confirmed that Lavin died Dec. 29 at her home in Malibu. On Dec. 19, the actor had undergone a bronchoscopy — a procedure that allows doctors to examine airways in the lungs. She was cremated in January and her remains were given to her husband, Steve Bakunas, the document said.
Aside from her Emmy-nominated starring role in “Alice” — the 1976 CBS sitcom adaptation of Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” that ran for nine seasons — Lavin was a Tony Award winner. She won the award for best actress in a play for Neil Simon’s “Broadway Bound” in 1987 and scored five other Tony nominations during her Broadway career. The actor also appeared on the small screen in “The O.C.,” “The Sopranos,” “9JKL,” “Santa Clarita Diet” and “Sean Saves the World.”
More recently, Lavin appeared in the CBS sitcom “B Positive,” the 2021 film “Being the Ricardos” and the Netflix series “No Good Deed.” At the time of her death, she was filming the upcoming Hulu series “Mid-Century Modern.”
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