Allison Janney leads tributes to 'TV royalty' Linda Lavin

Allison Janney has paid tribute to the "kind and generous" Linda Lavin.

A representative announced that the Alice actress died unexpectedly on Sunday due to "complications from recently discovered lung cancer". She was 87.

Taking to Instagram on Monday, Allison posted a photo of herself and Linda, whom had she had appeared alongside on the TV sitcom Mom.

"She was TV royalty, she was kind, generous, and I was honored to act with her... Linda Lavin, you will be missed. I send love to her family and friends," she wrote.

Elsewhere, Sarah Paulson reflected on the time she performed alongside Linda on a production of Collected Stories in 2010.

The American Horror Story actress recounted how a window on the stage became stuck during the first five minutes and Linda suggested they simply restart the show from the beginning.

"The audience went wild, roaring with laughter and applause," the 50-year-old remembered. "This was quintessentially why she was untouchable as a performer - she knew that the audience had seen the window fall, so we couldn't continue as if it hadn't - so we fixed it and began again - and they stayed with us."

In addition, Liz Feldman - creator of Netflix show No Good Deed - described how she was thrilled to work with the "sweet, brilliant, talented, beautiful" Linda on the series.

"You were, as always, incredibly gracious, totally hilarious and pitch perfect. Ready to play and full of life. Your warmth and kindness was unparalleled. I just loved you. We all did. I'm so glad I got to see you a few weeks ago at the premiere and introduce you to my parents. They were thrilled to meet you," she added.

No Good Deed premiered earlier this month.

It remains unclear what will happen to Linda's final project, Mid-Century Modern, which she had filmed approximately seven episodes of.