A LIFE WELL ACTED

‘Gilmore Girls’ Actress Dies at 97

She launched her acting career when she was nearly 60, after working as a school librarian and teacher for decades.

Bunny Levine, known for her roles in Gilmore Girls and La La Land, has died at 97, peacefully in her sleep. She passed Thursday in her Tarzana, California home, from what appears to have been natural causes. Before launching her Hollywood career in the late 1980s, Levine was a school librarian and teacher in Teaneck, New Jersey, for about 25 years. She has appeared in some of television’s biggest shows, including Everybody Loves Raymond, Law & Order, Ugly Betty, Private Practice, Criminal Minds, New Girl, and The Mindy Project. Levine has also acted in comedy movies You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, Sandy Wexler and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah. In March 2025, the actress told the Daily Evergreen about her career pivot after decades of working in education. “I feel very blessed to have been able to get back to what I had always wanted since early memory. I wish that everyone could find that happiness.”