Actress Bunny Levine, known for roles in Gilmore Girls and La La Land, has died at the age of 97. Her representative, Mike Eisenstadt, confirmed to NBC Los Angeles that she died at her home in Tarzana, California.
The Los Angeles Police Department responded to a report of an unresponsive person at Levine's residence. Police confirmed that her death "appeared to be from natural causes."
From librarian to late-blooming actress
Levine worked as a school librarian for over 20 years before starting her acting career at age 60. Her first acting credit was in the 1988 horror comedy Slime City. She was then cast in the 1990 movie Cadillac Man and appeared in episodes of As The World Turns and Law & Order in the late 1990s.
Her career continued into the 2000s after appearing in an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond in 2004. "That was the first bigger thing I did in Los Angeles," she told Mel Magazine. "In that, I was a friend of Raymond's mother, and me and a couple of other older women kept dropping things to admire Ray Romano's rear end. I never really thought that much about it, but I guess, in retrospect, after that I kept getting a lot of those roles."
Reflecting on an unconventional path
Discussing her unlikely start in Hollywood, Levine said: "Acting is always what I wanted to do, but it wasn't practical. I don't know if you've seen a picture of me, but I wasn't a good young leading lady." She added: "I'm short and a little character-y. I wasn't ugly, but I wasn't beautiful either, so acting just wasn't practical."
She went on to portray Mrs. Thompson on the hit series Gilmore Girls. Levine also appeared in three Adam Sandler movies, including You Don't Mess with the Zohan and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah. Her other film credits include A Thousand Words and Oscar-winning La La Land.
Later roles and final film
More recently, Levine appeared in the reality hoax sitcom Jury Duty and the comedy drama Thelma. Her last film role was in the 2026 indie horror thriller The Cure, starring David Dastmalchian.
