The actress Loni Anderson, known for her role in the 1970s and 80s TV sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati”, died at the age of 79.
Anderson, who played the receptionist Jennifer Marlowe in the CBS comedy about the employees of a radio station in Ohio, died on Sunday, August 3, in a hospital in Los Angeles on Sunday, August 3, in “A longer illness”, the representative of the actress, Cheryl J. Kagan, at USA TOAY.
She was surrounded by her family, who wrote in an explanation: “We are broken with a broken heart to announce the death of our dear wife, mother and grandmother.”
Anderson received two PrimetimeMMY nominations and three Golden Globe nods for their performance as Marlowe during the four-year run from “WKRP”.
The on August 5, 1945 in St. Paul, Minnesota, as the son of the environmental chemist Klaydon Carl Anderson and Model Maxine Hazel, Anderson, received her show biz with the beauty competition. She was in second place in the Miss Minnesota competition and collected the titles Miss Thermo-Jac Clothing, Miss County Style Ford and Queen of the Hole-In-One.
Anderson, who studied art at the University of Minnesota, switched to an acting career with appearances in local commercials and theater shows. After her first marriage to Bruce Hasselbeck, Anderson married the actress Ross Bickell, and the couple moved to Los Angeles in 1975 to realize her dreams of fame in the film and television industry.
The prospective actress, who was born as a brunette, colored her dark curly platinum blonde when she cut her teeth with small roles, “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Three's Company” in the “Barnaby Jones” series.
At the end of the decade, Anderson landed the role of Marlowe on “WKRP” and insisted that the character is rewritten by a stereotypical blonde before accepting it. The experienced bomb proved to be her breakout role and helped Anderson in a sex symbol. A pinup photo of the actress In a narrow white bikini was one of the best -selling posters of the 1970s.
She received a call as a “Queen of Made-for-TV films” and played in the 1980s as Jayne Mansfield “The Jayne Mansfield Story”. In her later years she played in Lifetime's “Women of the 80s: A Divas Christmas” with Linda Gray, Donna Mills, Morgan Fairchild and Nicollette Sheridan.
Anderson and Bickell were divorced in 1981, and the next marriage of the actress was the film star Burt Reynolds. The couple, who met on the set of the racing comedy “Stroker Ace” from 1983, married in 1988 and later adopted a child, a son named Quinton.
Anderson and Reynolds were divorced in 1994, and their separation was defined by a main cell custody dispute over their son, which contained allegations of a turbulent marital relationship.
Despite her controversial separation, after his death in 2018, she remembered Reynolds and praised him as a “wonderful director and actor”.
“He was a large part of my life for 12 years and Quinton's loving father for 30 years,” said Anderson in a statement at the time. “We will miss him and his big laugh.”
In 1995 she published her autobiography. “My life in high heels”, “ A bestseller of the New York Times.
Anderson is survived by her husband Bob Flick (she married in 2008), daughter Deidra, son Quinton, stepson Adam Flick and four grandchildren.
A private family service takes place at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, followed by a celebration of life at a future time.
Contribution: Kim Willis and Bryan Alexander
(This story has been updated to add new information.)