Loni Anderson, the twice Emmy-nominated star of WKRP in Cincinnati, has died at the age of 79, according to multiple media reports.
Her cause of death was listed as “an acute prolonged illness,” her longtime publicist, Cheryl J. Kagan, told the Associated Press.
“We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our dear wife, mother and grandmother,” Anderson’s family said in a statement.
Anderson is best known for her role as the clever receptionist Jennifer Marlowe in CBS’ sitcom about the eccentric staff of a struggling Top 40 rock radio station in Ohio. Created by Hugh Wilson, the multi-cam comedy ran from 1978 through 1982, and Anderson’s ultra-capable employee appeared in all but one of the series’ 90 episodes. Her vivacious character cemented her as a bona fide TV sex symbol and subverted stereotypical “dumb blonde” tropes, as Jennifer remained savvy among a team of often incompetent coworkers, refusing to do typical receptionist chores like fetch coffee or take dictation.
For her work, Anderson garnered two Emmy nominations in 1980 and 1981 for Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Variety or Music Series, as well as three Golden Globes.
Born Loni Kaye Anderson on Aug. 5, 1945, in Saint Paul, Minn., the actress began her career as a beauty queen, taking after her model mother. Though known as a blonde bombshell, Anderson was naturally black-haired, saying in a 2020 interview: “I loved being a brunette. It was exotic, people weren’t quite sure what nationality I was, there was a mystery. When acting, I could play the bad lady.”
Initially, Anderson turned down the gig on WKRP, saying she liked the show but not the part.
“I went in and sat on my little soapbox: ‘I don’t want to play this part because she’s just here to deliver messages and is window dressing.’ Then Hugh said, ‘Well, how would you do it?’” Anderson recalled. “‘Let’s make her look like Lana Turner and be the smartest person in the room.’”
Outside of WKRP, Anderson portrayed Jayne Mansfield in a 1980 TV film opposite a then-unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger. She played another real-life sex siren in 1991’s telefilm White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd. Her other TV credits include S.W.A.T., Police Woman, Barnaby Jones, The Bob Newhart Show and Three’s Company, and in later years, The New WKRP in Cincinnati, Empty Nest, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Clueless.
Anderson is also known for her 12-year relationship and six-year marriage to Burt Reynolds, which captivated Tinseltown in the late ’80s during its height as well as its subsequent, tumultuous dissolution. The two worked together on 1983’s action comedy Stroker Ace and began dating shortly afterward, tying the knot in 1988. Their acrimonious divorce came amid Reynolds’ struggles with substance abuse, resulting in a protracted public battle that featured the Boogie Nights actor bashing Anderson in the press.
“We were bombarded, I mean, we could not leave the house. There were people outside the gates, people got onto the property. I was serving him breakfast one morning and there was somebody in the window,” Anderson recalled of the tabloid fervor.
However, Anderson and Reynolds kept in contact through the years while meeting with their son until the actor’s 2018 death. The two spoke at his funeral.
In 1995, she penned the autobiography, My Life in High Heels, which she said was about “the growth of a woman, a woman who survives. It’s about my childhood, the death of my parents, my career, my divorces, and my children. Then of course, the trauma of my marriage to Burt,” per the AP.
Anderson is survived by her husband Bob Flick, daughter Deidra and son-in law Charlie Hoffman, son Quinton Anderson Reynolds, grandchildren McKenzie and Megan Hoffman, stepson Adam Flick and wife Helene, step-grandchildren Felix and Maximilian.
