By CHRISTOPHER WEBER
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Loni Anderson, who performed a struggling radio station’s empowered receptionist on the hit TV comedy “WKRP in Cincinnati,” died Sunday, simply days earlier than her eightieth birthday.
Anderson died at a Los Angeles hospital following a protracted sickness, mentioned her longtime publicist, Cheryl J. Kagan.
“We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our dear wife, mother and grandmother,” Anderson’s household mentioned in a press release.
“WKRP in Cincinnati” aired from 1978 to 1982 and was set in a flagging Ohio radio station attempting to reinvent itself with rock music. The solid included Gary Sandy, Tim Reid, Howard Hesseman, Frank Bonner and Jan Smithers, alongside Anderson as Jennifer Marlowe, whose attractiveness have been matched by her intelligence.
Because the station’s receptionist, the blonde and high-heeled Jennifer routinely deflected undesirable enterprise requires her boss, Mr. Carlson. Her effectivity typically stored the station operating within the face of others’ incompetence.
The position earned Anderson two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe nominations.
Anderson starred on the massive display screen alongside Burt Reynolds within the 1983 comedy “Stroker Ace,” and the 2 later married and have become tabloid fixtures earlier than their messy breakup in 1994.
Their son, Quinton Reynolds, was “the best decision that we ever made in our entire relationship,” she mentioned throughout the unveiling of a bronze bust at Reynolds’ Hollywood grave web site in 2021.
“I think back to the beginning of our relationship, it was so, oh, gosh, tabloidy. We were just a spectacle all the time. And it was hard to have a relationship in that atmosphere. And somehow, we did it through many ups and downs,” Anderson advised The Related Press.
Anderson detailed their tumultuous marriage within the 1995 autobiography, “My Life in High Heels,” which she mentioned was about “the growth of a woman, a woman who survives.”
“I think if you’re going to write about yourself, you have to do it warts and all,” Anderson advised the AP whereas selling the ebook. “You may not even tell the nicest things about yourself, because you’re telling the truth.”
She married 4 instances, most not too long ago to Bob Flick in 2008.
Anderson was born Aug. 5, 1945, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her father was an environmental chemist, and her mom was a mannequin.
Her first position as an actress was a small half within the 1966 movie “Nevada Smith,” starring Steve McQueen. Most of her profession was spent on the small display screen with early visitor components within the Nineteen Seventies on “S.W.A.T.” and “Police Woman.” After “WKRP,” Anderson starred within the short-lived comedy collection “Easy Street” and appeared in made-for-TV films together with “A Letter to Three Wives” and “White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd.”
In 2023 she co-starred in Lifetime’s “Ladies Of The 80s: A Divas Christmas” with Linda Grey, Donna Mills, Morgan Fairchild and Nicollette Sheridan.
“I am heartbroken to hear of the passing of the wonderful Loni Anderson!” Fairchild wrote on X. “The sweetest, most gracious lady! I’m just devastated to hear this.”
Anderson is survived by Flick, her daughter Deidra and son-in regulation Charlie Hoffman, son Quinton Anderson Reynolds, grandchildren McKenzie and Megan Hoffman, stepson Adam Flick and spouse Helene, and step-grandchildren Felix and Maximilian.
A non-public household service is deliberate on the Hollywood Endlessly Cemetery, Kagan mentioned.
___
Related Press journalist Itzel Luna in Los Angeles contributed.
Initially Revealed: August 3, 2025 at 3:11 PM PDT
