Loni Anderson of WKRP Fame Dead at 79

Loni Anderson, who played a struggling radio station's empowered receptionist on the hit TV comedy WKRP in Cincinnati, died Sunday, just days before her 80th birthday, the AP reports. Anderson died at a Los Angeles hospital following a prolonged illness, said her longtime publicist, Cheryl J. Kagan. "We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our dear wife, mother and grandmother," Anderson's family said in a statement. Anderson was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, to an environmental chemist father and a mother who worked as a model. Most of her career was spent on television, though she also appeared in movies on both the big and small screens.

WKRP in Cincinnati aired from 1978 to 1982 and was set in a flagging Ohio radio station trying to reinvent itself with rock music. The cast included Gary Sandy, Tim Reid, Howard Hesseman, Frank Bonner, and Jan Smithers, alongside Anderson as Jennifer Marlowe, whose good looks were matched by her intelligence. As the station's receptionist, the blonde and high-heeled Jennifer routinely deflected unwanted business calls for her boss, Mr. Carlson. Her efficiency often kept the station running in the face of others' incompetence. The role earned Anderson two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe nominations.

Anderson starred on the big screen alongside Burt Reynolds in the 1983 comedy Stroker Ace, and the two later married and became tabloid fixtures before their messy breakup in 1994. Their son, Quinton Reynolds, was "the best decision that we ever made in our entire relationship," she said during the unveiling of a bronze bust at Reynolds' Hollywood grave site in 2021. Anderson detailed their tumultuous marriage in the 1995 autobiography My Life in High Heels, which she said was about "the growth of a woman, a woman who survives." She married four times, most recently to Bob Flick in 2008. Anderson is survived by Flick, her daughter Deidra and son-in law Charlie Hoffman, son Quinton Anderson Reynolds, grandchildren McKenzie and Megan Hoffman, stepson Adam Flick and wife Helene, and step-grandchildren Felix and Maximilian.