Loni Anderson, an actor in the hit show of the 1980s in Cincinnati, dead at 79

Loni Anderson, who played an empowered receptionist at the struggling radio station of the hit television comedy WKRP in CincinnatiHe died on Sunday, just days before his 80th birthday.

Anderson died at a hospital in Los Angeles after a long illness, said her longtime publicist Sheril J. Kagan.

“We are broken by the heart to announce the passage of our dear wife, mother and grandmother,” Anderson’s family said in a statement.

WKRP in Cincinnatiwhich aired from 1978 to 1982 is placed in a lagging radio station in Ohio, trying to rediscover rock music. The cast included Howard Hesseman, Frank Bonner, Tim Reed, Gordon Jump, Jan Smitters and Gary Sandy, along with Anderson as Jennifer Marlow, whose good appearance was combined with her intelligence.

As a receptionist at the station, blond and high -heeled, Jennifer routinely diverts the unwanted business calls for his boss, Mr. Carlson, played by Jump. Its efficiency often kept the station running in the face of the incompetence of others.

The role won their two Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe nominations.

Anderson has participated on the big screen with Burt Reynolds in the comedy since 1983. Stroker AceBoth later married and became tabloid bodies before divorcing in 1994.

Their son Quinton Reynolds was “the best decision we have ever made in our entire relationship,” she said during the opening of a bronze bust of the Hollywood Grobov of Reynolds in 2021.

“I think at the beginning of our relationship it was so, oh, God, tabloids. We were just a spectacle all the time. And it was difficult to have a connection in this atmosphere. And somehow we did it through many ups and falls,” Anderson told the Associated Press.

She detailed their tumultuous marriage during the 1995 resume. My life in high heelsWhich she said was about “the growth of a woman, a woman who survives.”

“I think if you are going to write about yourself, you have to do it warts and everything else,” Anderson told AP while promoting the book. “You may not even tell the best things about yourself because you tell the truth.”

He married four times, recently to Bob Flick in 2008.

Anderson was born on August 5, 1945 in St. Paul, Min. Her father was an ecological chemist and her mother was a model.

Her first role as an actor is a small part in the 1966 movie. Nevada Smithstarring Steve McQueen. The bigger part of her career was spent on the small screen, with early parts for guests in the 1970s Swat and Police womanS After WkrpAnderson is involved in the short -term comedy series Light -street and appeared in TV films, including Letter to three wives and White Hot: The Mysterious Telma Todd MurderS

In 2023 she participated in Lifetime Ladies of the 80: A Divas Christmas With Linda Gray, Donna Mills, Morgan Fairchild and Nicolet Sheridan.

“I am heartfelt to hear about the passage of the beautiful Lancer Anderson!” Fairchild wrote on the social media platform X. “The most sweet, the most well -wise lady! I’m just devastated to hear that.”

Anderson survived Flick, daughter Deidre, son Quinton and two grandchildren.

A private family service is planned at the Hollywood cemetery forever, said publicist Kagan.