‘WKRP in Cincinnati’ actor Loni Anderson dies days before her 80th birthday

Popular TV actor of the ’80s, Loni Anderson, who played a struggling radio station’s empowered receptionist on the sitcom ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’, died Sunday, just days before her 80th birthday.

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As reported by foreign media, Loni 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.

Notably, ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’ aired from 1978 to 1982 and was set in a flagging Ohio radio station trying to reinvent itself with rock music. Anderson as Jennifer Marlowe, co-starred with Gary Sandy, Tim Reid, Howard Hesseman, Frank Bonner and Jan Smithers.

The role earned Anderson two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe nominations.

Besides, Anderson also 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.

She 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’.

“I think if you’re going to write about yourself, you have to do it warts and all,” Anderson said while promoting the book. “You may not even tell the nicest things about yourself, because you’re telling the truth.”

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.

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