{"id":43508,"date":"2025-08-04T01:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T01:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/43508\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T01:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T01:44:13","slug":"loni-anderson-emmy-and-golden-globe-nominated-star-of-wkrp-in-cincinnati-dies-at-79","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/43508\/","title":{"rendered":"Loni Anderson, Emmy- and Golden Globe-Nominated Star of \u2018WKRP in Cincinnati,\u2019 Dies at 79"},"content":{"rendered":"

Loni Anderson, whose beloved role as Jennifer Marlowe on \u201cWKRP in Cincinnati\u201d was nominated for Emmy and Golden Globe awards, has died, her publicist confirmed Sunday. She was 79.<\/p>\n

Anderson played the \u201csexy-yet-smartest-person-in-the-room receptionist\u201d on the hit TV series about a mixed-format radio station from 1978 to 1982. She died Sunday in Los Angeles following an acute prolonged illness, surrounded by family, longtime publicist Cheryl Kagan told TheWrap.<\/p>\n

More from TheWrap<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are heartbroken to announce the passing of our dear wife, mother and grandmother,\u201d the family said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Anderson starred in six TV series, seven feature films, 19 TV movies and two min-series over the years. After her diagnosis, she continued working co-starring in Lifetime\u2019s \u201cLadies Of The 80\u2019s: A Divas Christmas\u201d with Linda Gray, Donna Mills, Morgan Fairchild and Nicollette Sheridan. The TV movie aired in late December 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoni was a class act. Beautiful. Talented. Witty. Always a joy to be around,\u201d said Steve Sauer, Anderson\u2019s manager for 30 years. \u201cShe was the ultimate working mother. Family first \u2026 and maintained a great balance with her career. She and I had wonderful adventures together that I shall forever cherish. I will especially miss that infectious chuckle of hers. She will be forever missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Anderson wished to be an actress while growing up in St. Paul, Minn., working in community as a single parent raising her daughter. She moved to Los Angeles in 1975, landing a spot on \u201cSwat\u201d two weeks later.<\/p>\n

By 1978, she landed a starring role in her first movie \u2013\u00a0\u201cThree On A Date\u201d with June Allyson, Ray Bolger, Gary Crosby and Carol Lawrence \u2013\u00a0and guest-starred on hit TV shows like \u201cThree\u2019s Company,\u201d \u201cThe Incredible Hulk\u201d and \u201cLove Boat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWKRP\u201d creator Hugh Wilson asked to meet with her, but \u2013 not wanting to play a stereotypical dumb blonde \u2013\u00a0would only accept the role if it be rewritten. Wilson agreed, and \u201csmartest person in the room\u201d Jennifer Marlowe was the result.<\/p>\n

In 1982 Anderson co-starred in \u201cStroker Ace,\u201d a feature film with future husband
Burt Reynolds. The couple adopted their son Quinton Anderson Reynolds in August 1988. Her autobiography, \u201cMy Life In High Heels\u201d was published by
William Morrow in 1995 and reached the both The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.<\/p>\n

Anderson married Bob Flick, a founding member of the 1960\u2019s folk group The Brothers Four, in 2008 after meeting at a movie premiere in Minneapolis years earlier. Anderson is survived by her husband, 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.<\/p>\n

The post Loni Anderson, Emmy- and Golden Globe-Nominated Star of \u2018WKRP in Cincinnati,\u2019 Dies at 79<\/a> appeared first on TheWrap<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Loni Anderson, whose beloved role as Jennifer Marlowe on \u201cWKRP in Cincinnati\u201d was nominated for Emmy and Golden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[30771,49,3335,48,361,75,30770,30768,30767,30772,30769],"class_list":{"0":"post-43508","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-beverly-hills","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-celebrities","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-golden-globe-awards","15":"tag-jennifer-marlowe","16":"tag-loni-anderson","17":"tag-quinton-anderson-reynolds","18":"tag-wkrp-in-cincinnati"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}