Loni Anderson Michael Buckner/Getty Images Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Loni Anderson, who starred as shrewd radio station receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on WKRP in Cincinnati before her fairy-tale marriage to and acrimonious divorce from Burt Reynolds kept her uncomfortably in the tabloids, died Sunday. She was 79. A two-time Emmy nominee, Anderson died at noon in Los Angeles from "an acute prolonged illness," publicist Cheryl J. Kagan announced. The Minnesota native also portrayed doomed Hollywood sex sirens in two telefilms: 1980's The Jayne Mansfield Story - alongside an untested Arnold Schwarzenegger as her second husband, Mickey Hargitay - and 1991's White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd. Related Stories Movies Robert Charles Hunter, Former PepsiCo CEO and Diane Ladd's Husband, Dies at 77 News Jeannie Seely, "Don't Touch Me" Singer and Longtime Grand Ole Opry Host, Dies at 85 And from 1988-90, she toplined TV movie remakes of the classic films Leave Her to Heaven (in the Gene Tierney role), Sorry, Wrong Number (in the Barbara Stanwyck part) and Three Coins in the Fountain). After appearing on such series as S.W.A.T., Police Woman, Barnaby Jones and Phyllis and auditioning to play Chrissy Snow on Three's Company, Anderson in 1978 read for Jennifer on MTM Enterprises' WKRP in Cincinnati, created by Hugh Wilson. Anderson liked the concept of the sitcom but had a problem with her role, "so I refused," she explained in a 2020 interview. "I went in and sat on my little soapbox and said, 'I don't want to play this part because she's just here to deliver messages and is window dressing.' Then Hugh said, 'Well, how would you do it?' ... He said, 'Let's make her look like Lana Turner and be the smartest person in the room.'" From left: Gary Sandy, Loni Anderson and Howard Hesseman of 'WKRP in Cincinnati.' Paul Terpanjian / TV Guide / (C)CBS / Courtesy Everett Collection With Jennifer refusing to take dictation, type letters or make coffee as the opposite of the "dumb blond" stereotype that blanketed TV back then, Anderson starred on all but one of the show's 90 episodes during its four-season run through April 1982. She received Emmy nominations after the second and third years of the series in 1980 and '81 but lost out to Loretta Swit of M*A*S*H and Eileen Brennan of Private Benjamin, respectively. After WKRP, Anderson appeared as Sunday school teacher Pembrook Feeny alongside Reynolds as a NASCAR driver in Stroker Ace (1983), directed by Hal Needham. She and Reynolds had met for the first time in 1981 on The Merv Griffin Show when she was still married to actor Ross Bickell and he was involved with actress Sally Field, and they began dating a year later. (He had been married to actress Judy Carne from 1963-66.) On April 29, 1988, the couple exchanged vows on Reynolds' 160-acre ranch in Jupiter, Florida. During the ceremony, he presented her with a seven-carat ring, which he designed and People in its cover story about the wedding described as "a canary yellow diamond surrounded by smaller white diamonds." She was 41, he was 52. "We all cried," said actor Robby Benson, who was a guest. "It couldn't have been lovelier. They looked like the perfect couple, the kind you see on the top of a wedding cake, only bigger." Loni Kaye Anderson was born on Aug. 5, 1945, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Her father, Klaydon, was an environmental chemist, and her mother, Maxine, a model. She was naturally dark-haired. "I loved being a brunette," she said. "It was exotic, people weren't quite sure what nationality I was, there was a mystery. When acting, I could be the bad lady." Anderson graduated from Alexander Ramsey Senior High School in Roseville in 1963 and finished runner-up in the 1964 Miss Minnesota pageant while an art student at the University of Minnesota. Also in '64, she eloped with Bruce Hasselberg, the brother of a fellow Miss Minnesota contestant. They had a daughter, Deidra, but their marriage was effectively over in a matter of months. Loni Anderson and Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1980's 'The Jayne Mansfield Story.' lan Landsburg Prod. / Courtesy: Everett Collection The 5-foot-7 Anderson donned a blond wig and was hired to play Billie (in the role made famous by Judy Holliday) on a Minneapolis stage in Born Yesterday, kickstarting her career. She was in another play with veteran actor Pat O'Brien, who told her she should try her hand in Hollywood. She moved to Los Angeles in 1975 with Bickell, dyed her hair platinum blond and found steady TV work, including a guest-starring stint on MTM's The Bob Newhart Show as a woman who files a paternity suit against Dr. Hartley patient Elliot Carlin (Jack Riley), then wants to rescind it. Anderson didn't land the Three's Company gig because "she was too beautiful, too savvy," John Ritter said