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LOS ANGELES (AP) – Roni Anderson, who played the empowered receptionist for a struggling radio station in the hit television comedy WKRP’s Cincinnati, passed away on Sunday just days before his 80th birthday.
Anderson passed away at Los Angeles Hospital after a “long-term” illness, said her longtime spokesperson, Cheryl J. Kagan.
“We are heartbroken to announce the deaths of our dear wife, mother and grandmother,” Anderson’s family said in a statement.
“WKRP of Cincinnati” aired from 1978 to 1982 and was set on an Ohio radio station with a flag that attempted to reinvent itself in rock music. The cast included Gary Sandy, Tim Reed, Howard Hessman, Frank Bonner and Jan Smithers, and Anderson was with the sexy and smart Jennifer Marlowe.
As the station receptionist, blonde and high heeled Jennifer used her sexual attraction to deflect unnecessary business calls from her boss, Mr. Carlson. Her efficiency kept the station running in the face of the incompetence of others.
The role won an Anderson 2 Emmy Award nomination and three Golden Globe nominations.
Anderson starred on the big screen alongside Bart Reynolds in the 1983 comedy Stroker Ace, and the two got married in 1994 before a messy breakup, becoming tabloid fixtures.
Their son, Quinton Reynolds, said during the announcement of the Bronzebust at Reynolds’ Hollywood Cemetery in 2021, “it was the best decision we’ve ever made in our entire relationship.”
“Reminiscing the beginning of our relationship, it was, yeah, a swell, a tabloid. We were always a sight. And it was difficult to have a relationship in that atmosphere. And somehow, we did it through so many ups and downs.”
Anderson detailed his turbulent marriage in his 1995 autobiography, My Life in High Heels.
“If you’re going to write about yourself, you think you have to do it warts and everything,” Anderson told the Associated Press while promoting the book. “You may not even be able to say the most wonderful thing about yourself because you are telling the truth.”
She married four times, most recently in 2008 to Bob Frick.
Anderson was born on August 5, 1945 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her father was an environmental chemist and her mother was a model.
Her first role as an actress was a small role starring Steve McQueen in the 1966 film Nevada Smith. Most of her career was spent on the small screens with “SWAT” and “Police Woman” with guest parts from the early 1970s. After “WKRP,” Anderson appeared in the short-lived comedy series “Easy Street,” appearing in television films such as “Letters to Three Wives” and “White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd.”
In 2023, she co-starred in Lifetime’s “Women of the 80s: Abus Christmas” with Linda Gray, Donna Mills, Morgan Fairchild and Nicolette Sheridan.
“I am heartbroken to hear of the passing of the amazing Ronnie Anderson!” Fairchild writes to X:
Anderson was survived by Flick, daughter Daedra and son Charlie Hoffman, son Quinton Anderson Reynolds, grandchildren Mackenzie and Megan Hoffman, sons, sons Adam Flick and wife Helen, and stepmothers Felix and Maximilian.
Private family services are being planned at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Kagan said.
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Itzel Luna, Associated Press journalist in Los Angeles, contributed.
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