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    Tanya Roberts, a Charlie’s Angel and a Bond Girl, Is Dead at 65

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    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeHoliday TVBest Netflix DocumentariesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyTanya Roberts, a Charlie’s Angel and a Bond Girl, Is Dead at 65After finding stardom in the 1980s, she fell out of the spotlight until re-emerging in 1998 in the sitcom “That ’70s Show.”Tanya Roberts with Roger Moore in the 1985 James Bond film “A View to a Kill.” She had earlier starred in the last season of “Charlie’s Angels.”Credit…Alexis Duclos./Associated PressJan. 5, 2021Updated 1:30 p.m. ETTanya Roberts, the breathy-voiced actress who found fame in the 1980s as a detective on “Charlie’s Angels” and as a brave earth scientist in the James Bond film “A View to a Kill,” died on Monday night in Los Angeles. She was 65.Her death, at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, was confirmed on Tuesday by her companion, Lance O’Brien. Her publicist, who was given erroneous information, had announced her death to the news media early Monday, and some news organizations published obituaries about her prematurely.The publicist, Mike Pingel, said Ms. Roberts collapsed on Dec. 24 after walking her dogs near her Hollywood Hills home and was put on a ventilator at the hospital. He did not give the cause of death, but said it was not related to Covid-19. He said she had not been noticeably ill before she collapsed.Ms. Roberts’s big acting break came in her mid-20s, when she was cast in the fifth and last season of “Charlie’s Angels,” the ABC drama series that, trading on its stars’ sex appeal, followed the exploits of three attractive former police officers who often fought crime wearing short shorts, low-cut blouses and even bikinis.The show was an immediate hit in 1976, but Farrah Fawcett, its breakout star, left after one season, replaced by Cheryl Ladd. Kate Jackson quit in 1979, and her replacement, Shelley Hack, was gone after just one season. Ms. Roberts replaced Ms. Hack. Jaclyn Smith appeared throughout the series run.There were high hopes for Ms. Roberts when she joined the cast. Her character, Julie, had some of Ms. Jackson’s character’s streetwise attitude; Julie was known to knock a handgun right out of a tough criminal’s hand. Her part couldn’t save the show’s plummeting ratings, but it did lead to an active decade for her in Hollywood.Ms. Roberts, second from left, starred in “Charlie’s Angels” in its fifth and final season. The other “angels” in this 1980 photo were Cheryl Ladd, left, and Jaclyn Smith, right. Second from right is Patti D’Arbanville, who appeared in an episode.Credit…Getty ImagesMost notably, she was a “Bond girl,” playing a geologist threatened by a microchip-monopolist madman (Christopher Walken) in “A View to a Kill” (1985), Roger Moore’s last appearance as Agent 007.Ms. Roberts also appeared in “The Beastmaster” (1982), a fantasy film. And she played the title role in “Sheena” (1984), a highly publicized adventure film inspired by a queen-of-the-jungle comic book character. Sheena, a female Tarzan type, wore skimpy fur outfits with décolletage, rode a zebra, talked to animals and shape-shifted. The film flopped at the box office, and Ms. Roberts began fading from public view.She returned to the spotlight in 1998 on the sitcom “That ’70s Show” as the glamorous, youngish Midwestern mom of a teenage girl (Laura Prepon). In that role she was beautiful, slim and sexy — and delightfully dimwitted. The comic mystery, year after year, was how her short, dumpy husband, played by Don Stark with frighteningly overgrown sideburns, had ever won her heart. Ms. Roberts appeared on the show for three seasons and later made guest visits.She was born Victoria Leigh Blum in the Bronx on Oct. 15, 1955, the second of two daughters of Oscar Maximilian Blum, a fountain pen salesman, and Dorothy Leigh (Smith) Blum. According to some sources, Tanya was her nickname. She spent her childhood in the Bronx and lived briefly in Canada after her parents’ divorce. She began her career by running away from home to become a model when she was 15.Back in New York, she studied acting, appeared in some Off Broadway productions and worked as a model and a dance instructor to make ends meet. Her modeling career included work for Clairol and Ultra-Brite toothpaste. She made her screen debut in the horror thriller “The Last Victim” (1976), about a serial rapist-murderer.Ms. Roberts, right, in 1999 in a scene from the sitcom “That ’70s Show” with Laura Prepon, another star of the show. Ms. Roberts had kept a low profile for many years until re-emerging in the show.Credit…Frank Carroll/FoxAfter “Charlie’s Angels,” Ms. Roberts acted in both television and films. Her roles included the private eye Mike Hammer’s secretary in the television movie “Murder Me, Murder You” (1983), a detective working undercover at a sex clinic in “Sins of Desire” (1993) and a talk-radio host on the erotic anthology series “Hot Line” (1994-96). Her final screen appearance was on the Showtime series “Barbershop” in 2005.Even in her heyday, Ms. Roberts appeared not to enjoy being interviewed. Chatting with Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show” in 1981, she laughed nervously, gave short answers and flirted with Michael Landon, her fellow guest. At one point, Mr. Carson mentioned a cover article about her in People magazine, prompting Ed McMahon, the host’s sidekick, to suggest, “Maybe there’s something in the magazine that’d be interesting.”Ms. Roberts was a teenager when she married in 1971, but the union was quickly annulled at the insistence of her new mother-in-law. In 1974, she met Barry Roberts, a psychology student, while both were standing in line at a movie theater. They married that year. Mr. Roberts became a screenwriter and died in 2006 at 60.In addition to Mr. O’Brien, she is survived by a sister, Barbara Chase, who was Timothy Leary’s fourth wife.Ms. Roberts had always insisted that she was a New Yorker at heart, and not just because she hated driving.“L.A. drives you crazy,” she said in the 1981 People magazine article. “I’m used to weather and walking and people who say what they mean.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Tanya Roberts Is Still Alive, Says Publicist Who Reported She Had Died

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyTanya Roberts Is Still Alive, Says Publicist Who Reported She Had DiedA miscommunication led to erroneous reports about the 65-year-old actress, known for her roles in the James Bond movie “A View to a Kill,” and in the television shows “Charlie’s Angels” and “That ’70s Show.”Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton, an earth scientist, in the 1985 James Bond film “A View to a Kill.” She had earlier starred in the last season of “Charlie’s Angels.”Credit…Keith Hamshere/Getty ImagesJan. 4, 2021Hours after announcing the death of Tanya Roberts, the actress known for starring opposite Roger Moore in his final turn as James Bond and for her roles in “Charlie’s Angels” and “That ’70s Show,” her publicist said on Monday that he had done so in error.The publicist, Mike Pingel, said in an interview on Monday night that Ms. Roberts, 65, was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and in grave condition for an unspecified illness.The information contradicted earlier accounts that Mr. Pingel had given to several media outlets that had reported that Ms. Roberts had died.Mr. Pingel said that he had relied on information from Lance O’Brien, Ms. Roberts’s longtime partner.“It’s a human miscommunication, unfortunately,” Mr. Pingel said. “People have been writing beautiful amazing stories on her. It’s a shame this happened.”Mr. O’Brien said in a separate interview on Monday night that Ms. Roberts had been hospitalized since Dec. 24 after feeling ill after a hike a few days earlier in their Hollywood Hills neighborhood. Ms. Roberts developed sepsis after an infection and her prognosis is bleak, he said.Mr. O’Brien said he had been recounting visiting Ms. Roberts on Sunday at the hospital to Mr. Pingel and told the publicist that “I just said goodbye to her.” In what he called an “innocuous” miscommunication, he said that Mr. Pingel had been under the impression that Ms. Roberts had died.”I was an emotional wreck,” Mr. O’Brien said. Then, he said, he started to receive push notifications on his phone regarding Ms. Roberts’s death.“My phone blew up,” he said. Among the media organizations that had reported Ms. Roberts was dead based on information from her publicist were The Associated Press, USA Today, the website TMZ and The Hollywood Reporter. The Washington Post published an obituary of Ms. Roberts by The Associated Press on its website, which it later appended with a note saying that the report had relied on information provided by her publicist. Ms. Roberts, who was born in the Bronx, scored her first big break as an actress in 1980 playing a detective on the final season of the television series “Charlie’s Angels.”Her biggest success on the big screen came in 1985, when, despite being 28 years younger than the leading man of the Bond franchise, Ms. Roberts starred opposite Mr. Moore in “A View to a Kill.” She played Stacey Sutton, who teams with Bond to thwart a plot by the industrialist Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) to destroy Silicon Valley with a double earthquake.It was the final appearance of Mr. Moore as the British spy, one that he later criticized for the age gap between himself and Ms. Roberts, who is known for her breathy voice.From 1998 to 2004, Ms. Roberts introduced herself to a new generation of television viewers with her recurring role as Midge Pinciotti on “That ’70s Show.”The reporting of Ms. Roberts’s death prompted a series of tributes on social media, including from fans of the Bond franchise.Her name unexpectedly and erroneously joined those of recently lost stars associated with the franchise, including Sean Connery, the dashing Scot who first played Ian Fleming’s secret service agent, who died in October. The British actress Diana Rigg, who marries Bond in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” and is killed on their wedding day, died in September.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More