Blonde bombshell Loni Anderson, 79, died in a Los Angeles hospital on August 3. A hometown beauty queen, she began appearing on TV in 1975, and rocketed to stardom in the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-82), as smart blonde receptionist Jennifer. She was an old-fashioned sex symbol, with big hair, big smile, and an eye-popping figure (and yes, we thought her hair-helmet looked weird even back then). She went on to costar in several shows (the best of which were Nurses and My Sister is So Gay, a great late-life showcase). Anderson also appeared in such movies as Stroker Ace, The Lonely Guy, All Dogs Go to Heaven, and many many TV movies (the worst being a Thelma Todd “bio”). She was married four times, most spectacularly to Burt Reynolds. “I started acting when I was 10, doing musical theater,” Anderson recalled. “I was a brunette at that time. I was always cast in all the exotic parts. Look up the definition of rejection in the dictionary, get really comfortable with it, and then maybe you can go into acting. I talk about acting to students making the transition from high school to UCLA. Kids going into this profession really need to know the reality of it.” On a personal note, I interviewed Anderson for my Jayne Mansfield biography (Anderson played Jayne in a TV movie), and she was a delight—funny, helpful, and had some great stories.
