Remembering Loni Anderson: The ‘WKRP’ Star Who Redefined the Sitcom Blonde With Smarts and Heart
The '80s TV queen has died at 79—how she broke blonde stereotypes and gave us glamor, wit—and heart
Loni Anderson, who just passed away at 79 on August 3 and played Jennifer Marlowe in the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, was one of the ultimate small-screen icons of the late ’70s and early ’80s. As Jennifer, a Marilyn Monroe-like receptionist at a struggling radio station, Anderson charmed audiences during the show’s run from 1978 to 1982, earning Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her work.
Outside of WKRP in Cincinnati, Anderson became a TV movie mainstay in campy productions like The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980), My Mother’s Secret Life (1984) and White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd (1991), and acted in other shows, none of which had quite the same impact as her signature series. The charismatic star had her final role in the 2023 Lifetime movie Ladies of the ’80s: A Divas Christmas, in which she acted opposite fellow ’80s TV queens Morgan Fairchild, Nicollette Sheridan, Linda Gray and Donna Mills.
Though Anderson’s career had mostly slowed down in recent years, she remained a nostalgic favorite, and she’ll forever be part of the retro blonde TV bombshell pantheon, along with Three’s Company‘s Suzanne Somers and Charlie’s Angels‘ Farrah Fawcett. Read on to take a look back at the late actress’ life and legacy and see the surprising things she had to say about her signature role.
Loni Anderson on Jennifer Marlowe: ‘The smartest person in the room’
Loni Anderson began her acting career with ’70s appearances in shows like S.W.A.T., Police Woman, Police Story and The Bob Newhart Show. In 1978, she became a household name when she was cast in her defining role as the sexy and smart radio station receptionist Jennifer Marlowe in WKRP in Cincinnati. The show aired 90 episodes during its four-year run, and while many dismissed her character as mere eye candy, Anderson always insisted that Jennifer was more nuanced than the average sitcom blonde.
While Anderson was considered a sex symbol, her signature character played against the “dumb blonde” stereotype. Jennifer was witty and held her own in a male-dominated world. Looking back in a 2023 interview with The Minnesota Star Tribune, the actress said, “I watched a few episodes recently and it’s still relevant. In many ways, it was way ahead of its time.” As she put it, she came up in a time when “being pretty and funny wasn’t a thing,” and she sought to change that with her hilariously self-aware character.
Anderson, who was a natural brunette, also spoke about how, in an era when TV actresses didn’t always get much autonomy, she fought to make Jennifer stand out for more than just her looks, telling an interviewer, “I was against being like a blonde window dressing person, so I made my feelings known. And, as we know, Jennifer was the smartest person in the room. She just turned into a great groundbreaking kind of character for women to be glamorous and smart.”
Loni Anderson beyond ‘WKRP’: TV movies, short-lived sitcoms and more
While she was on WKRP in Cincinnati, Anderson appeared in episodes of Fantasy Island and The Love Boat and starred in TV movies, most notably The Jayne Mansfield Story, in which she played the glamorous but ill-fated ’50s actress.
After WKRP in Cincinnati ended in 1982, Anderson acted in many more TV movies and starred with Wonder Woman‘s Lynda Carter in the 1984 series Partners in Crime. While the show featured two of the biggest TV stars of the era, it lasted just one season. Her next show, Easy Street (1986 to 1987), suffered a similar fate. In 1993, she joined the cast of the sitcom Nurses, but it was canceled the next year.
Anderson never became a movie star and remained known for her TV work, but she did act in a few films, including the poorly-received 1983 action comedy Stroker Ace (opposite Burt Reynolds, who would become her third husband), the 1989 animated movie All Dogs Go to Heaven (voicing a collie named Flo) and the 1998 Saturday Night Live movie A Night at the Roxbury (in which she played Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan’s mom). Throughout the ’90s, Anderson could be seen in episodes of Melrose Place, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Clueless and V.I.P.
The 2023 TV movie Ladies of the ’80s: A Divas Christmas was both Anderson’s most high-profile work in recent years and her final credit. Prior to that, she appeared in the web series My Sister Is So Gay and costarred in the Amazon Prime pilot Love You More (2017), which did not got picked up as a series. She also starred in the short-lived comedy shows The Mullets (2003 to 2004) and So Notorious (2006).
Loni Anderson’s personal life: from an A-list marriage to caretaking
Like many actresses known for their sex appeal, Anderson sadly struggled to be taken seriously by her peers throughout her career. In her interview with The Minnesota Star Tribune, she said, “I didn’t like the way some people treated me, like I didn’t have a brain,” and she found that her during her marriage to Burt Reynolds, which lasted from 1988 to 1994, she received more attention for her personal life than she did for her work. As she ruefully recalled, “I wanted to be a character actress that was always working and never have to deal with notoriety. Obviously, I didn’t get what I wished for.”
Before her messy divorce from Reynolds landed her in the tabloids, Anderson was married to real estate developer Bruce Hasselberg from 1964 to 1966 and actor Ross Bickell from 1974 to 1981. In 2008, she found lasting love with musician Bob Flick, a founding member of the folk group the Brothers Four. Anderson and Flick first met in 1963, when she was a teenager, and reconnected decades later. They remained married until her death.
Anderson had a daughter, Deidra Hoffman, with her first husband, and she and Reynolds adopted a son, Quinton, who now works behind the scenes in the camera department for movies and TV shows, in 1988. Deidra, a mom of two, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2009, and Anderson devoted much of her later years to taking care of and advocating for her daughter, telling Closer she was dedicated to being there for “every MRI, every test, just to let Deidra know that I love her.”
Clearly, Loni Anderson was a more complex figure than many people realized, and this radiant, funny and intelligent TV legend, who passed just two days before her 80th birthday, will be dearly missed.
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