Tanya Roberts, best known for portraying a Bond girl in A View to a Kill and Midge on That ‘70s Show, has died. She was 65.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actress collapsed while walking her dogs on Christmas Eve (December 24). She was later admitted to Cedar-Sinar Hospital in Los Angeles, where she passed away last night (January 3), her longtime friend and rep, Mike Pingel, told the outlet. The cause of death has not yet been given, though THR reports it was not COVID-19 related.
"I'm devastated,” Pingel told the outlet. “She was brilliant and beautiful and I feel like a light has been taken away. To say she was an angel would be at the top of the list. She was the sweetest person you'd ever meet and had a huge heart. She loved her fans, and I don't think she realized how much she meant to them.”
Roberts, born Victoria Leigh Blum, started out in TV adverts before venturing to film in the mid-‘70s with appearances in Forced Entry, Racquet and The Beastmaster as well as a starring role in 1984’s adventure flick, Sheena: Queen of the Jungle. The following year, Roberts would land her most prominent role as Bond girl Stacey Sutton alongside Roger Moore’s 007 alter ego in the 1985 film.
While Roberts’ movie acting career didn’t take off as she’d hoped, the star continued to work in TV, securing the coveted part of an Angel in ABC’s Charlie’s Angels in the ‘80s and later appeared in episodes of Love Boat and Fantasy Island. By the ‘90s, Roberts had scored another noticeable role as Midge Pinciotti, Donna’s witless mother.
Roberts is survived by her partner of 18 years, Lance O’Brien, and her sister Barbara and her pet animals.
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