Actress Tanya Roberts died hours after she was claimed to be alive, hours after the reports about her death spread all over media. Her publicist Mike Pingel had reported her death, which caused various media outlets to report that she died on January 3rd, 2021. Born as Victoria Leigh Blum, Tanya Roberts was born in the Bronx, New York City, to an Irish father and Jewish mother. She had one older sister named Barbara. She later moved to Ontario with her mother for several years, where she planned her modeling career.
She later left high school at the age of 15 and went hitchhiking across the USA. She later moved to New York City, where she finally became a fashion and cover model for various photoshoots and magazines. She met her then-husband, Barry Roberts, while waiting in line for the movie and proposed to him on the subway station and then got married. She then started studying acting under the name Tanya Roberts starred in Broadway productions.
Tanya Roberts in James Bond
The career of Tanya Roberts
She began her career as a model for ads on tv such as Excedrin, Clairol, Ultra Brite, and Cool Ray sunglasses. She played more serious roles in Broadway productions such as Picnic and Antigone. Her film debut was the horror film Forced Entry, followed by The Yum-Yum girls. Later, Roberts starred in the drama Fingers and starred in several movies such as Tourist Trap, Racquet, and California Dreaming. She even starred in some television pilots that weren’t picked up.
Later, Roberts was chosen to replace Shelley Hack in the fifth and final season of the Charlie’s Angels series. She portrayed one of the angels, Julie Rogers, a streetwise fighter who uses her fists better than her gun. The producers hoped that her appearance in the series would save the series from declining ratings, but unfortunately, the series got canceled in 1981.
Roberts portrayed Kiri, a slave who is rescued by the protagonist Dar in the film The Beastmaster, which became a cult film and included a topless swimming scene. She even appeared in the fantasy film “Hearts and Armour” in 1983. She later portrayed Velda, a secretary to the detective Mike Hammer in the movie Murder Me, Murder You. She later left that role to star in the lead role as Sheena: The Queen of Jungle, which was a box office failure and earned a Razzie award for worst actress.
She was later best known for her role as the Bond Girl Stacey Sutton in Roger Moore’s final movie as James Bond A View To Kill. But unfortunately, that earned her a Razzie award again. She appeared in more films such as Night Eyes, Body Slam, Purgatory, Sins of Desire, and Inner Sanctum. She appeared as Donna’s mother Midge Pinciotti in That 70’s show from Seasons 1-3 before leaving the show to be beside her dying husband, Barry Roberts. She later reprised her role as Midge from Seasons 6-7 before entirely leaving the show in 2004. She retired from acting in 2005.
Declared Dead At 65
On December 24th, 2020, the actress collapsed while she was walking her dogs on the street and was later hospitalized. Her boyfriend, Lance O’Brien, told her that he held her hand, and she seemed to have “slipped away.” But when he got a call that she was still alive in the middle of an interview, he cried out of happiness. But later, it was confirmed that she passed away on 4th January by her boyfriend. May she rest in peace.
