What Happened to Loni Anderson?
It’s honestly hard to reckon with how much Loni Anderson shaped the idea of smart sitcom glamour. Growing up, everyone knew Jennifer Marlowe—the click of her heels, the sharpness of her comebacks, that blend of strength and softness she gave to WKRP’s fictional station every week. In her later years, Anderson mostly stayed out of front-and-center TV limelight, but she never really faded away.
There was still the odd interview or fun guest spot, the memoir, or those times she’d show up for reunion specials, often with that same big laugh and signature style. She married Bob Flick from The Brothers Four in 2008; before that, her relationship and breakup with Burt Reynolds were pure tabloid catnip.
Her family says she died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after what’s been described as a long, and apparently quite tough, illness.
Her death hit fast—just days before her 80th. It’s a weird feeling seeing those headlines now: “Loni Anderson Dead at 79”. Feels like she should always be around, you know? One of those faces from TV that still seems present if you just switch on the right rerun.
A lot of the tributes coming in mention not only her talent but her wit. Barbara Eden posted on Instagram, “The news just came through that my dear friend Loni Anderson has passed. Like many, I am absolutely stunned and heartbroken”. The flood of old clips and fan memories across Twitter and Instagram makes it clear: she wasn’t just a TV icon, she was someone who genuinely touched the people around her.
Loni Anderson friend has posted a tweet "The news just came through that my dear friend Loni Anderson has passed. Like many, I am absolutely stunned and heartbroken."
One of her fan wrote that Loni Anderson has passed away, just two days before her 80th birthday.
Another wrote, #OnMyWalk to memories of lovely Loni Anderson, one of the genuinely nicest ladies I’ve ever worked with, on set of our Christmas movie with Donna Mills. We had so much fun on this! She will be greatly missed!
Joe Arce the Portrait/Publicity photographer said that he had an opporunity to work with Loni Anderson several times including spending three days as her personal photographer in 2017
What did Loni Anderson Die From?
This one’s tough; the press is careful with exact wording. Over and over, her death is described as coming after a “prolonged illness,” sometimes even “acute prolonged illness”—her publicist said just that. There’s no official detail specifying the illness involved. The silence there feels a little old-school Hollywood in style, honestly: dignified, private.
It is known Anderson was deeply involved in COPD advocacy late in her life, since both her parents suffered from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. She campaigned hard for lung health, spoke about anti-smoking policies, and tried to use her platform for awareness. Her family even suggested memorial donations go to lung health-related causes.
Is it possible her prolonged illness was related to that? Maybe. But the official line—what everyone is sharing—is that she died in a Los Angeles hospital after a long battle with illness.
If you look to fans online, there’s genuine outpouring, concern, but also respect for the lack of oversharing. Maybe it’s not so much about what she died from—her legacy isn’t defined by those last years, but by everything before.
Who's Still Alive from WKRP in Cincinnati?
After her, the WKRP roll call really narrows. There’s so much nostalgia for that crew. Gary Sandy (Andy Travis) is still alive, as is Richard Sanders (Les Nessman) and Tim Reid (Venus Flytrap). Jan Smithers (Bailey Quarters) was also reportedly still around according to coverage through mid-2024.
But the losses hit hard—Howard Hesseman (Dr. Johnny Fever) died in 2022. Gordon Jump (Mr. Carlson) and Frank Bonner (Herb Tarlek) are also gone.
So many fans checked back, surprised to find out who’d made it through all these decades and who hadn’t. WKRP’s cast felt like a family; it’s a shrinking one now, but you get the feeling the ones left are still well-loved in the community.
Naturally, old photos, and flashbacks, and conventions from the last decade are getting shared and reshared. For a lot of fans, it’s a way to hang on to the chemistry that made WKRP still worth streaming or pulling up in a late-night YouTube clip binge.
One interesting bit: the copyright struggles meant that, despite its acclaim, WKRP can still be hard to find in an original form with the real music.
It keeps fans rediscovering it, and each time a cast member passes, the communal nostalgia returns stronger.
The sadness at Loni’s death is real, but you gotta laugh a bit seeing all the heartfelt memes and grateful posts—her legacy isn’t some distant thing, it’s alive in every fan who watched those old episodes and saw a new kind of woman on the small screen.
@halanscott: I have one very clear memory of Loni Anderson. She had left Burt Reynolds and got cast on Nurses
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DM6WbUGy4Wt/
Who was Loni Anderson?
Loni Anderson was born August 5, 1945, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Her early life was fairly ordinary—her father was an environmental chemist, her mother a former model. As a teen, she was voted Queen of the Valentine's Day Winter Formal in high school, foreshadowing her later rise to TV-glamour royalty.
She started in local Minnesota beauty contests and studied art at the University of Minnesota before moving into acting, picking up parts in local Minneapolis theater and eventually picking up guest slots in the ’70s on TV shows like “S.W.A.T.” and “Police Woman”.
Anderson’s big break, of course, was as Jennifer Marlowe on “WKRP in Cincinnati.” She was quick to reject the typical “dumb blonde” routine, insisting the writers make her character both attractive and smart—a decision that paid off, turning Jennifer into one of television’s most memorable roles.
She appeared in all 90 original episodes and returned for “The New WKRP” in the ’90s. The role earned her three Golden Globe nominations and two Emmy nods, and a kind of enduring cult fame with fans who watched her turn the standard sitcom receptionist into an icon of confidence, wit, and self-possession
