Loni Anderson, star of hit TV comedy series WKRP in Cincinnati, has died at 79

Anderson also starred alongside Burt Reynolds in the 1983 film Stroker Ace. They later married and became tabloid fixtures before divorcing in 1994

Loni Anderson, who played a struggling radio station’s empowered receptionist on the hit television comedy WKRP in Cincinnati, died on Sunday, just days before her 80th birthday.

Anderson died at a Los Angeles hospital following a “prolonged” illness, said her long-time publicist, Cheryl J Kagan.

“We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our dear wife, mother and grandmother,” Anderson’s family said in a statement.

WKRP in Cincinnati was broadcast from 1978 to 1982 and was set in a lagging Ohio radio station trying to reinvent itself with rock music.