Actor died at a Los Angeles hospital after a ‘prolonged’ illness, days before her 80th birthday, her publicist says

Anderson flipped the script on the dumb blonde stereotype with her breakout role on the CBS sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati."

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