Loni Kaye Anderson (August 5, 1945 – August 3, 2025) was an American actress.

She is best known for playing receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on the CBS sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–1982), which earned her nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and two Emmy Awards.

Early life and education

Anderson was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on August 5, 1945, the daughter of Klaydon Carl "Andy" Anderson, an environmental chemist, and Maxine Hazel (née Kallin), a onetime model. She grew up in suburban Roseville, Minnesota. As a senior at Alexander Ramsey Senior High School, she was voted Queen of the Valentine's Day Winter Formal of 1963. As she stated in her autobiography My Life in High Heels, her father was going to name her Leilani, but he realized that when she got to her teen years, it was likely to be twisted (into "Lay" Lani) so it was changed to simply Loni. She had a sister, Andrea. According to Anderson, their maternal grandmother Hazel Kallin was a schoolteacher who also managed a Prohibition-era speakeasy-type dance hall.

Career

Anderson's acting debut came with a bit part in the film Nevada Smith (1966), starring Steve McQueen. After that, she was mostly unemployed as an actress for nearly a decade, then she received guest roles on television series in the mid-1970s. She appeared in two episodes of S.W.A.T., then on the sitcom Phyllis, and on the detective series Police Woman and Harry O. She auditioned for the role of Chrissy on the sitcom Three's Company. She did not win the role, but in 1978 guest-starred as Susan Walters on a Season Two episode.

Anderson's most famous acting role came as the sultry receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–1982). She was offered the role when producers saw a poster of her in a red swimsuit—a pose similar to Farrah Fawcett's famous 1976 poster. Hugh Wilson, the sitcom's creator, later said Anderson got the role because her body resembled Jayne Mansfield's and because she possessed the innocent sexuality of Marilyn Monroe. For her role, she was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and two Emmy Awards. Although the series suffered in the Nielsen ratings throughout most of its four-year run, it had a strong following among teens, young adults, and disc jockeys. Owing to her rising popularity as the series' so-called "main attraction", Anderson walked out on the sitcom during the 1980 summer hiatus, requesting a substantial salary increase. While she was renegotiating her contract, she starred in the television film The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980). When the network agreed to her requests, she returned to the series and remained until its cancellation in 1982.

Aside from her acting career, Anderson became known for her colorful personal life, particularly her relationship with and marriage to actor Burt Reynolds. They starred in the comedy film Stroker Ace (1983), which was a critical and box-office failure. She later appeared as herself in the romantic comedy The Lonely Guy (1984), starring Steve Martin. She voiced Flo, a collie in the animated film All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989).

In the mid-to-late 1980s, Anderson was teamed with Wonder Woman actress Lynda Carter in the television series Partners in Crime (1984). Anderson later starred in a short-lived comedy series Easy Street (1986–1987). She appeared in television adaptations of classic Hollywood films, such as A Letter to Three Wives (1985) with Michele Lee, and Sorry, Wrong Number (1989), both of which received little attention. After starring in Coins in the Fountain (1990), Anderson received praise for her portrayal of comedian actress Thelma Todd in the television movie White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd (1991).

In the early 1990s, she attempted to co-star with her husband Burt Reynolds on his sitcom Evening Shade, but the network was not fond of the idea and replaced her with Marilu Henner. After Delta Burke was fired from the sitcom Designing Women in 1991, producers offered Anderson a role as Burke's replacement. However, the network balked at Anderson's salary demand. She agreed to return as Jennifer Marlowe on two episodes of The New WKRP in Cincinnati, a sequel to the original series. In 1993, Anderson was added to the third and final season of the sitcom Nurses, playing hospital administrator Casey MacAffee. Her subsequent roles included those in the television series Clueless, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Melrose Place, and the films 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain and A Night at the Roxbury (both 1998).

Anderson's autobiography My Life in High Heels was published in 1995. Growing up with parents who both smoked, Anderson witnessed the effects of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a lung disease often caused by smoking. In 1999, she became a spokesperson for a COPD support organization named COPD Together.

In April 2018, Anderson was seen promoting WKRP in Cincinnati and other television series on the MeTV television network. Though less frequent since the start of the 21st century, Anderson continued to act in television series, and played a lead role in the 2016–2020 web series My Sister is So Gay. On October 3, 2023, it was announced that Anderson would feature in the Lifetime film Ladies of the '80s: A Divas Christmas. According to the official synopsis, the movie follows five soap opera divas readying for a reunion show who take on playing cupid during Christmas to bring together their director and producer as they all learn the meaning of the true Christmas spirit. The ensemble cast was made up of Anderson, Linda Gray, Morgan Fairchild, Donna Mills, and Nicollette Sheridan.

Personal life and death

Anderson was married four times: to

• real estate developer Bruce Hasselberg (1964–1966),
• actor Ross Bickell (1974–1981),
• actor Burt Reynolds (1988–1994), and
• musician Bob Flick (2008 until her death). Flick, a founding member of the folk band the Brothers Four, first met Anderson at a movie premiere in Minneapolis in 1963. 
• She had an acknowledged affair with her WKRP in Cincinnati co-star Gary Sandy near the end of her marriage with Bickell.

Anderson had two children: a daughter, Deidra (fathered by Hasselberg), and a son, Quinton (adopted with Reynolds). She had four grandchildren from her two children.

Anderson died of metastatic uterine leiomyosarcoma on August 3, 2025, at the age of 79. She was cremated and interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.