Loni Anderson
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- August 5, 1945
- Died
- August 3, 2025 (aged 79)
- Birthplace
- Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
Biography
Loni Kaye Anderson (August 5, 1945 – August 3, 2025) was an American actress who played the role of Jennifer Marlowe on the television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. Anderson was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 5, 1945, the daughter of Maxine Hazel (née Kallin), a model, and Klaydon Carl "Andy" Anderson, an environmental chemist and grew up in suburban Roseville. As a senior at Alexander Ramsey Senior High School in Roseville in 1963, she was voted Valentine Queen of Valentine's Day Winter Formal. She attended the University of Minnesota. As she says in her autobiography, My Life in High Heels, her father was originally going to name her "Leiloni," but then realized to his horror that when she got to her teen years it was liable to be twisted into "Lay Loni." So it was changed to just plain "Loni." Anderson's most famous acting role came as receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on WKRP in Cincinnati. Her pinup photo in a bikini became one of the best-selling wall posters of the 1970s. She and husband Burt Reynolds made one film together, the 1983 stock-car racing comedy Stroker Ace, a huge box-office failure. Shortly after her divorce from Reynolds, she appeared as a regular in the final season (1993–1994) on the NBC sitcom Nurses. Anderson portrayed actress Jayne Mansfield in a made-for-TV biopic with Arnold Schwarzenegger as her husband, Mickey Hargitay. She teamed with Lynda Carter in a 1984 television series, Partners in Crime. Anderson made a series of cameo appearances on television shows in the late 1990s and early 2000s, such as the Spellmans' "witch-trash" cousin on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Vallery Irons' mother on V.I.P. Anderson has been married four times; her first three marriages were to: Bruce Hasselberg (1964–1966), Ross Bickell (1973–1981), and actor (and one-time co-star) Burt Reynolds (1988–1993). On May 17, 2008, Anderson married musician Bob Flick, one of the founding members of the folk band The Brothers Four. The couple had met at a movie premiere in Anderson's native Minneapolis a few years after Flick's group hit No. 2 on the pop charts with "Greenfields" in 1960. The ceremony was attended by friends and family, including son Quinton Reynolds. She has two children: a daughter, Deidra Hoffman (from her first marriage), who is a school administrator in California; and a son, Quinton Anderson Reynolds (born August 31, 1988), whom she and Burt Reynolds adopted. Her autobiography, My Life in High Heels, was published in 1997. She died at a Los Angeles hospital following a “prolonged” illness on August 3, 2025.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
Ladies of the '80s: A Divas Christmas
Movie · as Lily Marlowe
I Am Burt Reynolds
Movie · as Self - Interviewee
Valerie
Movie · as Self
Love You More
TV · as Jean · 1 ep
My Sister is So Gay
TV · as Frances · 13 eps
Carol Channing: Larger Than Life
Movie · as Self
Baby Daddy
TV · as Nana Lyle · 1 ep
Annul Victory
Movie · as Self
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
TV · as Self - Guest · 1 ep
Back to the Grind
TV · 1 ep
So NoTORIous
TV · as Kiki Spelling · 10 eps
I Love the '70s: Volume 2
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Duck Dodgers
TV · as Herself (voice) · 1 ep
The Mullets
TV · as Mandi Mullet-Heidecker · 11 eps
3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain
Movie · as Medusa
A Night at the Roxbury
Movie · as Barbara Butabi
Amazing Stories: The Movie III
Movie · as Love
V.I.P.
TV · as Carol Irons · 1 ep
Fast Track
TV · 1 ep
E! True Hollywood Story
TV · 1 ep
Clueless
TV · 1 ep
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
TV · as Racine · 1 ep
Deadly Family Secrets
Movie · as Martha
Women of the House
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Burke's Law
TV · as Claudia Loring · 1 ep
Intimate Portrait
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Munchie
Movie · as Cathy Dobson
The Price She Paid
Movie · as Lacey
Melrose Place
TV · as Teri Carson · 3 eps
White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd
Movie · as Thelma Todd
A Party For Richard Pryor
Movie · as Self
Nurses
TV · as Casey MacAfee · 22 eps
The New WKRP in Cincinnati
TV · 1 ep
Coins in the Fountain
Movie · as Leah Crawford
All Dogs Go to Heaven
Movie · as Flo (voice)
Blondie & Dagwood: Second Wedding Workout
Movie · as Blondie Bumstead (voice)
Sorry, Wrong Number
Movie · as Madeleine Stevenson
B.L. Stryker
TV · 1 ep
Too Good to Be True
Movie · as Ellen Berent
Necessity
Movie · as Lauren LaSalle
Whisper Kill
Movie · as Liz Bartlett
Blondie & Dagwood
Movie · as Blondie Bumstead (voice)
Stranded
Movie · as Stacy Tweed
Easy Street
TV · 22 eps
A Letter to Three Wives
Movie · as Lora Mae Holloway
Amazing Stories
TV · as Love · 1 ep
My Mother's Secret Life
Movie · as Ellen Blake
The Lonely Guy
Movie · as Herself (uncredited)
Partners in Crime
TV · as Sydney Kovack · 13 eps
Stroker Ace
Movie · as Pembrook Feeney
Magic with the Stars
Movie · as Self - Host
Country Gold
Movie · as Mollie Dean Purcell
Night of 100 Stars
Movie · as Self
Women I Love: Beautiful But Funny
Movie · as Self
Sizzle
Movie · as Julie Davis
All-Star Party for Burt Reynolds
Movie · as Self
The Fantastic Funnies
Movie · as Host
The Jayne Mansfield Story
Movie · as Jayne Mansfield
The Big Show
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Siegfried and Roy - Superstars Of Magic
TV · as Self · 1 ep
The Muppets Go Hollywood
Movie · as Self (uncredited)
Three on a Date
Movie · as Angela Ross
WKRP in Cincinnati
TV · as Jennifer Marlowe · 90 eps
The Magic of David Copperfield
TV · 1 ep
The Love Boat
TV · as Kitty Scofield, Barbie, Kim Holland / Doris Wilson · 2 eps
Three's Company
TV · 1 ep
The Incredible Hulk
TV · as Sheila Cantrell · 1 ep
Vigilante Force
Movie · as Peaches (uncredited)
The McLean Stevenson Show
TV · 1 ep
S.W.A.T.
TV · 1 ep
The Invisible Man
TV · as Andrea Hanover · 1 ep
Harry O
TV · 1 ep
Police Woman
TV · as Waitress · 1 ep
Barnaby Jones
TV · as Joanna Morgan · 1 ep
The Bob Newhart Show
TV · as Leslie Greely · 1 ep
Nevada Smith
Movie · as Brunette Saloon Girl (uncredited)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV · as Self · 3 eps
The Bob Hope Show
TV · as Self · 8 eps
Golden Globe Awards
TV · as Self - Nominee · 2 eps