UPDATE: Tanya Roberts’ publicist, who previously reported her death, said Monday evening she is still alive.
(WJW) — Actress Tanya Roberts — who was best known for playing a Bond girl in “A View to a Kill” and Midge Pinciotti on “That ’70s Show” — has died at the age of 65, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Mike Pingel told The Hollywood Reporter that Roberts collapsed while walking her dogs on Christmas Eve. She was admitted to a hospital in Los Angeles, her friend and representative said. Pingel said her death was not COVID-19 related and said she was not ill leading up to the collapse.
“I’m devastated. She was brilliant and beautiful and I feel like a light has been taken away. To say she was an angel would be at the top of the list. She was the sweetest person you’d ever meet and had a huge heart. She loved her fans, and I don’t think she realized how much she menat to them,” Pingel told The Hollywood Reporter.
A message on a Tanya Roberts Facebook page linked from her website, has a message signed from Pingel.
It says, “I’m very sorry to have to post this. Yes, Tanya passed away today. I’m heart broken.”
Roberts made the move from model and commercial actress to film star in the 1975 horror movie “Forced Entry.” According to IMDB, she also had roles in “Racquet,” “The Beastmaster,” and “Sheena: Queen of the Jungle”. Her biggest film role was starring as Stacey Sutton in the 1985 Bond Film “A View to a Kill” alongside Roger Moore.
She also found success on television playing Julie Rogers in the fifth and final season of ABC’s “Charlie’s Angels” in 1980.
She appeared in more than 80 episodes of “That ’70s Show” as Midge Pinciotti, Donna’s dim-witted mother.
Her IMDB Filmography showed she last appeared on television in 2005 in episodes of “Barbershop” and “Eve.”
According to TMZ, Roberts was married to Barry Roberts for several years before his death in 2006. The couple didn’t have any children. Roberts is survived by her current husband, Lance, and her sister, Barbara Chase, TMZ reported.
