Tanya Roberts’ publicist said Tuesday that the 65-year-old actress died Monday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of complications from a urinary tract infection.
Early Tuesday afternoon, publicist Mike Pingel released a statement saying, “With a heavy heart I can confirm the death of Tanya Roberts … on January 4, 2021, around 9:30 p.m. at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.”
“Her 18-year domestic partner Lance O’Brien received the phone call from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center last night at their home confirming her passing,” he said. “Roberts’ cause of death was from a urinary tract infection which spread to her kidney, gallbladder, liver and then bloodstream.”
Roberts was taken to the hospital after collapsing on Christmas Eve after a walk with O’Brien, according to Pingel, who prematurely announced Sunday that she had died based on information he said he received from O’Brien, only to retract that news the following day, hours before her actual death.
Pingel said Monday that O’Brien truly believed that Roberts had died on Sunday, even saying he was holding her as she passed away.
Roberts, a former member of “Charlie’s Angels” and a Bond girl who appeared in 1985’s “A View to a Kill” with Roger Moore, had taken her dogs for a walk on Christmas Eve with O’Brien, Pingel said. Upon her return home, she collapsed and was taken to the hospital and placed on a ventilator.
Pingel said Roberts had been in good health prior to her Dec. 24 collapse.
Born Victoria Leigh Blum in New York, Roberts was a successful model and posed for Playboy, in addition to appearing in myriad TV advertisements. She also starred in fantasy adventure films in the early 1980s including “The Beastmaster” and “Sheena: Queen of the Jungle.” She joined the team on “Charlie’s Angels” in the series’ final season.
More recently, she played Midge on “That ’70’s Show,” mother of lead character Donna on the coming-of-age series set in Wisconsin.
Her most recent television credit was in Showtime’s “Barbershop: The Series” in 2005. In recent months, Roberts hosted a series of live chats with fans during the pandemic.
Roberts was an animal rights activist, and in lieu of flowers, her family asks for donations to be made in her name to the ASPCA.
An online memorial for Roberts will be announced shortly, according to Pingel who said the family asks for privacy as they mourn her death.