Tanya Roberts
| Tanya Roberts | |
.jpg) Roberts in 1980 | |
| Background information | |
| Born as: | Victoria Leigh Blum |
| Born | Oct 15, 1949 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | Jan 4, 2021 - at age 72 Los Angeles, California, U.S. A urinary tract infection advanced to sepsis. |
| Spouse(s): | Barry Roberts (1973 - 2006) died |
| Relatives: | Theodor Blum (grandfather) |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Alma mater: | Actors Studio |
| Known for: | Charlie's Angels That '70s Show A View to a Kill Sheena The Beastmaster |
Tanya Roberts (born Victoria Leigh Blum; ✦October 15, 1949 – †January 4, 2021) was an American actress. Some of her credits include playing Julie Rogers in the final season of the television series Charlie's Angels (1980–1981), Stacey Sutton in the James Bond film A View to a Kill (1985), Kiri in The Beastmaster (1982), Sheena in Sheena: Queen of the Jungle (1984), and Midge Pinciotti on That '70s Show (1998–2004).
Early life
Tanya Roberts was born Victoria Leigh Blum in 1949 (though often stated as 1955) in Manhattan, New York City, to Oscar Blum and his wife Dorothy (née Smith). Oscar Maximilian Blum was born in New York City. Oscar's father, Theodor Blum, did pioneering work in local anesthesia and the use of X-rays in dental care. Theodor was born in Vienna, Austria, and immigrated to New York in 1904. Oscar earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1934 and was a first-year student in its medical college. By 1940, Tanya's father was working as an assistant manager for a music publishing house in New York City. He married Dorothy Leigh Smith from Oldham, England, in 1945 in Weymouth, England. At age 22, Dorothy arrived in New York City in April 1945. In 1948, Dorothy returned to New York from a trip to England with Tanya's two-year-old sister, Barbara. Tanya's father was of Jewish descent, while her mother was of English or Irish descent. It has also been reported that her father was of Irish descent and her mother was Jewish. She had one older sister, Barbara. The 1950 U.S. Census shows that, as of April 1950, the Blum family lived in the hamlet of Hewlett in Hempstead, NY, and Oscar Blum worked as a sales executive for a pen manufacturer. The Blum family lived in Scarsdale, New York, in July 1950, purchasing the property in March 1951 and selling it in January 1958. Later in the same month in 1958, Tanya's parents obtained a mortgage to buy a property in neighboring Greenburgh, New York, and later sold it in July 1961.
After meeting psychology student Barry Roberts while waiting in line for a movie, Victoria Blum proposed to him in a subway station, and they were soon married in 1973. While Barry pursued a career as a screenwriter, she began studying at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen under the name Tanya Roberts.
- Tanya Roberts gallery
from Sheena
from A View to a Kill
Career
1970s: Early career and Charlie's Angels
Roberts began her career as a model in TV ads for Excedrin, Ultra Brite, Clairol, and Cool Ray sunglasses. She took on serious roles in the off-Broadway productions Picnic and Antigone. To support herself, she also worked as an Arthur Murray dance instructor. Her film debut came with The Last Victim (1975). This was followed by the comedy The Yum-Yum Girls (1976). In 1977, while Barry Roberts was establishing his own screenwriting career, the couple relocated to Hollywood. Roberts was subsequently cast in The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977) and the following year participated in the drama Fingers. In 1979, Roberts appeared in the cult films Tourist Trap, Racquet, and California Dreaming. Roberts was also featured in several television pilots that were not picked up: Zuma Beach (a 1978 comedy), Pleasure Cove (1979), and Waikiki (1980).
In the summer of 1980, Roberts was selected from around 2,000 candidates to replace Shelley Hack in the fifth season of the detective television series Charlie's Angels. Roberts portrayed Julie Rogers, a streetwise fighter who relied more on her fists than her gun. Producers hoped that Roberts's involvement would breathe new life into the series's declining ratings and rekindle media interest. Leading up to the season's premiere, Roberts graced the cover of People magazine with a headline questioning whether Roberts could save the series from cancellation. Despite the excitement surrounding Roberts's debut in November 1980, the series continued to suffer from poor ratings and was canceled in June 1981.
1982–1984: B-movies
Roberts played Kiri, a slave rescued by protagonist Dar (Marc Singer) in the adventure fantasy film The Beastmaster (1982), which became a cult classic. To help promote the film, she was featured in a nude pictorial in Playboy, appearing on the cover of the October 1982 issue. In 1983, Roberts filmed the Italian-made adventure fantasy film Hearts and Armour (also known as Paladini-storia d'armi e d'amori and Paladins — The Story of Love and Arms), which is based on the Renaissance epic poem Orlando Furioso.
She portrayed Velda, the secretary to private detective Mike Hammer, in the television film Murder Me, Murder You (1983), which is based on crime novelist Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer private detective series. The two-part pilot led to the syndicated television series Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. She declined to continue the role in the Mike Hammer series to focus on her next project, the 1984 fantasy film Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, where she played the main character. Although the film was a box-office failure, it earned her a nomination for "Worst Actress" at the Razzie Awards. Writing in The New Yorker, film critic Pauline Kael described Roberts as "[having] a staring, comic-book opaqueness" and "a walking, talking icon."
1985–2005: A View to a Kill and That '70s Show
Roberts appeared as Bond girl, geologist Stacey Sutton, in A View to a Kill (1985) with Roger Moore; the first choice for the role was Priscilla Presley. Following this performance, Roberts was nominated for a second Razzie Award. Roberts's other films from the 1980s include Night Eyes, an erotic thriller; Body Slam (1987), an action film set in the professional wrestling world (another cult favorite); and Purgatory, a movie about a woman wrongfully imprisoned in Africa. Towards the end of the decade, Roberts recorded the reference footage for The Legend of Zelda used by producers during the creation of the animated adaptation.
Roberts starred in the erotic thriller Inner Sanctum (1991) alongside Margaux Hemingway. In 1992, she played Kay Egan in Sins of Desire. She appeared on the cable series Hot Line in 1995 and in the video game The Pandora Directive in 1996.
In 1998, Roberts took on the role of Midge Pinciotti in the television sitcom That '70s Show. In her obituary in The Guardian, Ryan Gilbey praises "[h]er knowing performance" in this role, "slow on the uptake but growing dissatisfied with her life as a housewife". She left the series after the third season in 2001 because her husband had become terminally ill, returning for a few special guest appearances in the sixth and seventh seasons in 2004.
Personal life
Roberts was married to Barry Roberts from 1973 until his death in 2006. They had no children. Roberts lived in Hollywood Hills, California. Some time after his death, she became the partner of Lance O'Brien.
Her sister, Barbara Chase, was married to Timothy Leary.
Roberts wrote the foreword to the book The Q Guide to Charlie's Angels (2008). She was described by her publicist as an animal rights activist. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she maintained an active social media presence by hosting video chats on Facebook and Zoom.
Death
On December 23, 2020, while hiking, Roberts experienced lower abdominal pain and difficulty breathing. She returned home to rest. Early the next morning, she fell out of bed and realized she could not get up. She was taken to Cedars-Sinai Hospital, where it was determined that she had developed a urinary tract infection that had progressed to sepsis. Her body's immune response to the infection caused multi-organ failure. She had to be placed on a ventilator to assist her breathing. Her boyfriend, Lance O'Brien, was not permitted to see her due to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Her condition worsened, and on January 3, 2021, she was removed from life support. O'Brien was finally allowed to visit her. Her death was prematurely reported early on January 4, although she passed away that evening. In a handwritten will, Roberts left her estate to O'Brien.
Roberts' death was announced prematurely by her publicist.
Filmography
- Wikipedia article: Tanya Roberts Filmography
Television
- Wikipedia article: Tanya Roberts Television
External links
- Tanya Roberts at the Internet Movie Database
- Tanya Roberts at the Turner Classic Movie Database
- Tanya Roberts at Rotten Tomatoes
- Tanya Roberts at the British Film Institute
Chat rooms • What links here • Copyright info • Contact information • Category:Root