Tanya Roberts, who is best known for being one of the iconic Bond Girls in the James Bond franchise – specifically starring alongside Roger Moore in 1985’s A View To A Kill – has passed away at the age of 65. At the time of this reporting, the cause of death is unclear, though reports are saying that it is not related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Per TMZ, Tanya Roberts collapsed on Christmas Eve after returning home from a walk with her dogs, and she was immediately taken to the hospital. According to the actor’s representative, she was put on a ventilator, but her condition never improved. After multiple days under the care of doctors, she was pronounced dead this afternoon.
Born Victoria Leigh Blum in 1955, Tanya Roberts grew up in New York City and Toronto, and prior to acting was a fashion model. It was after she got married that she started to pursue performing, and she made her big screen debut in a 1975 horror film titled Forced Entry. In 1981 she joined the cast of Charlie’s Angels in its fifth and final season, replacing star Shelley Hack and winning a role that was sought by thousands of actresses. Winning that part quickly led to more significant feature roles including 1982’s The Beastmaster (which featured her as the female lead, Kira), and 1984’s Sheena – in which she starred as the titular queen of the jungle. She additionally appeared in episodes of 1980s television staples The Love Boat and Fantasy Island.
It was one year later that she was cast in what would prove to be Roger Moore’s final adventure as 007. Playing would-be oil heiress Stacey Sutton, she finds herself allied with the British superspy in the mission to stop the plan by billionaire Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) to orchestrate a double earthquake in Silicon Valley and create a microchip monopoly.
Tayna Roberts made her final feature film performance in the 1994 thriller Deep Down, but that proved to hardly be the end of her career. Instead, she was introduced to a whole new generation of audiences thanks to her supporting role on the hit FOX sitcom That ’70s Show. Appearing in 81 episodes, she played Midge Pinciotti – the ditsy mother of Laura Prepon’s Donna Pinciotti that all of the series’ male characters drool over.
Her final credits were one episode of the series Eve and two episodes of the series Barbershop – both of them in 2005.
We here at CinemaBlend extend our deepest condolences to her all of family, friends, and fans during following this sad loss.