Actress Tanya Roberts, who was best known for her roles in That 70’s Show and the final season of the Charlie’s Angels series was reported to have passed away at the age of 65 on December 3. However, the announcement was prematurely made as Roberts was still alive at the time.
It was reported by TMZ that Roberts collapsed on Christmas Eve and was placed on a ventilator but never recovered, although her death was not due to COVID-19.
Publicist Mike Pingel said that Ms Roberts’ partner, Lance O’Brien, told him he held his wife and she “seemed for him to slip away”, but then clarified that the actress was alive, albeit in poor condition.
Pingel said he was awaiting further updates on Ms Roberts’s health and it has now been confirmed that the 65-year-old has passed away.
O’Brien — Roberts’ husband of 18 years — has said the confusion was the result of a misunderstanding at a Los Angeles hospital. Distraught and believing that his wife had passed, O’Brien said a tearful goodbye to his love, explaining that, “There was nobody there to guide me. I called her publicist Mike Pingel and I said I just said goodbye to Tanya.”
O’Brien told reporters outside of his home that he didn’t know who to blame for the heartbreaking mix-up an that he was unable to go back to Cedars-Sinai Hospital to say a last goodbye to his wife due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Born Victoria Leigh Blum, Roberts played Julie Rogers in Charlie’s Angels and Midge Pinciotti, Donna’s mother, in That ‘70s Show.
The actress also appeared as Bond girl Stacey Sutton in Roger Moore’s A View To A Kill in 1885, reportedly usurping Priscilla Presley and Sharon Stone for the coveted role.
The film was not the success it was expected to be, with Roberts later saying, “I sort of felt like every girl who’d ever been a Bond Girl had seen their career go nowhere, so I was a little cautious. I remember I said to my agent, ‘No one ever works after they get a Bond movie’ and they said to me, ‘Are you kidding? Glen Close would do it if she could.’”
Her career continued to go places, however, with the actress going on to appear in Body Slam in 1987and the 1990 erotic thriller Night Eyes.
Roberts went on to have continued success in That ‘70s Show, as dim-witted Midge — a comedic contrast to her intellectual daughter played by Laura Prepon.
It was reported by E! that Roberts departed the popular sitcom to care for her husband when he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, eventually passing away in 2006.