Adieu to Loni Anderson (5 August 1945 – 3 August 2025), who has died just shy of her 80th birthday. As a Gen X kid, I grew up with repeats of the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati and Anderson represented total early 80s glamour (that impeccable, immobile helmet of sprayed-in-place platinum blonde hair!). She was also a savvy comedic actress with a nicely deadpan, dry delivery. Sure, it’s kitschy as hell and cobbled together on a tight budget, but Anderson’s made-for-TV biopic The Jayne Mansfield Story was clearly a personal labour of love and was adapted from a legitimate and credible source (Jayne Mansfield and The American Fifties by Martha Saxton (1975)). Fun fact: according to Anderson’s obituary in The Hollywood Reporter, she auditioned for the role of Crissy Snow in the sitcom Three’s Company – the role that made Suzanne Somers’ career. Pictured: Anderson with fellow 1980s blonde glamazon – Morgan Fairchild – in 1981.
