Officials have not disclosed her cause of death. But it wasn’t due to Covid-19, her publicist and longtime friend Mike Pingel said.
“I’m devastated, I’ve been friends with Tanya for over 20 years,” Pingel told CNN. “She was full of energy and we always had a wild time together. She was an angel and I will miss her so much.”
Roberts was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Dec. 24, after collapsing in her California home after a morning walk with her dogs, Pingel told CNN.
She died on Sunday.
Born Victoria Leigh Blum, Roberts started her modeling career before breaking into movies. A 30-year career in movies and TV followed.
She starred in cult favorites “The Beastmaster” and “Sheena: Queen of the Jungle.” And she appeared in several well-known television shows of the era, including “Fantasy Island”, “The Love Boat” and a season of “Charlie’s Angels” as one of the three main characters.
Then her most iconic role came up to that point. In 1985 she played geologist Stacey Sutton in ‘A View to a Kill’, opposite Roger Moore in his last appearance as 007.
She then earned a new legion of fans during her turn as Midge, Donna Pinciotti’s dumb mom, on “That 70s Show.” But she suddenly left the sitcom in season four to care for her now deceased husband who had been diagnosed with illness. (She returned as a recurring character in later seasons.)
Her last on-screen appearance was in 2005 in the TV series “Barbershop”.