Bond girl Tanya Roberts receives a tribute from fellow 007 siren Britt Ekland
Tributes have been coming in for veteran Hollywood actress Tanya Roberts who died at the age of 65 on Christmas Eve.
Roberts is best known for her role in the Bond movie A View To A Kill, as well as her work on Charlie’s Angels and That 70s Show.
Fellow Bond girl Britt Ekland, who played Mary Goodnight in the 1974 Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun, said on social media: ‘Rip Tanya Roberts, once a Bond Girl always a Bond Girl!’
Sad loss: Tributes have been coming in for veteran Hollywood actress Tanya Roberts who died at the age of 65 on Christmas Eve
Ekland, who also popped up on the TV series The Love Boat, Fantasy Island and The Fall Guy, is 78-years-old.
Film producer Jonathan Sothcott also paid tribute, writing on Twitter: ‘A View To A Kill has always been the 007 film I enjoyed the most and I’m awfully sad to hear leading lady #TanyaRoberts has died at just 65 – she was the consummate 80s Bond girl and had a lovely chemistry with Roger. A Hollywood star from another, more glamourous age gone. RIP.’
Tanya’s friend and representative Mike Pingel also paid a moving tribute to the star – who also appeared in movies such as The Beastmaster and Sheena: Queen of the Jungle.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘I feel like a light has been taken away. To say she was an angel would be at the top of the list. She was the sweetest person you’d ever meet and had a huge heart. She loved her fans, and I don’t think she realised how much she meant to them.’
The had a bond: Fellow Bond girl Britt Ekland said on social media: ‘Rip Tanya Roberts, once a Bond Girl always a Bond Girl!’
Her time with 007: Britt played Mary Goodnight in the 1974 Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun
She passed away Saturday, according to her friend, Pingel.
Roberts collapsed at her home in the Hollywood Hills on Christmas Eve after she returned from taking her dog out for a walk, TMZ reports.
She was subsequently rushed to hospital and put on a ventilator, but ‘never got better’.
Before her collapse, sources told TMZ that Roberts seemed ‘perfectly healthy’ and was participating in video chats with her fans. Pingel stated that her death was not related to COVID-19.
Bond girl: She played geologist Stacey Sutton alongside Roger Moore in his seventh and final James Bond movie; also seen with Grace Jones and Christopher Walken
A natural union: Though Moore was much older than Roberts when they filmed 1985’s A View To Kill, they seemed to click
In addition to being a Bond Girl, Roberts starred in the fifth and final season of Charlie’s Angels between 1980 and 1981.
She is also famous for playing Midge Pinciotti in the hit sitcom, That 70s Show, appearing alongside Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis.
Roberts’ husband, screenwriter Barry Roberts, died in 2006. The couple had been married for 32 years, and had no children.
An Angel as well: She was chosen above 2,000 other actresses to replace Shelley Hack in the fifth and final season of Charlie’s Angels, which aired between 1980 and 1981. She is pictured at left with Jaclyn Smith, center, and Cheryl Ladd, right
Another hit on her hands: Roberts holding a perch with a bird on it in a scene from the film Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, 1984
Roberts was born Victoria Leigh Blum in October 1955 in New York City, before starting her career as a fashion model in her late teens.
She married Barry Roberts when she was just 19, and started studying to become an actress at The Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen.
The leggy blonde made her film debut in 1975’s Forced Entry.
Roberts and her husband relocated permanently to Los Angeles in 1977, which paid off in a big way three years later.
The beauty was chosen above 2,000 other actresses to replace Shelley Hack in the fifth and final season of Charlie’s Angels, which aired between 1980 and 1981.
Love of a lifetime: Roberts tied the knot in 1974 to screenwriter Barry Roberts. She was just 19 years old at the time. The pair are pictured together in 1982
She sold her redheaded bombshell image: In a glamorous portrait shared in 1983
She always looked fabulous: At the 2005 E.T. Emmy Party where Earth, Wind & Fire performed at the Mondrian hotel in West Hollywood
However, she became a global sensation several years later, when she was elevated to ‘Bond girl’ status in 1985’s A View To A Kill.
In that film, she starred as sultry geologist Stacey Sutton alongside Roger Moore in his seventh and final James Bond movie.
Afterward, Roberts continued to work regularly with roles in films such as Body Slam, Twisted Justice, Purgatory and Legal Tender, which was written by her husband.
In 1998, Roberts returned to the small screen to play Midge in That 70s Show. She is pictured front row second from left. The show also starred Ashton Kutcher (back row second from left) and Mila Kunis (front row third from left)
In 1998, she returned to the small screen to play Midge in That 70s Show.
The hit Fox sitcom also starred Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Wilmer Valderrama and Topher Grace.
She left the show in 2004 to take care of her husband who was terminally ill at the time. He tragically passed away t
wo years later.
Roberts did not re-marry, and she did not appear in anymore films or television shows following her husband’s death.
However, the beauty appeared to be looking healthy and in good spirits late last year.
She frequently uploaded photos to Instagram, including a snap that showed her wearing a mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic as she signed fan photographs.
The beauty frequently uploaded photos to Instagram, including a snap that showed her wearing a mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic as she signed fan photographs
Roberts appeared to be looking healthy and in good spirits late last year. She is pictured with a fan in a recent photo
