Tanya Roberts
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| Tanya Roberts | |
|---|---|
| Born | Victoria Leigh Blum October 15, 1955 The Bronx, New York City, United States |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Spouse | Barry Roberts (1974-2006) |
Victoria Leigh Blum (born October 15, 1955), professionally recognized as Tanya Roberts, is an American actress best known for her role in as Julie Rogers on the fifth and final season of Charlie's Angels (1980-1981) and as Midge Pinciotti on That '70s Show (1998-2001).
She later headlined the films: The Beastmaster, A View to a Kill, and Sheena. Roberts was groomed as a Hollywood sex symbol during the early 1980s.
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[edit] Early life
Blum was born in The Bronx, New York City, of Irish and Jewish descent.[citation needed] Her father sold ink pens.[1] She lived with her mother in Toronto for several years, where she started formulating a photo portfolio and laying plans for a career. At age 15, Blum abandoned her studies to get married and lived for a while hitch-hiking across the United States, until her mother-in-law annulled the union.[citation needed]
She moved to New York City and became a sought-after fashion and cover model. After meeting a psychology student, Barry Roberts (while waiting in line for a movie), she proposed to him in a subway station and they were soon married.[citation needed] While Barry pursued a career as a screenwriter, Tanya began to study at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen.
[edit] Acting career
[edit] 1970s
Roberts' began her career as a model in TV ads for Ultra Brite, Clairol and Cool Ray sunglasses. She played serious roles in the Off-Broadway productions, Picnic and Antigone. She also supported herself as an Arthur Murray dance instructor. Her film debut was the 1975 thriller, Forced Entry. This was followed in 1976 by the comedy, The Yum-Yum Girls.
In 1977, as her husband was securing his own screenwriting career, the couple moved to Hollywood. The following year, Roberts participated in the drama, Fingers. Roles in the 1979 cult-movie, Tourist Trap, Racket and California Dreaming followed.
Roberts was featured in several television pilots that were never picked up: Zuma Beach (a 1978 comedy); Pleasure Cove (1979); and Waikiki (1980).
[edit] 1980s
In 1980, Roberts was chosen among 2,000 candidates to replace Shelley Hack in the television series, Charlie's Angels (in what would be the last season of the series).[2] She was featured on the February 9, 1981 cover of People magazine and afterward was offered more ambitious projects.[3][4]
In 1982, Roberts played Kiri in The Beastmaster. She was featured in a nude pictorial in Playboy to help promote the movie, appearing on that issue's October 1982 cover.
In 1983, Roberts filmed the Italian-made, and little-known adventure, Paladini-storia d'armi e d'amori ("Paladins—the story of love and arms"; also released as Hearts and Armour), based on the medieval novel, "Orlando Furioso". Actor Ronn Moss, of The Bold and the Beautiful, co-starred.
She played the role of Velda, a buxom secretary to private detective, Mike Hammer, in the television movie, Murder Me, Murder You. The two-part pilot spawned the syndicated television series, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. Roberts declined to continue the role in the Mike Hammer series so she could work on her next project, Sheena: Queen of the Jungle. The 1984 film was based on a character adapted from a Will Eisner comic book. Dressed in scantily clad costumes, Sheena introduced a new blonde hairstyle that Roberts would keep for the rest of her career. The movie was a box office and critical disaster, garnering her a nomination for "Worst Actress" at the Razzie Awards. Her subsequent appearance as Bond girl, Stacey Sutton, in A View to a Kill (1985), provided her a number of scenes with Roger Moore's James Bond, playing an articulate and well-educated geologist. However, she once again found herself nominated by critics for a Razzie.[5] Roberts career took a downturn. Later films in the decade included Body Slam (1987), an action movie set in the professional wrestling world; and Purgatory, a movie about a woman wrongfully imprisoned in Africa.
[edit] 1990s – present
In 1991, Roberts starred in the erotic thriller, Inner Sanctum, alongside Margaux Hemingway. In 1992, she played Kay Egan in Sins of Desire.
Roberts appeared on the cable TV series, Hot Line, in 1994; and in the video game, The Pandora Directive, in 1996.
In 1998, she became familiar to younger audiences when she took the role of Midge Pinciotti on the television sitcom, That '70s Show. Roberts said she left the series in 2001 because her husband, Barry Roberts, had become terminally ill.[6]
In 2008, Roberts wrote the foreword to the book, "The Q Guide to Charlie's Angels", by Mike Pingel.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/52/Tanya-Roberts.html
- ^ In the show, Roberts interpreted her character Julie Rogers as a streetwise fighter who used her fists more than her gun.
- ^ Reilly, Sue "Is the Jiggle Up?: In the Wake of Low Ratings, Will Tanya Roberts Save Charlie's Angels from Rerun Heaven?"
- ^ People February 09, 1981.
- ^ Tanya Roberts
- ^ In an E! True Hollywood Story interview discussing That '70s Show; [Note: Barry Roberts died in 2006].
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Kim Basinger |
Bond girl 1985 |
Succeeded by Maryam d'Abo |
