Tanya Roberts Biography

Victoria Leigh Blum (born October 15, 1955), professonally known by the stage name Tanya Roberts, is an American actress known for her role 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).

Early life

Blum was born in Bronx, of Irish and Jewish descent. Her father was a fountain pen salesman. Her parents divorced when she was a teenager. 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, she left high school and lived for a while hitch-hiking across the United States. She eventually returned to New York City and became a fashion and cover model. After meeting psychology student Barry Roberts (while waiting in line for a movie), she proposed to him in a subway station and they were soon married. While Barry pursued a career as a screenwriter, she began to study at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen under the name Tanya Roberts.

Acting career

1970s

Her career began 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 by the 1976 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 not picked up: Zuma Beach (a 1978 comedy); Pleasure Cove (1979); and Waikiki (1980).

1980s

Charlie's Angels

Roberts was chosen in the summer of 1980 from some two-thousand candidates to replace Shelley Hack in the fifth season of the detective television series, Charlie's Angels on ABC. Roberts played the sultry Julie Rogers, a streetwise fighter who used her fists more than her gun. Producers hoped Roberts' sizzling presence would revitalize the show's declining ratings and regenerate media interest in the series. Before the season's premiere, Roberts was featured on the cover of People Magazine with a headline asking if Roberts would be able to save the declining series from cancellation.

Despite the hype Roberts' debut had received, her premiere episode in November 1980 drew dismal ratings. The series was thereafter moved to several different timeslots on the broadcast schedule, but viewership continued to drop as the season progressed. After just sixteen episodes of a fifth season, the series had drastically slipped to 59th in the ratings out of just 65 shows and was cancelled in the June 1981. However, producers of the show reported after the show's cancellation, if Roberts had entered the show the previous season the series would have been back for a sixth season.

Post-Angels

Roberts played Kiri in the 1982 film 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 adventure fantasy film Hearts and Armour (also known as Paladini-storia d'armi e d'amori and Paladins "? The Story of Love and Arms), based on the medieval novel, Orlando Furioso. She portrayed 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. She declined to continue the role in the Mike Hammer series in order to work on her next project, Sheena: Queen of the Jungle. The 1984 movie was a box office and critical disaster, garnering her a nomination for "Worst Actress" at the Razzie Awards.

Roberts subsequently appeared as Bond girl Stacey Sutton, a geologist, in A View to a Kill (1985). She again found herself nominated by the critics for a Razzie Award. Other 1980s films include Night Eyes, an erotic thriller; Body Slam (1987), an action movie set in the professional wrestling world; and Purgatory, a movie about a woman wrongfully imprisoned in Africa.

1990s–present

Roberts starred in the 1991 erotic thriller, Inner Sanctum alongside Margaux Hemingway. In 1992 she played Kay Egan in Sins of Desire. She appeared on the cable TV series, Hot Line, in 1994; and in the video game, The Pandora Directive, in 1996.

In 1998 Roberts took the role of Midge Pinciotti on the successful television sitcom, That '70s Show. Roberts told E! True Hollywood Story that she left the series in 2001 because her husband had become terminally ill. Barry Roberts died in 2006. Tanya Roberts wrote the foreword to the 2008 book, The Q Guide to Charlie's Angels.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Forced Entry	Nancy Ulman
1976	The Yum Yum Girls	April
1977	The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover	Stewardess
1978	Fingers	Julie
1978	Zuma Beach	Denise	TV movie
1979	Tourist Trap	Becky
1979	Pleasure Cove	Sally	TV movie
1979	Greatest Heroes of the Bible	Bachemath	TV series?Episodes "Jacob's Challenge"
1979	California Dreaming	Stephanie
1979	Racquet	Bambi
1980	Vega$	Officer Britt Blackwell	TV series?Season 2, Episode 20?21
1980	Waikiki	Carol	TV movie
1980-1981	Charlie's Angels	Julie Rogers	TV series?Season 5?Episode 1-16
1982	The Love Boat	Diane Dayton	TV series?Season 5?Episode 16
1982	Fantasy Island	Miss Amanda Parsons	TV series?Season 5?Episode 22
1982	The Beastmaster	Kiri
1983	Murder Me, Murder You	Velda	TV movie
1983	Hearts and Armour	Angelica (Isabella)
1984	Sheena	Sheena	Nominated-Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress
1985	A View to a Kill	Stacey Sutton	Nominated-Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress
1986	Body Slam	Candace Vandervagen
1988	Purgatory	Carly Arnold
1990	Twisted Justice	Secretary
1990	Night Eyes	Nikki
1991	Legal Tender	Rikki Rennick
1991	Inner Sanctum	Lynn Foster
1992	Almost Pregnant	Linda Alderson	Video
1993	Sins of Desire	Kay Egan
1994	Burke's Law	Julie Reardon	TV series?Season 1?Episode 3
1995	Deep Down	Charlotte
1995	Silk Stalkings	Callie Callahan	TV series?Season 5?Episode 11
1994-1996	Hot Line	Rebecca	TV series?Season 1?Episode 1?2 and Season 3?Episode 1-9?11?14
1996	The Pandora Directive	Regan Madsen	Video Game
1997	The Blues Brothers Animated Series	Toni G.	TV series
1997	High Tide	Rhonda Fogel	TV series?Season 3?Episode 18
1998	The Angry Beavers	Marsha?voice"?	TV series?Season 2?Episode 1
2002	Off Centre	Gretchen	TV series?Season 1?Episode 18
2003	Fillmore!	Author	TV series?Season 2?Episode 8
1998-2004	That '70s Show	Midge Pinciotti	TV series?75 episodes
2005	Eve	Rebeca	TV series?Season 2?Episode 13
2005	Barbershop	Ellie Palmer	TV series?Season 1?Episode 7?8