Tanya Roberts Biography

Tanya Roberts was born Victoria Leigh Blum on October 15, 1949 in Bronx, New York City. She had an older sister Barbara and the entire family lived in quite humble conditions. The family settled in Central Bronx, and her father supported the family by selling pens in Manhattan. After her parents divorced, Tanya said goodbye to Bronx and shifted with her mother to Canada.

Tanya realised the potential to become an actress in her early teens. She was a beautiful young girl and she started getting her portfolios done along with making plans for her future career. At a tender age of 15, she got married and embarked on a trip with her husband across the United States. Her mother tracked her down and had the marriage annulled.

This massive blow hit Tanya hard and she returned to the USA to pursue a career as a model and appeared on several fashion magazines’ cover. She then started training as an actor and honed her skills. Tanya said in an interview that she doesn’t take her troubled childhood as a curse, and those experiences made her a humble person and she is grateful for that.

In early 1970s, Tanya Roberts’ career started with small time ad films for brands such as Excedrin, Clairol and Cool ray sunglasses. What followed were some meaty roles in off-Broadway productions, but Tanya wasn’t satisfied with the work she was doing, due to low pay and exposure. In order to make the ends meet, she also worked as a dance instructor for a brief period of time.

A talent agency spotted her and offered her a role in a sleazy horror film, Forced Entry, in 1975. More such roles followed; one of the most memorable ones was the role in film Fingers, a highly erotic cheesy production. Even after doing a few more such films, Tanya remained unknown for the most part, even after she got hired for Charlie’s Angels, the TV series.

Tanya Roberts was a replacement actor in Charlie’s Angels and the show was cancelled just after a dozen episodes. Tanya spent a few more years in total anonymity and kept doing adult films in order to support herself. In 1982, The Beastmaster, a fantasy adventure film, came her way. It was, to some extent, way different than what she was being offered constantly at that time.

1980s turned out a bit different for her as she finally felt free from the clutches of low production B movies. She continued working in low budget films though, but they did have some content and offered opportunities for Tanya to show her skills. She featured in Heart and Armour in 1983, which was an Italian adventure fantasy film.

In 1983, she appeared in Murder You, Murder Me a television movie. She got the offer to star in a TV series pilot, but instead, she decided to go with Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, which turned out to be a colossal critical and commercial disaster. However, 1985 turned out to be a big year as she got the chance to play the Bond girl in A View to Kill. Her acting was criticized heavily.

For a long time after that, she continued appearing in erotic thrillers such as Night Eyes, Body Slam, Inner Sanctum and Sins of Desire.

In 1998, a big break arrived in form of a Sitcom That 70s Show, which she had to leave midway in 2001 due to the terminal illness of her husband and the show demanded her regular presence.

Tanya Roberts then appeared in small roles in a few TV series, such as Eve and Barbershop, but she mostly stayed away from limelight.

Tanya Roberts had quite a controversial love life. She fell in love with a ‘bohemian’ guy at the age of 15, and started living with him. Her mother had strong objections over her husband and the marriage ended eventually.

She married Barry Roberts in 1974 and they remained together until he eventually passed away in 2006. She had no children, and after her husband’s death, Tanya lived in Hollywood Hills, California.

Tanya Roberts was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles on 24 December 2020, following intestinal pain and breathing difficulties. She was diagnosed with urinary tract infection and died on 4 January 2021.