Loni Anderson Was Hired Because of a Photograph. She Spent Fifty Years Answering for It

In nineteen seventy-eight, the producers of a new CBS comedy about a failing rock-and-roll radio station in Cincinnati were looking for someone to play the receptionist. They had never seen her act. They had seen a poster — a young blonde woman in a red swimsuit, in a pose borrowed from Farrah Fawcett. They offered her the part on the strength of it, and the man who created the show later explained his decision by describing her figure. She said no. She did not want to be window dressing. Her agent kept at her until she agreed to one meeting, where she read the part as a woman who was intelligent, and walked out with a promise: Jennifer Marlowe would be the smartest person in the building. For four seasons she was. She screened the calls. She did not make the coffee. And she was nominated for three Golden Globes and two Emmy Awards for it. Then, in the summer of nineteen eighty, she did something almost no actress of her level pulled off. She did not come back to the set, and she did not come back until the money was right. The network agreed. Thirteen years later, her marriage to one of the most famous men in America ended in public, and for months it was his version of her that the country heard. She answered in a book. He kept telling his story for the rest of his life. This is the story of a woman who was hired for a picture, and who spent the next fifty years trying to be seen as something else. Thank you for watching all the way to the end. If this meant something to you, subscribe and turn on the bell, so you will be here for the next one. #LoniAnderson #WKRP #ClassicTV #SeventiesTV #BurtReynolds ``` loni anderson, wkrp in cincinnati, jennifer marlowe, loni anderson burt reynolds, burt reynolds divorce, loni anderson death, loni anderson 2025, hugh wilson wkrp, howard hesseman, gary sandy, tim reid, jan smithers, frank bonner, loni anderson poster, loni anderson biography, loni anderson life story, bob flick, brothers four, quinton anderson reynolds, my life in high heels, classic tv, classic television, seventies tv, 1970s television, 1980s television, sitcom history, mtm enterprises, tv legends, celebrity biography, american television history