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Tanya Roberts dies aged 65 after premature announcement

Bond girl starred opposite Roger Moore in A View to a Kill 

Jacob Stolworthy,Roisin O'Connor
Tuesday 05 January 2021 10:35 EST
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Tanya Roberts stars in Bond film 'A View to a Kill'

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Tanya Roberts has died, aged 65, two days after her death was announced prematurely.

The actor, who played Stacey Sutton opposite Roger More in 1985’s A View to a Kill, had been taken to hospital after collapsing on Christmas Eve.

A press release was then sent out by those representing the actor on 3 January stating she had died in hospital.

However, the representative of Roberts said the actor had not passed away after it was revealed that her partner had left the hospital believing she had died. 

The update came after tributes were paid by some of those closest to Roberts, whose death was announced by TMZ.

Roberts’ partner was seen breaking down on camera after finding out midway through an interview with a media outlet that she was still alive.

Born Victoria Leigh Blum, Roberts had an early career in modelling and television adverts before appearing in the 1975 horror film Forced Entry.

Her most notable film role is as Stacey Sutton, an American geologist who becomes targeted by villain Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), in the James Bond film A View to a Kill.

The film marked Moore’s last performance as 007.

A number of her other films achieved cult status, such as the 1982 fantasy The Beastmaster, and adventure film Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, a version of the Tarzan story with Roberts as the female lead.

She later said she believed there was a “curse” attached to the Bond girl role, telling the Daily Mail in 2015 that she suggested to her agent: “No one ever works after they get a Bond movie.”

However, she had success in a number of television performances, including a year as Julie Rogers in the fifth season of ABC’s Charlie’s Angels, and in the recurring role of Donna’s mother, Midge Pinciotti, on That ’70s Show.

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