By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Actress Loni Anderson, who won acclaim for her U.S. television sitcom role as the brainy, glamorous radio station receptionist defying workplace sexual stereotypes on “WKRP in Cincinnati,” died on Sunday at age 79, according to her publicist.

Anderson, also remembered for her much-publicized storybook marriage to actor Burt Reynolds in 1988 and their tabloid-fixated divorce six years later, died at a Los Angeles hospital “following an acute prolonged illness,” her family said.

“We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our dear wife, mother and grandmother,” the family said in a statement, adding that she was surrounded by loved ones.

Anderson, a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, and natural brunette who competed in local beauty pageants and got

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