Loni Anderson, who played the platinum blonde receptionist on the screwball comedy “WKRP in Cincinnati” in the late 1970s and early ’80s and later became a tabloid mainstay during her contentious divorce from the actor Burt Reynolds, died on Sunday at a hospital in Los Angeles. She was 79.

Her death, just days before her 80th birthday, was confirmed by Cheryl J. Kagan, her publicist, who cited an unspecified prolonged illness.

Loni Kaye Anderson was born on Aug. 5, 1945, in St. Paul, Minn., the daughter of Klaydon Carl Anderson, a chemist, and Maxine Kallin, a model.

As a young woman, Ms. Anderson’s fresh face, dimples and big, sparkling eyes epitomized the American beauty standards of her time. She got her start in acting on television shows in the mid-1970s.

Her big break came in 1978 when she was cast as Jennifer Marlowe, a receptionist, on “WKRP in Cincinnati.”

The show, which aired on CBS from 1978 to 1982, was about an easy-listening local radio station in Cincinnati that switched to a rock format.