Loni Anderson, who turned heads as the office bombshell on the CBS sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, has d!ed at the age of 79.

Anderson passed away Sunday in Los Angeles after “an acute prolonged illness,” her publicist Cheryl J. Kagan tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Born and raised in Minnesota, Anderson went to Hollywood and booked guest-star roles on S.W.A.T., Police Woman and Three’s Company (where she actually auditioned for the role of Chrissy Snow, later played by Suzanne Somers). Her big break came in 1978, when she won the role of receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on CBS’ WKRP in Cincinnati. Jennifer was beautiful, yes, but she had brains, too, using her sex appeal to her full advantage.

WKRP in Cincinnati ran for four seasons and earned three Emmy nominations for best comedy series, but a number of time slot changes led to a steep drop in ratings, with CBS deciding to pull the plug in 1982. WKRP became a hit in syndication, though, with repeats earning big viewership throughout the ’80s.

Anderson herself earned a pair of Emmy nominations for her work on WKRP, and when it ended, she did more film work, including co-starring in 1983’s Stroker Ace with Burt Reynolds, whom she later married. Anderson reprised her role as Jennifer in The New WKRP in Cincinnati, a revival that ran in syndication from 1991 to 1993. She also joined the cast of the NBC sitcom Nurses in 1993 and guest-starred on Melrose Place and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.