Biography for
Tanya Roberts More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

15 October 1955, The Bronx, New York, USA

Birth Name

Victoria Leigh Blum

Height

5' 7¼" (1.71 m)

Mini Biography

Tanya Roberts came from modest beginnings in the Bronx, New York, the daughter of a pen salesman (Irish) and a mother (Jewish) who were divorced before she reached high school. Tanya dropped out of high school at age 15, got married and hitchhiked around the country until her mother-in-law had the marriage annulled. She met psychology student Barry Roberts in New York while waiting in line to see a movie. A few months later, she proposed to him in a subway station, and they were married. She studied acting under Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen. In her early years in New York, she supported herself as an Arthur Murray dance instructor and by modeling. She appeared in off-Broadway productions of "Picnic" and "Antigone", and in television commercials for Ultra Brite, Clairol and Cool Ray sunglasses. In 1977, Tanya and her husband--now a scriptwriter--moved to Hollywood. She began appearing in such made-for-TV films as Pleasure Cove (1979) (TV), Zuma Beach (1978) (TV) and Waikiki (1980) (TV). Her film debut was in Forced Entry (1975). After appearing in several minor films, her first big break came when she was selected as an angel (the last) for "Charlie's Angels" (1976) in its final season, and was featured on the cover of "People" magazine (2/9/81). The attention she garnered as the newest Charlie's Angel helped secure her most significant film parts: The Beastmaster (1982) (and posed for the cover and an inside spread in "Playboy" to promote the film), the title role in Sheena: Queen of the Jungle (1984) and as a Bond Girl in A View to a Kill (1985). She continues to appear in films, though mainly direct-to-video and direct-to-cable features. She is featured in the CD computer game The Pandora Directive (1996) (VG) and had a recurring lead role in the television series "That '70s Show" (1998).

IMDb Mini Biography By: Ray Angelo <rangelo@oeb.harvard.edu>

Spouse

Barry Roberts	(1974 - 15 June 2006) (his death)
?	(1971 - ?) (annulled)

Trade Mark

Platinum blonde hair

Sparkling blue eyes

Lisp, breathless voice

Voluptuous figure

Trivia

Sister of Barbara Chase

She took 5 years of voice training to get the Bronx out of her voice.

Her sister, Barbara Chase, was married to Timothy Leary for 15 years.

Has the unique distinction of having been both a Bond Girl and the last of the original Charlie's Angels.

She auditioned for the role of "Kate Roberts" on the soap opera, "Days of Our Lives" (1965), in 1995 though the role went to Lauren Koslow.

Widow of Barry Roberts.

Aunt of Zach Leary.

Personal Quotes

"Even if I get thrown out of Hollywood, I'll come back. It took me 14 years to get where I am. I'm going to hang in there." - 'People Magazine' (1984)

Fans make you. I certainly hope that people like me in the work and I appreciate every letter that I get. I'm glad they like me or else I wouldn't be in the business. But for fans it's a very different reality then it is for me. They're going to watch the finished product, which has taken us five months and a lot of hard work ... I mean, I've been choking for the last three days on smoke -- it's not very glamorous. It's not what it looks like in the movie, I'm on my knees, bruised half the time, it's action, action, action.

Salary

"Charlie's Angels" (1976)

$12,000 per episode