Tanya Roberts’ Rep Says Death Announcement Was An Error, Star Is Alive [Update]

The “James Bond” actor’s partner said he received a call from the hospital informing him she was alive.
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UPDATE: Jan. 5 ― Tanya Roberts was pronounced dead on Tuesday after a premature death announcement.

Previously: “James Bond” star Tanya Roberts is still alive. Her publicist mistakenly issued a statement about her death on Monday.

Multiple outlets, including HuffPost and The Associated Press, reported that the 65-year-old actor had died, on the authority of a statement from her representative Mike Pingel. (HuffPost’s initial article reporting Roberts’ death has been redirected to this update.)

Pingel confirmed later on Monday that Roberts was still alive, but in a poor condition.

“She’s not doing well. It’s a gray situation,” Pingel told HuffPost.

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Actor Tanya Roberts in 2017.
Paul Archuleta via Getty Images

In his original statement, Pingel said Roberts collapsed while walking her dogs on Christmas Eve, was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and died on Sunday. Roberts’ longtime partner, Lance O’Brien, had understood she passed away.

The publicist later told HuffPost that O’Brien was permitted to see Roberts in the hospital to say his goodbyes. He then called Pingel distraught, believing that she had died.

O’Brien apparently received news from the hospital that his partner was alive when he answered his phone during an interview with “Inside Edition.”

“The hospital is telling me she is alive. They are calling me from the ICU team,” O’Brien says in a clip from the interview.

He also told “Inside Edition” that Roberts did not have COVID-19 but due to hospital protocols he had not been allowed to visit until what he believed were her final hours.

Pingel said he is awaiting further updates on the actor’s condition. 

Roberts is perhaps best known for playing “Bond girl” Stacey Sutton opposite Roger Moore’s 007 in 1985’s “A View to a Kill,” as well as appearing in the TV shows “Charlie’s Angels” and “That ’70s Show.”

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