Bond girl Tanya Roberts died Monday night at L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Hospital following a bizarre turn of events that included her domestic partner incorrectly telling her rep she had died the day before.
Roberts, 65, was rushed to hospital in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve, after collapsing at home following a walk with her dog.
Her partner, Lance O’Brien, told TMZ Roberts was taken off life support Sunday night, after contracting a urinary tract infection that got “out of control”.
He said he got a call from one of Tanya’s doctor’s Monday night, just after 9 PM, telling him Tanya had passed.
O’Brien said he’d visited her in the hospital earlier on Sunday, and she suddenly opened her eyes and then shut them and he saw her fade away. He told a reporter she had “the prettiest eyes.”
O’Brien says he believed she was dead and he left the hospital without speaking to medical staff. Tanya’s publicist, Mike Pingel, who picked O’Brien up from the hospital, says he told him, “She died in my arms.”
After Roberts’ death made headlines all over the world, O’Brien got a phone call Monday from Cedars, informing him Tanya was still alive.
O’Brien was speaking to Inside Edition when he got the call from the hospital.
The call was caught on camera during the interview, as O’Brien can be heard saying: “Now, you are telling me she’s alive?”
He then told his interviewer: “The hospital is telling me she is alive. They are calling me from the ICU team.”
Despite the good news that Roberts was still alive, O’Brien told the New York Post that her situation was still hopeless, and that the Charlie’s Angels star will not survive.
Robert’s official death was confirmed Monday night, Jan. 4.
Roberts will be remembered for much more than her bizarre final hours. She was a go-to model, appearing as Bond girl Stacey Sutton opposite Roger Moore in “A View to a Kill.” She also posed for Playboy and did ads for Clairol, Cool Ray sunglasses, Excedrin and Ultra Brite.
She starred in Charlie’s Angels’ final TV season, helping the Angels solve crimes as a side character named Julie Rogers. Roberts is pictured at left with Jaclyn Smith, center, and Cheryl Ladd, right.
Tanya was married to Barry Roberts for several years. Their union produced no children before his death in 2006.
She’s survived by O’Brien and her sister, Barbara Chase
