Loni Anderson recalled as charming, kind and smart by Minnesota theater friends

In a yearlong run as the eldest daughter in Chanhassen Dinner Theatres’ “Fiddler on the Roof,” Loni Anderson never missed a performance.

“There were eight shows a week and she was the only one in the cast” with that distinction, said Gary Gisselman, who directed that groundbreaking 1971 production of “Fiddler.” “She was very dedicated to the process and really smart.”

Anderson, the “WKRP in Cincinnati” star who died Sunday at 79 in Los Angeles after a prolonged illness, left many impressions in Minnesota, her home state, where she built her skills and showed early glimpses of the charisma and sex appeal that would make her a Hollywood A-lister.

Born in St. Paul on Aug. 5, 1945, and reared in Roseville, Anderson studied theater at the University of Minnesota starting in 1963. She snagged ingenue roles at the now-closed Old Log Theatre and the Centennial Showboat, and at Chanhassen.

“Like Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe, she had that star power that made people stop and look,” said actor John Command, who first met Anderson in 1963 when both were drama students at the U and who remained lifelong friends. “I remember when we were in ‘Fiddler’ together, we were walking in Southdale with her hair flowing and people were just awestruck.”

As her friends and colleagues in Minnesota mourn her passing, they also recall her work ethic, her wit and the personality that translated so well onstage and screen.

Gisselman recalled that after the first rehearsal for “Fiddler,” he asked the actors to come back dressed as their characters. Anderson came back looking glamorous in skirt, boots and scarf.

But when it came to being in the show, she was a studious team player.

“She worked to be competent and would watch rehearsals of scenes she was not in, in order to improve her craft,” Gisselman said. “Whatever scene she was in, she didn’t make herself stand out. She was good at playing the part and sharing the stage with others.”

Tim Stolz, son of the late Old Log Theatre owner Don Stolz, worked backstage as a teenager while Anderson performed in the comedies that were a staple of the Excelsior playhouse.

“The thing that was most striking about her was that she had all this star power, but she was so kind,” Stolz said.

He added that as a teenager, he would easily become bashful around her and so always tried to avert his eyes.

One of two daughters of environmental chemist Klaydon Anderson and former model Maxine Kallin, Anderson grew up on Lake Owasso in Roseville. Both her parents were smokers, and she and her sister, Andrea, both had asthma, according to Command.

“Loni was so careful — she never smoked a cigarette in her life,” Command said. “And if she had a glass of wine, it would be a red-letter day.”

Because of her charisma and sex appeal, her love life was fodder for the tabloids. Anderson was married four times, including a tumultuous union with Burt Reynolds.

Linda Gallaro Anderson, a former longtime stage manager at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, had a unique connection with Loni Anderson. She eventually married Loni Anderson’s ex-boyfriend and “Fiddler” scene partner Richard Anson.

Gallaro Anderson’s own ex-boyfriend is actor Ron Perlman.

Gallaro Anderson said that she learned what it took to be Loni Anderson after seeing her at a bridal shower for an actor.

“Charming as ever, she said, ‘Oh, gosh, I’m not looking forward to getting up at 6 tomorrow,’” she recalled, with everyone wanting to know why.

“Loni said she had a dental appointment at 10 and she had to shower, do her hair, eyelashes, everything,” Gallaro Anderson said. “She said she wouldn’t step foot out the door without all of that. And of course, she was always beautiful.”

Command, who spent Thanksgivings with Anderson, said that his friend had a wicked sense of humor, and of timing.