Loni Anderson

TV Deaths

The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980; TV film) [Jayne Mansfield]: Killed (off-screen) in a car accident. (I haven't seen this, so I don't know whether this biopic repeated the popular misconception that she was decapitated.)

Too Good to Be True (1988; TV film) [Ellen Berent]: Commits suicide by taking poison, arranging it to frame Glynnis O'Connor for her "murder." (See also Gene Tierney in the 1945 version Leave Her to Heaven.) (Thanks to Gerardo)

Sorry, Wrong Number (1989; TV film) [Madeleine Stevenson]: Presumably killed by a hitman. (I haven't seen this version, so I don't know whether it retains the original ending or whether it was rewritten so that she survives.) (See also Barbara Stanwyck in the 1948 version.)

White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd (1991; TV film) [Thelma Todd]: Dies (off-screen) of carbon monoxide poisoning in her garage; her body is shown at the beginning of the movie when Dakin Matthews arrives at the scene, and she appears in flashbacks throughout the rest of the movie as Dakin interviews the various people who knew her. Her body is shown again at her funeral during the closing credits. (It's suggested that she was killed by a hitman (Joe Zimmerman), but it's never proven whether it was murder.) (Thanks to Jo and Tom)