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Bond girl Tanya Roberts confirmed dead after premature reports of her death

Watch: Tanya Roberts death has been confirmed

Tanya Roberts, the actress who captivated James Bond in "A View to a Kill," has been confirmed dead aged 65, a day after her publicist prematurely announced her passing.

Confusion swirled over the Bond girl's final hours after Mike Pingel, her media representative, said on Monday that she had died in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Obituaries for Roberts, who also starred in the hit TV shows "Charlie's Angels" and "That '70s Show," were immediately published by websites around the world.

However, during a subsequent live television interview on Monday her partner, Lance O'Brien, received a phone call from the hospital telling him she was still alive.

Mr O'Brien broke down in tears, saying: "Now you’re telling me that she is alive? Oh, thank the Lord! Thank God! The hospital just told me she is alive. They are calling me from the ICU team. I am so happy."

But Mr O'Brien then received a further call from the hospital late on Monday night saying the actress had now died.

Tanya Roberts - Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo
Tanya Roberts - Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo

Speaking on Tuesday he confirmed: "She passed last night, the doctor called me around 9.30pm. I was asleep, they woke me up, and I just cried myself back to sleep."

Roberts played geologist Stacey Sutton in "A View to a Kill" opposite Roger Moore as James Bond in 1985.

In a statement Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said: "We are saddened to hear of the passing of Tanya. She was a very lovely person."

Fellow Bond girl Britt Ekland wrote on Twitter: "Once a Bond Girl always a Bond Girl!"

In addition to a stint in "Charlie's Angels" the actress was perhaps best known in the United States for her role as Midge Pinciotti in "That ‘70s Show"

Following the initial erroneous report of her death tributes began pouring in from co-stars.

But Ashton Kutcher, a fellow alumnus of "That ‘70s Show," then wrote on Twitter: "Yo bro she's not dead. She's still alive."

Roberts had been admitted to hospital on Christmas Eve after collapsing while walking her two dogs.

Roberts - AP
Roberts - AP

Mr O'Brien said she died after an infection spread to her kidneys.

Explaining the confusion over her death Mr O'Brien said he visited the hospital on Sunday, and doctors told him Roberts was near death.

He said she opened her eyes, then closed them and appeared to fade away. He then left the hospital, without speaking to staff, and feeling "discombobulated'.

Mr Roberts said he then telephoned Mr Pingel.

He said: "(Mr Pingel) goes, 'What happened?' and I say, 'I just said goodbye to Tanya, and I got to see her beautiful eyes one last time.' And after that I’m just blubbering.

"Next thing I know, TMZ, OMG, is on my cellphone (reporting her death). It may be just some miscommunication somehow. That's the honest-to-God truth, exactly what happened."

Mr Pingel told TMZ he picked up Mr O'Brien from the hospital, and Mr O'Brien told him the actress "died in my arms" so he confirmed her death.

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