Profile Text
Roberts in 2008, photo by Prphotos
Birth Name: Victoria Leigh Blum
Date of Birth: October 15, 1949
Place of Birth: New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of Death: January 4, 2021
Place of Death: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Ethnicity: * father – Ashkenazi Jewish * mother – English, possibly Irish
Tanya Roberts was an American actress, producer, and model. She is known for her roles in the James Bond film A View to a Kill , the adventure Sheena , and the series Charlie’s Angels .
Tanya was the daughter of Dorothy Leigh (Smith) and Oscar Maximilian Blum. Her father was born in New York, to an Ashkenazi Jewish family. Her mother was an English emigrant, who was born in Oldham. Her parents married in England in 1945.
Other versions of her background found on the internet or in the press (Irish father, Jewish mother) are not correct, though her mother may have had Irish ancestry.
Tanya was raised in Scarsdale, and then Greenburgh, New York. Her sister is filmmaker Barbara Blum Chase, who was married to psychologist and writer Timothy Leary. Tanya was married to screenwriter Barry Roberts, until his death. Barry was Jewish.
Tanya’s paternal grandfather was Theodore/Theodor W. Blum (the son of Max Blum and Elise Esther Kahn). Theodore was born in Vienna, Austria, and was a prominent oral surgeon; a pioneer in local anesthesia, the use of x-rays in dental care, and management of pathologic oral conditions; and a co-founder of The New York Institute of Clinical Oral Pathology. Max was an antiques dealer.
Tanya’s paternal grandmother was named Bertha Roth. Bertha was born in New York, to Hungarian-born parents, or in Budapest, Hungary.
Tanya’s maternal grandmother’s name began with H.
Sources: Genealogy of Tanya Roberts – https://www.geni.com
Genealogy of Tanya Roberts (focusing on her father’s side) – https://www.findagrave.com
Tanya’s father on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org Tanya’s father on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org Tanya’s father on the 1940 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org