Actor known for WKRP salesman role

Frank Bonner, who has died aged 79, played a brash salesman with an affection for polyester plaid suits on the TV comedy WKRP in Cincinnati.

The show, which aired in the United States from 1978-82, and was set in a lagging Ohio radio station trying to reinvent itself with rock. The cast included Gary Sandy, Tim Reid, Howard Hesseman and Jan Smithers, alongside Bonner as subpar ad salesman Herb Tarlek.

Loni Anderson, who played the station’s empowered receptionist Jennifer, said she was ‘‘heartbroken’’ over his death. ‘‘Frank Bonner was like family. He was one of the funniest men I had the pleasure of working with, and he was the nicest man I have ever known.’’

Bonner’s daughter, Desiree Boers-Kort, said her father valued his time on the sitcom in part because it led him toward the career he favoured over acting – directing. After taking on that job for six episodes of WKRP, he went on to direct for more than a dozen other 1980s and 1990s shows, including Simon & Simon, Who’s the Boss and Saved by the Bell: The New Class.

He continued to act, including in the early 1990s sequel The New WKRP in Cincinnati, Scarecrow and Mrs King and Night Court.

‘‘He did prefer the behind-the-camera [work], and he thoroughly enjoyed helping people get to where he needed them to be for the scenes,’’ Boers-Kort said. ‘‘He was very humble and down-to-earth, and just a nice, kind human.’’

A native of Arkansas whose birth name was Frank Boers Jr, his Hollywood career began in the 1970s with the film Equinox and on TV dramas, including The Young Lawyers and Mannix.

He is survived by his wife, Gayle Hardage Bonner, who was his high school sweetheart. The pair reunited and eventually married four decades later, after previous marriages for both, his daughter said.

Other survivors include sons Matthew and Justine Bonner; stepdaughter DeAndra Freed; seven grandchildren and a greatgrandchild. Bonner was preceded in death by his son, Michael. –