Bonnie Franklin, 'One Day At a Time' star, dies
She died Friday at her home in Los Angeles due to complications from pancreatic cancer, family members said. She was 69. Her family had announced she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September.
Franklin was a veteran stage and television performer before "One Day At a Time" made her a star.
Developed by Norman Lear and co-created by Whitney Blake — herself a former sitcom star and single mother raising future actress Meredith Baxter — the series was groundbreaking for its focus on a young divorced mother seeking independence from a suffocating marriage.
It premiered on CBS in December 1975, just five years after the network had balked at having Mary Tyler Moore play a divorced woman on her own comedy series, insisting that newly single Mary Richards be portrayed as having ended her engagement instead.
On her own in Indianapolis, Ann Romano was raising two teenage girls — played by Mackenzie Phillips, already famous for the film "American Graffiti," and a previously unknown Valerie Bertinelli. "One Day At a Time" ran on CBS until 1984, by which time both daughters had grown and married, while Romano had remarried and become a grandmother. During the first seven of its nine seasons on the air, the show was a Top 20 hit.
Like other Lear productions such as "All in the Family" and "Good Times," ''One Day at a Time" dealt with contemporary issues once absent from TV comedies such as premarital sex, birth control, suicide and sexual harassment — issues that had previously been overlooked by TV comedies whose households were usually headed by a husband and wife or, rarely, a widowed parent.
Meanwhile, the series weathered its own crises as Phillips was twice written out of the series to deal with her drug abuse and other personal problems.
Writing in her 2009 memoir "High On Arrival," Phillips remembered Franklin as hardworking and professional, even a perfectionist.
"Bonnie felt a responsibility to the character and always gave a million notes on the scripts," Phillips wrote. "Above all, she didn't want it to be sitcom fluff — she wanted it to deal honestly with the struggles and truths of raising two teenagers as a single mother."
In her 2008 memoir "Losing It," Bertinelli noted that Franklin, just 31 when the show began, wasn't old enough to be her real mother.
Even so, wrote Bertinelli, "within a few days I recognized her immense talent and felt privileged to work with her. ... She was like a hip, younger complement to my real mom."
The truth of "One Day at a Time" was brought home to Franklin when in 2005 she got together with both TV daughters for a "One Day at a Time" reunion special. She told both actresses, "You are living, in a sense, Ann Romano's life — you are single parents raising teenage kids. That is shocking and terrifying to me."
Bertinelli reiterated Friday that Franklin was a "second mother to me" and one of the most important women in her life.
"My heart is breaking," Bertinelli said in a statement. "The years on 'One Day At A Time' were some of the happiest of my life, and along with Pat and Mackenzie, we were a family in every way. She taught me how to navigate this business and life itself with grace and humor, and to always be true to yourself. I will miss her terribly."
Lear noted that despite tackling some serious subjects in her work, Franklin always stayed cheery and positive.
"I was wrong — I thought life forces never die. Bonnie was such a life force," Lear said in a statement. "Bubbly, always up, the smile never left her face."
Franklin herself was married for 29 years. Her husband, TV producer Marvin Minoff, died in 2009.
Born Bonnie Gail Franklin in Santa Monica, Calif., she entered show business at an early age. She was a child tap dancer and actress, and a protege of Donald O'Connor, with whom she performed in the 1950s on NBC's "Colgate Comedy Hour."
A decade later, she was appearing on such episodic programs as "Mr. Novak," ''Gidget" and "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."
On stage, Franklin was in the original Broadway production of "Applause," for which she received a 1970 Tony Award nomination, and other plays including "Dames at Sea" and "A Thousand Clowns."
Franklin's recent credits include appearances on "The Young and the Restless" and the TV Land comedy "Hot in Cleveland," which again reunited her with Bertinelli, one of that show's regulars.
Franklin was a "devoted mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, aunt and friend," her family said in a statement. She also was a longtime activist for a range of charities and civic-oriented issues, among them AIDS care and research and the Stroke Association of Southern California.
In 2001, she and her sister Judy Bush founded the nonprofit Classic and Contemporary American Plays, an organization that introduces great American plays to inner-city schools' curriculum.
A private memorial will be held next week, her family said.
Filmography and television credits
Year Title Role Notes
1954 Shower of Stars Susan Cratchit Episode: "A Christmas Carol"
1956 The Kettles in the Ozarks Betty Uncredited role
1956 The Wrong Man Young Girl Uncredited role
1959 A Summer Place Girl in Dormitory Uncredited role
1964 Mr. Novak Sally 2 episodes: "How Does Your Garden Grow?" and "The People Doll: You Wind It Up, and It Makes Mistakes"
1965 Invisible Diplomats Trudy Short
1965 Profiles in Courage Deborah Episode: "Prudence Crandall"
1965 Karen Charlotte Burns Episode: "Holiday in Ski Valley"
1965 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Peggy Durrance Episode: "The Gazebo in the Maze Affair"
1965 Gidget Jean / Janie 2 episodes: "Chivalry Isn't Dead" and "Too Many Cooks"
1965–1966 Please Don't Eat the Daisies Dorie 3 episodes
1966 The Munsters Janice Episode: "Herman's Sorority Caper"
1974 The Law Bobbie Stone TV movie
1975 Bronk Rita Episode: "The Pickoff"
1975–1984 One Day at a Time Ann Romano 208 episodes
TV Land Award - Innovator Award (2012)
Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (1982)
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (1982-1983)
Nominated -TV Land Award - The "She Works Hard for the Money" Award (Favorite Working Mom) (2007)
Nominated -TV Land Award - Mad Ad Man (or Woman) of the Year (2008)
1977 The Love Boat Stacy Skogstad Episode: "The Captain and the Lady/One If by Land/Centerfold"
1978 Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue Co-Host Television special
1978 A Guide for the Married Woman Shirley TV movie
1979 Breaking Up Is Hard to Do Gail TV movie
1980 Portrait of a Rebel: The Remarkable Mrs. Sanger Margaret Sanger TV movie
1983 Your Place... or Mine Alexandra TV movie
1987 Sister Margaret and the Saturday Night Ladies Sister Margaret TV movie
1992 Hearts Are Wild Gloria McKenzie Episode: "The Catch"
1994 Burke's Law Theresa St. Claire Episode: "Who Killed the Soap Star?"
1996 Almost Perfect Mary Ryan 2 episodes: "Moving In: Part 1" and "Moving In: Part 2"
2000 Touched by an Angel Carol Anne Larkin Episode: "Reasonable Doubt"
2005 The One Day at a Time Reunion Herself Television special
2011 Hot in Cleveland Agnieszka Episode: "Bad Bromance"
2012 The Young and the Restless Sister Celeste 11 episodes, (final appearance)
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