Bonnie Franklin, who starred in "One Day at a Time" from 1975-1984, has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 69. The March 1 Washington Post has the obituary; she died today.
Born Bonnie Gail Franklin on Jan. 6, 1944, in Santa Monica, Calif., she got her start in acting with a small part in a 1958 Alfred Hitchcock film, “The Wrong Man.” She later got attention for her role in the 1970 Broadway musical, "Applause."
Franklin was married twice, and the second marriage to Marvin Minoff lasted 29 years until his death in 2009. She is survived by her mother, two stepchildren and two grandchildren.
Franklin was a cultural icon for divorced women at a time when it was still quite a new trend. Norman Lear produced the controversial show, decried by many as contributing to the breakdown of marriage and family that occurred during the 1970s.
The show featured Bonnie Franklin as Ann Romano, a single mother of two teenage girls, just getting on her feet after being a stay-at-home wife and mother. The show emphasized the value of an independent, working woman and denigrated the traditional married woman’s role which was the norm at the time. This show was one of several Norman Lear productions of the 1970s and they often focused on breaking with traditional norms.
Comments