‘One Day at a Time’s’ Bonnie Franklin dead at 69

CBS News New York is reporting that actress Bonnie Franklin, best known for playing the mom to TV daughters Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli on “One Day at a Time,” has died today, March 1. Bonnie Franklin was 69.

Bonnie Franklin often said she had trouble convincing people she was Jewish because of her red hair and freckles, although that coloring and a slight resemblance got her the role of understudy to Sandy Duncan in the 1968 off-Broadway production of “Your Own Thing.”

Two years later, Franklin made her Broadway debut in the musical “Applause” alongside Lauren Bacall. Ironically enough, her character’s name was Bonnie and she won a Tony Award for that performance.

She really hit her stride, though, as Ann Romano, the tough, divorced, single mom of two teenage girls on “One Day at a Time” which ran for nine seasons, most of those seasons rating in the Top 20.

Bonnie Franklin made a few appearances on “The Young and the Restless” and “Hot in Cleveland” on TV Land. “Hot in Cleveland” reunited her with “One Day at a Time” daughter Valerie Bertinelli, a regular on the show.

Bonnie Franklin was married to producer Marvin Minoff until his death in 2009. Sadly, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September of 2012, a disease that does not have a good survival rate in the first year.

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