Bonnie Franklin, best known for playing Ann Romano on the hit CBS sitcom One Day At A Time, has died at the age of 69.
Born in Santa Monica, CA, Franklin had gotten her start as an actress at the young age of 9, when she appeared on the popular program The Colgate Comedy Hour during the 1950s. She had done some theater work in the early part of her career as well. It wasn’t until landing the main role on One Day At A Time in 1975 that she found success.
That program, produced by Norman Lear, responsible for some of the adult-themed shows of the era (All in the Family, Maude, Sanford and Son to name a few), showed the divorced Ann Romano, played expertly and headstrong by Franklin, raising two teenagers and all the trials and tribulations being a struggling single mom looking to raise the two kids and all the various growing pains they go through. Valerie Bertinelli and Mackenzie Phillips played the younger and older daughters respectively. Pat Harrington Jr. played the wise-cracking yet respectful janitor with a heart of gold Schneider.
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