Actress Bonnie Franklin dead at 69 from cancer

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

LOS ANGELES | Fri Mar 1, 2013 1:05pm EST

(Reuters) - Actress Bonnie Franklin, who starred as the harried single mother of two teenage girls on the 1970s and '80s television comedy "One Day at a Time," died on Friday at age 69 due to complications from pancreatic cancer, the CBS network said.

Franklin, a petite redhead, was best known for her role as divorcee Ann Romano on the show, which debuted in December 1975 and ran for nine seasons on CBS. It co-starred Valerie Bertinelli and Mackenzie Phillips as her two head-strong daughters.

(Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/01/entertainment-us-bonniefranklin-idUSBRE9200V420130301

[warrior1]

1. Rest in peace.

[Taverner]

2. Fucking cancer....

I am sick and tired of cancer taking us away way too young


RIP Bonnie

[hlthe2b]

3. I was just thinking about her, after her announcing she had pancreatic cancer a short time back....

So very sad... RIP, Ms. Franklin

[adieu]

4. So she was almost 70

when she died and forty years ago (or about that), she played a mom with two teenage kids. How does that work? A 30-something with two teenage kids? Was the backstory that she had kids when she was 15?

[closeupready]

6. I think the story was that she had gotten a divorce.

[Rhiannon12866]

46. I remember more than one episode where her ex came to visit, character actor Joseph Campanella

I thought something was off, but I looked him up and he was born in 1927, age difference of 17 years!

[upaloopa]

8. Actors play a range of ages.

[indie_voter]

16. Right? Angela Lansbury played Elvis's mother in Blue Hawaii

She was about 10 years older in real life.

I used to watch One Day at a Time every week. I'm so sorry to hear the news. My condolences to her friends and family.

[SheilaT]

17. She also played Lawrence Harvey's mother

in The Manchurian Candidate. She was three years older than he was.

[Kolesar]

27. Ann Bancroft was only a few years older than Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate"

Her tragic role in her loveless marriage was written masterfully.
"My husband and I sleep in different bedrooms"

[graham4anything]

33. Anne Bancroft played the role great, sadly she died from cancer too

and Rest in peace to Bonnie Franklin.

however, timeline wise, she would have been 31 when the show started, Valerie was 15, and
my favorite from the show, MacKenzie Phillips 16, so there is no reason it couldn't have happened.

currently on tv-
Judith Light is just 3 years older than Nick Pileggi on Dallas continuation, 2012/2013

[Kolesar]

36. My grandmother was 15 when my mother was born

And both of them lamented having kids

[graham4anything]

38. it's funny

my mother in law was quite young and my wife is her oldest
She was much different when I first met her back in 75 and it was weird, almost like
an older sister than a mother in law(though nowadays she is no longer that person but quite the opposite since President Obama took office).

Bonnie Franklin was a child star btw. She was in a very small role in Hitchcock's Wrong Man
(the one starring Henry Fonda.).
As I watch AntennaTV station, recently saw her on the Gidget episodes she was on.

The shows in the 1970s really were a world apart from those today.
(even if some of those shows got silly as the years went on, the basic premise of those shows still stood out).

[StevieM]

40. The show went on the air in 1975. The story was (roughly speaking)

that she got married when she was 17. I believe she got pregnant right away and had Julie when she was 18. Barbara was two years younger than Julie, coming when Ann was 20. Her ex-husband was 10 years older than her, 27 when they got married. Ann was supposed to be about 34 when the show first went on the air.

So the character of Ann was born in 1941. Bonnie Franklin (according to Wikipedia) was born in January 1944. Not an unreasonable stretch.

[adieu]

41. Ok, so the backstory

does fit with the ages of the characters, more or less.

[AngryOldDem]

44. The backstory.

Ann Romano (Franklin's character) had married pretty much out of high school, and quickly had two kids. She divorced while in her 30s and moved herself and her kids to Indianapolis to begin a new life.

Pretty groundbreaking stuff for the '70s. Before The Mary Tyler Moore show started it was discussed that Mary Richards would be a divorcee, but that was considered to be too risque.

I enjoyed One Day At A Time. I have the first season on DVD, and sadly, unlike The Mary Tyler Moore Show, it hasn't held up well over time.

[MADem]

45. the mom married young and divorced. Have a kid at 19,

and that kid becomes a teenager when you are in your early thirties. Do the math! She didn't have to be fifteen!

FWIW, the show debuted in 1975, per IMDB. Wiki has a fairly extensive exposition of the plot twists and turns down the years. I saw the show a few times when I was in USA, but I was gone for most of these years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Day_at_a_Time

[TheDebbieDee]

48. Annie Romano character was a woman learning to cope with

everyday life on her own after marrying and having two kids and being a stay-at-home mom right after high school.

The show was about how she learned to take care of herself and her kids, learned jobs skills and other life skills and coped with her daughters' teenage crises......

[closeupready]

5. Aw, that sucks.

She was terrific in ODAAT.

Just a reminder to the rest of us, I guess, that we need to live our lives for US - i.e., you need to live your life for you, not for your parents, nor for your church, not for some flying spaghetti monster.

[hrmjustin]

7. RIP Bonnie!

[Archae]

9. One episode I really remember... (1976)

Schenider (the repair guy at the apartement building) had a young nephew who was stealing stuff while helping out.

The actor?

Mark Hammill.

[SunSeeker]

11. Holy crap. That's Mark Hammill now?! That makes me feel really old. nt

[graham4anything]

34. Mark was in a very serious car accident many years back now.

He is about to get even richer in the next Star Wars movie as they are saying all 3 are coming back (so it would be Star Wars 7).

[SunSeeker]

35. The car that hit him is called old age.

Yes, he was in a very serious car accident back after the first Star Wars movie came out, leaving his face with scars and slightly changing his look, as evident in the subsequent episodes. But that is nothing compared to what age did.

Age is a cruel, cruel thing. But it sure beats the alternative.

[Cooley Hurd]

37. He had to have extensive recontructive surgery after the accident...

Scars never age well.

[xxqqqzme]

10. I just looked

up One Day at a Time on Wikipedia a few nights ago, was wondering if Pat Harrington was still around (he is at 83).

Safe passage, Ms Franklin.

[Jimbo S]

21. Recently

he had a cameo in "Hot In Cleveland", which stars Ms. Bertinelli.

[PSPS]

39. Pat Harrington

One of his roles before One Day At A Time was in the hilarious 1967 Theodore J. Flicker movie, "The President's Analyst." He played the role of "Arlington Hewes" who was the "President of TPC." (TPC = The Phone Company)

[Nictuku]

12. She reminded me of my own mother

.... I was raised by a single mother, a redhead. So this hit close to home for me in a sad way. It will make me appreciate my mother (more than I already do), who is now 72. May she continue to be healthy and in my life. RIP Bonnie

[Kolesar]

28. That's a sweet message

The 1970s seem like a whole world away to me.

[yourout]

13. That sucks....I loved one Day at a Time. Had a huge crush on Valerie B and Bonnie Franklin as well.

[TopHatCat]

22. I was about to write the same...

I have fond memories of watching One Day at a Time as a kid and had a crush on both Valerie Bertinelle and Bonnie Franklin. My best wishes to her family.

[mac56]

14. She was extraordinarly talented.

I didn't care for the show, and I thought her skills were badly underutilized.

[Beacool]

15. I'm so sorry to hear about her passing.

I wasn't aware that she was ill. I used to enjoy her show as a kid.

Rest in peace, Bonnie.

[loudsue]

18. I hate it when an article does not even have a picture of the deceased.

If I knew how to post a picture to DU, I'd do it myself. But I don't know how.

Bonnie Franklin was a favorite for many years.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. That was a breakthrough role.

Divorce was creating tons of single moms nationwide.

This show was the first one that showed that single moms could make it.

The "man of the house" was a complete joke:

[Kolesar]

26. "Mizz Romano"

The building super was great.
The show had many great characters.

[underpants]

50. That and "Alice" were groundbreaking shows

single moms. As the son of a single mom I appreciated seeing something like my life on TV. I had no idea at the time I just thought it was "normal" it was how we were. It is and was normal and thank you Bonnie for bringing it into people's homes.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

51. "Alice" had it's joke character too....

And the "man of the house" was a gravel voiced unappealing boss.



In a way, the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" had a similar message. A single woman could make it without a man.

[DainBramaged]

20. Shit

The good fight is not enough when it comes to pancretic cancr.

Rest in peace Bonnie, rest in peace.

[Ilsa]

23. She recently had a small part as a nun

working in the real world, running a homeless shelter, on The Young and The Restless. She did a great job.

Rest in peace, "Mom."

[Third Doctor]

24. RIP Bonnie

[Gidney N Cloyd]

25. RIP. We'll 'Always Remember and Never Forget' you.

[BumRushDaShow]

29. Oh no. R.I.P.

Used to watch that show.

Thank you for an entertaining performance as the "hip Mom".

[MuseRider]

30. Awww, may she rest in peace.

Her character was an inspiration to those of us who were out of high school, looking around about what we could do not what was expected of us....marriage and putting up with whatever you had to to keep the family functioning. It was good to see a push to show the world that women could do it.

She was adorable and today I am sad that this happened to her. My father died of this disease in 1973, I hope it was easier for her than it was for him.

[leftynyc]

31. RIP MS. Romano

A terrific show.

[wandy]

32. Some things make you feal old. Bonnie, may you have peace.

[Ken Burch]

42. I will always admire her for playing Margaret Sanger in a tv movie on CBS.

And she was there for Mackenzie Phillips when Mackenzie told the world what her dad had done to her.

Be free now, Ms. Franklin. Your suffering is over.

[blaze]

43. Survived by her 101 yo mother!!

Just heard that reported on ET.

Wow.

[Rowdyboy]

47. I had such a crush on her before I admitted to myself I was gay....I really thought Bonnie was hot

Rest in peace old friend

[Jokerman]

49. I got to work with her in 1986 on a congressional campaign.

I was working for a democratic congressional campaign in North-Central Indiana and she spent a couple of days volunteering for the campaign. She spoke at a fund-raiser then helped us canvas a couple of neighborhoods.

She was a very nice person and very liberal.

[Arugula Latte]

52. That's good to know. Thanks for that.

RIP, Bonnie.