One Day at a Time; actress Bonnie Franklin dead at 69

USPA News - Actress Bonnie Franklin, best known as the petite redhead and single mother of two teenage girls on the 70s and 80s television comedy "One Day at a Time," died Friday at her home in California after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 69. Franklin died at her home in Los Angeles while surrounded by family members and a number of friends, according to a brief statement released by her family through CBS. It said she died of complications from pancreatic cancer which had been diagnosed in September 2012. Born in 1944 in Santa Monica, Franklin`s career spanned over 60 years, making her television debut at age nine on the comedy-musical variety series "The Colgate Comedy Hour."

She continued as a young teen on television shows such as "Gidget," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E," and "The Munsters." But she was best known for her role as Ann Romano on the long-running CBS hit television series "One Day at a Time," helping define and illuminate the role of single working mothers within the cultural landscape. For nine seasons, the Norman Lear produced show ranked among the top performers and catapulted Franklin into worldwide prominence. Throughout her lengthy career, Franklin starred in more than 30 television series and telefilms as well as numerous theatrical productions such as "Grace & Glorie," "Frankie & Johnny in the Claire de Lune," "Who`s Afraid of Virginia Woolf," "All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten," "2 Across," and "Steel Magnolias." Franklin married producer Marvin Minoff in 1980 and they were together for 29 years until his death in November 2009. "Their love of the theater, traveling, spending time with family and friends as well as sharing in the joy of their grandchildren provided them with a lifetime of happiness," the family said in their statement on Friday. A private memorial for Franklin will be held next week and her family has asked, in lieu of flowers, to make donations to Classic and Contemporary American Plays (C-C-A-P) to continue her legacy and love of theater. She is survived by, among others, her mother Claire Franklin and step children Jed Minoff and Julie Minoff.