Bonnie Franklin, 1944–2013

When television producer Norman Lear cast Bonnie Franklin, a pert redhead with a 100-watt smile, in his sitcom about a 1970s divorcée with teenage daughters, network executives complained that she looked too young for the part. Lear stood his ground. Franklin “ran very deep, and she was able to pull it off,” he said. “She brought a unique kind of wisdom, and wisdom in someone who looks that young is especially appealing.” Viewers agreed: One Day at a Time ran for nine seasons, from 1975 to 1984, and became immensely popular for bringing social realism into the mainstream.

What made the show work was Franklin’s performance as Ann Romano, “one of the first independent women to be portrayed on TV,” said The New York Times. Franklin brought “a buoyant, comic touch” to the role, even when her character was fighting her deadbeat ex-husband for child support. She pushed the show’s writers and producers to “take on issues like teenage pregnancy and avoid letting the show lapse into comic shtick.” Her performance won nominations for an Emmy and two Golden Globes.

Born in Santa Monica, Calif., Franklin took to acting and dancing early, said the Los Angeles Times. By age 9, she was tap dancing on TV, and soon landed guest roles on shows like Gidget. After studying at Smith College and UCLA, she got rave reviews for singing and dancing in the Broadway musical Applause. Throughout her career, Franklin did nightclub acts and took on a variety of TV parts, including as birth control activist Margaret Sanger, “a serious turn that Franklin described as one of her most significant.”

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But it was Franklin’s role in One Day at a Time “that enshrined her in the hearts of a new generation of single moms,” said The Washington Post. Her portrayal made women who had never before seen their lives reflected in television believe that “one could cobble a life out of anything, if your aim was true.”