Bonnie Franklin, 'One Day at a Time' Star, Dies

Television and Broadway actress Bonnie Franklin died on Friday at her Los Angeles home from pancreatic cancer, reports the Hollywood Reporter. She was 69.

Emmy nominated for her role as the bubbly redheaded single mom Ann Romano on One Day at a Time, Franklin co-starred with Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli, who played her two daughters.

Throughout its nine-year run, starting in 1975, the CBS dramedy tackled risque subjects like teen runaways, birth control, and suicide.

“As soon as we went on the air we started receiving a lot of letters,” Franklin stated. “The letters were saying, ‘This is my life. This is what I’m going through. This is what my mother is like.’ And so we pretty quickly got the idea that we were touching something.”

One Day at a Time was consistently a top-rated show, according to Nielsen ratings, and also made headlines when Phillips was written off the show for her drug abuse.

Among her other TV credits, Franklin appeared on various sitcoms like Gidget, The Love Boat, and Touched By an Angel. She also recently reunited with co-star Bertinelli as a guest star on Hot in Cleveland.

Off screen, Franklin was a seasoned cabaret performer and in 1970, was nominated for a Tony Award for her role in the Broadway musical Applause, in which she played a gypsy.