Bonnie Franklin, star of TV’s “One Day at a Time,” died Friday at her home in Los Angeles, suffering complications from the pancreatic cancer she had revealed in September. The actress was 69.
Later Friday, her sitcom daughters shared their thoughts online.
Valerie Bertinelli, who played the younger of divorced mom Ann Romano’s kids on the long-running show, said simply on Twitter, “My heart is breaking.” She included a snapshot of herself with Franklin.
She continued on her website.
“Bonnie has always been one of the most important women in my life and was a second mother to me,” Bertinelli wrote. “The years on ‘One Day At A Time’ were some of the happiest of my life, and along with Pat [Harrington Jr.] and Mackenzie [Phillips] we were a family in every way. She taught me how to navigate this business and life itself with grace and humor, and to always be true to yourself. I will miss her terribly.”
“Remembering my friend. Rest in peace. Bonnie Franklin,” tweeted Mackenzie Phillips, who too posted a picture of herself with her onscreen mom.
When Franklin herself was a youngster, her parents enrolled her in acting classes.
“I was a bookworm, and my mom felt I should get out of myself,” she told The Times in a 1987 interview. “My four brothers and sisters also had lessons, but I’m the only one who took them seriously.”
It was a path that would lead Franklin to one Emmy nomination, one Tony nod and two Golden Globe nominations, from her career on Broadway as well as on the small screen, most notably on “One Day at a Time,” which ran from 1975 to 1984.
h/t LA Times
