| Bonnie Franklin | |
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Bonnie Franklin Speaks to Crowd at March For Women's Lives, 2004 |
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| Born | Bonnie Gail Franklin January 6, 1944 Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress, director |
| Years active | 1953–present |
| Spouse | Marvin Minoff (1980-2009) (deceased) Ronald Sossi (1967-1970) (divorced) |
Bonnie Gail Franklin (born January 6, 1944) is an American actress, best known for her starring role in the television series One Day at a Time.
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Franklin was born in Santa Monica, California,[1] the daughter of Claire (née Hersch) and Samuel Benjamin Franklin, an investment banker.[2] Her parents were both immigrants, her father from Russia and her mother from Romania.[3] Her family moved to Beverly Hills when she was 13 years old,[4] and she graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1961.[5][6] She attended Smith College, performing in an Amherst College production of Good News as a freshman.[4] Later, she moved back to California to attend UCLA.[4]
She was married to playwright Ronald Sossi from 1967 to 1970 and to film producer Marvin Minoff from 1980 until his death in November 2009.[7][8] Minoff had been the executive producer of a television movie called Portrait of a Rebel: The Remarkable Mrs. Sanger, which starred Franklin as Margaret Sanger, before the couple wed in 1980.[9] Franklin and Minoff remained together for 29 years, until Minoff's death on November 11, 2009.[8]
Franklin has no children. Franklin has identified her religion as Jewish.[1][10]
In 2004, Franklin spoke to a crowd of hundreds of thousands of marchers at the March for Women's Lives in Washington DC.
Franklin first appeared on television at age 9 in The Colgate Comedy Hour.[4] As a small child, she later appeared in a non credited role in the Alfred Hitchcock film The Wrong Man. In the 1960s she portrays a teenage feature character in "You're the Judge", a short educational film about baking sponsored by Proctor & Gamble featuring the use of Crisco. She debuted on Broadway in 1970 in the musical Applause, earning a Tony Award nomination.[1] She appeared at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ, in "George M!" and in "A Thousand Clowns."
She is best known for her portrayal of divorced mother Ann Romano on the television situation comedy One Day at a Time (1975–1984).
Franklin has been a guest star on several television series, including The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ("The Gazebo in the Maze Affair" from 1965). She also played a semi-regular role in the ABC series Gidget. She directed several episodes of the 1980s sitcom Charles in Charge.
In 1988, she appeared at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pa., and at the Pocono Playhouse in Mountainhome, Pa., in the title role of "Annie Get Your Gun."
In 1988, she appeared with Tony Musante at the Westside Arts Theatre in Manhattan in "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune" by Terrence McNally.
(March 1999) Performing in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Public Theater, Pittsburgh, PA
(July 1998) Appears in Double Act with Keir Dullea, at the American Stage Festival, Milford, NH.
(March 1998) Performing the role of Gloria in Grace and Glorie at the Helen Hayes Theatre in Nyack, NY
(July 1997) Appears in Grace & Glorie as Gloria, Ogunquit Playhouse, Ogunquit, Maine, USA. (through 19 July); Cape Cod Playhouse, Dennis, Massachusetts, USA. (21 July to 3 August).
In 1997, she appeared at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC, in "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten."
(September 1999) Appears in For the Price of a Cup of Coffee as Leering Death in Schneider, Minnesota.
In 2005, she appeared with Bruce Weitz at the New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park, Kansas, in the comedy "2 Across."
(August-September 2011) Appears as Ouiser in "Steel Magnolias" at the Rubicon Theater in Ventura, Calif.
Franklin has appeared in nearly a dozen staged readings with Classic and Contemporary American Playwrights (CCAP) in the Los Angeles area for the last several years. During the 2006-2007 season, she appeared in Lillian Hellman's Toys in the Attic. More recently, she appeared in Neil Simon's Broadway Bound at the Pico Playhouse in January 2008. CCAP is devoted to reviving seldom seen works and presenting them to student audiences, to create a new audience for theatre.
Currently, Franklin has stated, the CCAP outreach program works with teachers at North Hollywood, Cleveland and King Drew Medical Magnet high schools. Working with the teachers in the English department, CCAP chooses works that will be incorporated into the curriculum and, before the presentation, gives a workshop at the school. Franklin's sister, Judy Bush, commented, "The teachers make all the difference." She mentioned that she is currently working with the Pasadena Arts Council in finding a local school to include.[11]