A talented actress, but did she ever give anyone laughs? My recollection is that she was the straight woman to Schnieder and the two daughters.
^ Sometimes it's the straight man's/woman's reactions that are the funniest part of a routine. She didn't do much after One Day, did she? Though more than I would remember before.
I watched the first couple seasons late last year and that show was fucked up. Everytime you thought that someone was going to get a happily ever after, a meteor would come out of no where and frakk every one over.
Which I don't recall to be the case here. Generally, I remember her part as the serious single mom handling the "very special" aspects of the show, with the laughs coming from Schneider and the younger daughter.
Back then comedies were more seriocomic and she was solid as a parent doing her best. Like Michael Gross/Meredith Baxter on Family Ties, or Mr. Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes she was part of the family foundation of the shows not necessarily the laugh makers. Always hard when one of the people dies from a show you grew up on, makes you feel the passage of time. I don't know if I've seen it since but it was one of the staple shows when I was a kid.
I'm the same age as Valerie Bertinelli. Aside from having the big teen crush on her (which endures to this day) the big draw to that show was that Bonnie Franklin was braless.
She worked a lot in theater, both prior to and following the TV series. You might want to re-watch. A recurring Ann Romano response would involve her beginning to speak in reply to Schneider or one of the daughters, then catching herself; you'd watch her face as she mentally ran through the consequences of saying whatever it was, the slow smile as she decided "Nope, not gonna fall for that - not even going to touch it," and turned away.
I loved One Day at a Time when I was a kid. Ann Romano was a good role model --she was smart, independent, funny, and a great parent.
I love One Day At A Time - all of it that I've seen anyway. Great cast, great theme song... definitely sorry to hear of Franklin's passing. It should be a good thing that we live in a world where we can say "69 is too young to die" but somehow, it just makes it more sad to me.