Bonnie Franklin, who played divorced single mom Ann Romano for nine seasons on Norman Lear’s One Day at a Time, has died, according to the Associated Press and multiple reports. She was 69 and passed away due to complications from pancreatic cancer. Franklin’s Ms. Romano was part of a wave of strong female TV icons that rose up during the seventies and eighties: Maude Findlay, Alice Hyatt, Florida Evans, Mary Richards. What was special about One Day at a Time was that Franklin played a single mom by choice (she was one of the earliest small screen divorcees), and that the show never sugar-coated the challenges of raising kids solo. Those of us who grew up in the seventies being raised by single moms greatly appreciated Ms. Romano (and Franklin).
