Bonnie Franklin

Bonnie Franklin found fame amidst a shift in American culture with her leading role on the popular sitcom "One Day at a Time" (CBS, 1975-1984), where she portrayed one of the first single mothers in primetime - certainly one of the first to anchor a television show. A child star in her days growing up in Southern California, she went on to win a flurry teen roles in 1960s television before finding more secure footing in the theater, notably via a two-year, award-winning run in the Broadway musical "Applause" in the early 1970s. In 1975, she took the role of single mother Ann Romano, who must raise two teenage daughters on "One Day at a Time," one of producer Norman Lear's library of shows seeking to morph the long-squeaky clean sitcom format to a more real-world feel. The show's long run drew enough limelight to win her a variety of made-for-TV movie projects, but would ultimately leave her typecast as "sitcom mom" and make further screen work hard to come by. Franklin returned to television for the infrequent guest appearance, ramped up her stage work in the late 1990s and, in the early 2000s, founded an organization that marshaled well-known actors to participate in a live theater program for L.A.-area students. Still, for many American television viewers, Franklin would always be the brassy, indefatigable mom able to face down the pitfalls of American family life all on her own.