Bonnie Gail Franklin was born on 6th January 1944, in Santa Monica, California USA, and was a Golden Globe, Emmy and Tony Award-nominated actress best known to the world as Ann Romano in the TV series “One Day at a Time” (1975-1985), and for her roles in films “The Law” (1974), and “A Guide for the Married Woman” (1978), among other differing roles. Her career started in 1952 and ended in 2013. Bonnie passed away in 2013.
Have you ever wondered how rich Bonnie Franklin was, at the time of her death? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Franklin’s net worth is as high as $1 million, an amount earned through her successful career as an actress.
Bonnie Franklin Net Worth $1 Million
Bonnie was of mixed ancestry; her mother, Claire is originally from Romania, while her father Samuel Benjamin Franklin, is from Russia; both parents were Jewish. Bonnie had two brothers and two sisters.
The whole family moved to Beverly Hills in the late ‘50s, and Bonnie went to Beverly Hills High School, matriculating in 1961, and then enrolling at Smith College, and made an appearance in the musical “Good News”, by Amherst College. However, she then moved back to California, and enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1966.
Bonnie was first introduced to television when she was only nine years old, appearing in “The Colgate Comedy Hour”., after which she made an uncredited appearance in the film “The Wrong Man”, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. After that she made several more appearances on screen, including in “A Summer Place” (1959), “Mr. Novak” (1964), “You’re the Judge” (1965), “The Man from “U.N.C.L.E.” (1965), and then in 1970 made her Broadway debut in the musical “Applause”, for which she earned a Tony Award nomination. After that she continued to appear in theater throughout her career, and made appearances in such productions as “George M!”, “A Thousand Clowns”, “Carousel”, “Annie Get Your Gun”, “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune”, “Steel Magnolias”, “Toys in the Attic”, and “Broadway Bound”, among many others, all of which increased her net worth.
She also stayed active on screen, and during the ‘70s landed some of her most successful roles; in 1974 she portrayed Bonnie Stone in John Badham’s drama film “The Law” next to Judd Hrisch and John Beck, and the same year she was selected to portray Ann Romano in the TV series “One Day at a Time” (1974-1985). She continued with roles in films “A Guide for the Married Woman” (1978), and “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” (1979), which only added to her net worth. Just before she began to feel ill, Bonnie was selected to appear in Joan Didion’s one-woman play “The Year of Magical Thinking”, but had to abandon the play.
Up until 1987 she didn’t have any major role on screen, then she played Sister Margaret in the TV movie “Sister Margaret and the Saturday Night Ladies”. She became more focused on her career in theater, and had only a few brief roles during the ‘90s and 2000s in TV series such as “Burke’s Law” (1994), “Almost Perfect” (1996), and “Touched by an Angel” (2000). Before her death she appeared in 11 episodes of the soap opera “The Young and the Restless” (2012).
Regarding her personal life, Bonnie was married firstly to Ronald Sossi (1967-70). Ten years later she married Marvin Minoff, remaining together until Marvin’s death in 2009.
Bonnie was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September 2012, and passed away in March the next year. Her mother outlived her, and also her brothers and sisters. Her remains are interred next to her second husband at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
TV Land Innovator Award, Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Performances
Nominations
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy, TV Land "She Works Hard for the Money" Award, TV Land Mad Ad Man (or Woman) of th...
Movies
A Guide for the Married Woman, Invisible Diplomats, Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue, I Hate to Exercise, I Love to Tap, The Law
TV Shows
One Day at a Time
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Trademark
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Her freckles.
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Deep sultry voice.
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Short stature
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Short red hair and blue eyes
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Quote
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[On theatre acting] I started on the stage. That's where I'm comfortable. That's where I'm the most happiest. It's a totally different technique on film. I just know that (the stage) is where I'm able to do it best. And because of that, I'm happier in this thing.
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[1981] I'm not working with insensitive men. But the men who produce and write the show still don't believe me when I present them with the women's point of view. After seven years, I just want to say, 'C'mon guys, I'm an intelligent person, why don't you just trust me?' I'm so tired of fighting. But you can't give up.
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[re 'One Day' show, 1980:] I know it's just a television show, and I don't think that I am changing the way the world is structured [but] sometimes we strike chords that do make people think a bit.
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It's been pretty much 50-50 between the acting and the singing. The stuff I've done on stage has been so bloody exciting. The roles are just extraordinary. To play a person who is drunk, or angry, or English, or blind, to have that kind of stretch--when you're over 40, that's the exact time of the really great, meaty roles for women in theater. It's a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of that part of the business.
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[as to whether she knew that One Day at a Time (1975) was going to be a hit or not]: As soon as we went on the air we started receiving a lot of letters. The letters were saying, 'This is my life. This is what I'm going through. This is what my mother is like.' And so we pretty quickly got the idea that we were touching something.
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[In 2004, she reviewed clips from One Day at a Time (1975)] "When I looked at the tapes, I remember thinking how thin I looked. At the time, I was always saying, 'I need to lose weight, I need to lose 10 pounds'."
One year after her own death, her mother, Claire Franklin, who lived to be 102, died on 7 June 2014.
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Long lives ran in her family.
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Step-mother of Jef Minoff and Julie Minoff.
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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). [July 1997]
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Appeared in "Double Act", with Keir Dullea, at American State Festival, Milford, CT. [July 1998]
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Performing in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", at the Public Theater, Pittsburgh, PA. [March 1999]
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Performing the role of "Gloria" in "Grace and Glorie", at the Helen Hayes Theatre in Nyack, NY. [March 1998]
Is buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California beside her husband.
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In 2001, she and her sister, Judy Franklin Bush, founded the nonprofit "Classic and Contemporary American Plays", an organization that introduces great American plays to inner-city schools' curriculum.
$1 Million
