kitano0 asked:
I thought Bonnie Franklin was so cute during One Day at a Time. Ken, can you tell us more about her?
We used Bonnie on two episodes of ALMOST PERFECT, playing the mother of Kim’s (Nancy Travis) boyfriend (Kevin Kilner).
She was an absolute delight. I was also lucky enough to direct those episodes (okay, full disclosure, I assigned them to myself).
But Bonnie was the consummate professional with a fun positive attitude. Her character disliked Nancy’s character at the beginning and eventually comes to appreciate her. So she had a real arc to play. There’s a long scene where the two are stuck together in an elevator and with cameras rolling before a studio audience they both nailed it in one take.
She was also a good sport because the actor hired to play her husband broke his contract and took a pilot after filming the first half of our two-parter. Yes, he was an asshole and so were his agents. (That’s a whole ‘other story.) So to film his later scenes we had to shoot out of order on different days and Bonnie accommodated us (which was not in her contract).
A few years later I put together a reading of a screenplay I had written. I got Bonnie to graciously play one of the parts. She was absolutely hilarious and it was a very different character than you’ve ever seen her play.
Her character had the world's foulest mouth, and hearing those words come out of Bonnie Franklin was a riot. One of my writer friends who attended said the highlight was seeing Bonnie Franklin swear.
She left us too soon. I loved Bonnie Franklin.
17 comments :
Great post! I loved Bonnie Franklin in ODAT!
Your post here inspires a Friday Question:
What is the most egregious unprofessional behavior you've seen from an actor, both a regular and guest star? How did you as a writer/showrunner/director deal with those kinds of situations?
Ken:
It was a pleasure to read your brief tribute to Bonnie Franklin. On a dank morning like this one, it's somehow reassuring to learn that such a likeable actress was also a trouper and nice person. Thanks.
Enjoyed reading your tribute to Bonnie Franklin. She was a unique presence on television in the 1970s. She didn't look, sound, or act like the TV moms that came before her. ODAAT doesn't get as much attention as other Norman Lear shows, but Bonnie Franklin as Ann Romano was groundbreaking.
FQ: Are there any sitcom cliches that you especially dislike, and are there any that never fail to make you laugh, no matter how often they're used?
Was Hallahan's pilot even picked up?
@kent - from IMDB, apparently not.
I'd love to hear more about that 'nother story.
I thought Bonnie was real good in "One Day At A Time" but the two daughters were scene stealers.
Applause, Applause...
Glad to hear that Bonnie was a nice person. There was an actress who was briefly a regular on ODAT playing a friend who bad-mouthed her after leaving the series. Sounds like real issue may have been the other actress.
"kent said...
Was Hallahan's pilot even picked up?"
Well, there's no series Post-ALMOST PERFECT on his IMDb resume, so I don't think so.
Ken must enjoy the Carpenter remake of THE THING, where Hallahan suffers a grotesque, hideous fate.
"That’s a whole ‘other story."
Okay. Next Friday?
Norman Lear "discovered" Bonnie Franklin on Broadway and described her as having a "wet face," which he said was perfect for TV.
"Dammit, Julie!" "Dammit, Barbara!"
Friday Question: in watching a lot of MeTV over the years, I noticed Paramount and MTM used supporting cast members or character actors on other shows a lot. Off the top of my head, Tom Hanks did Taxi, Happy Days, and Family Ties a few months after Bosom Buddies's cancellation. Another is Christopher Lloyd as an artist on Cheers.
Were actors simply kept in a "database" for different shows, or did producers keep actors like Tom in mind, since they were probably on the same soundstage at Paramount?
I would have liked to seen that play. I bet it was great
Mr. Hallahan died in November of 1997 so maybe his show was picked up but after he "checked out" it was cancelled. Looks like a few things he was in were released after his death....4 years after in one case. I remember him mostly from Dante's Peak where he met a grisly end also. Sad to hear he turned out to be an asshole, I enjoyed seeing him in most of the things he did.
Friday Question: Since I'm fed up with too many new mediocre tv series, I started watching classic Hollywood movies and fell in love with Billy Wilder and Ernst Lubitsch. Especially movies like THE LITTLE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER made me think: there are some classic sitcom setups, from the setting in a shop to the jokes about coworkers and the "this could be a romance" atmosphere. How much do you think do sitcoms owe to classic 30s and 40s movies, or is it all the (even older) theater comedies, where sitcoms (and, of course, those classic Hollywood comedies) got their shticks from?
During the pandemic lock-down I binge-watched a bunch of old shows as comfort-viewing, including Gidget(no judging, please). In addition to Sally Field's endearing performance, I was also tickled to see soon-to-be-stars make their appearance as Gidget's classmates, including Richard Dreyfuss and Bonnie Franklin. Baby, that show was the ginchiest!
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