Valerie Bertinelli, star of “One Day At A Time” and “Touched By An Angel”, signing copies of “Finding It”.
* 10/30/09 7:00 PM at Indigo Books – Bloor Street. Toronto, Ontario.
* 11/4/09 7:00 PM at Vroman’s Books – East Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA.
* 11/16/09 6:00 PM at Barnes & Noble – Mall of America. Bloomington, MN.
Valerie Anne Bertinelli (born April 23, 1960) is an American actress, best known for her role as Bonnie Franklin’s daughter, Barbara Cooper Royer, on the television series “One Day at a Time”.
Career
Following her appearance in an episode of Apple’s Way, Bertinelli was approached by producer Norman Lear to audition for the role of cooperative daughter Barbara Cooper in a new sitcom called One Day at a Time. The show debuted in late 1975. For the show’s first season, Bertinelli was 15 and her character was written as a tomboy. The following year, in the show’s first full season, Bertinelli’s character was revised to be more appealing to a traditional male demographic. Bertinelli appeared in all but two episodes, remaining on the show until it was canceled in 1984. At one point, she and Franklin were involved in plans for a spin-off series, but it was never produced.
Two decades later, in 2005, during the One Day at a Time Reunion Special, Bertinelli was reunited with fellow cast members Bonnie Franklin, MacKenzie Phillips, and Pat Harrington, Jr. to watch memorable clips from the original show’s nine seasons. They talked about actors who had left the show as well as Phillips’ drug problem, which had wreaked havoc on the set and caused Phillips to be fired from the show.
After One Day at a Time, Bertinelli continued to act. In addition to starring in several made for TV movies and mini-series, she starred in two sitcoms in the 1990s, Sydney and Café Americain. In 2001, she joined the cast of Touched By An Angel, opposite Roma Downey and Della Reese, for the show’s last two seasons.
Bertinelli, who had struggled with weight issues over the years, has lost a total of 50 lb (23 kg) as of March 2009, and had become a spokesperson for the Jenny Craig weight-loss program. She appeared in several Jenny Craig commercials along with Kirstie Alley and other celebrity Jenny Craig participants.
Celebrities who promote such things as weight-loss programs are often perceived to be in professional decline. However, although Bertinelli is compensated for her Jenny Craig appearances, she has stated that she considers herself a health and weight-loss activist rather than a hired weight-loss spokesperson, and that she continues to receive proposals for more conventional acting work. In 2008 she released the autobiography, Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound At A Time, which culminates in a description of her Jenny Craig experience (the book’s title contains a wordplay on One Day at a Time). In 2009, she wrote a follow-up book Finding It: And Satisfying My Hunger for Life without Opening the Fridge.
Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen made a musical appearance on Michael Jackson’s Thriller album, with Bertinelli singing background and Eddie playing guitar on “Beat It.”
book signing source: http://www.geocities.com/leecoke/
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