Fran Drescher's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) The Nanny Fran Fine Happily Divorced Fran Living with Fran Fran Reeves Good Morning, Miami Roberta Diaz Princesses Melissa Kir…

Main Movie Roles

BIOGRAPHY:

Francine Joy Drescher (born September 30, 1957) is an American film and television actress, comedian, producer, and activist. She is best known for her role as Fran Fine in the hit TV series The Nanny, and for her nasal voice and thick New York accent.

Born in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York, the daughter of Sylvia, a bridal consultant, and Morty Drescher, a naval systems analyst. Her Ashkenazi Jewish family is of South-East and Central European origin. Her great-grandmother was born in Focșani, Romania, and had emigrated to the United States. She has an older sister, Nadine.

Drescher was a first runner-up for "Miss New York Teenager" in 1973, as revealed in her first autobiography Enter Whining released December 29, 1995, and on her interview on William Shatner's Raw Nerve, which first aired on January 27, 2009. She attended Hillcrest High School in Jamaica, Queens, where she met her future husband, Peter Marc Jacobson, whom she married in 1978, at age 21. They divorced (1999). Jacobson was Drescher's constant supporter in her show-business career, and he wrote, directed and produced her signature television series, The Nanny. Drescher graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1975; one of her classmates was comedian Ray Romano. Drescher's character Fran Fine on The Nanny and Romano's character Ray Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond met at a 20th high school reunion.

Drescher's first break was in the unforgettable movie, Saturday Night Fever (1977) with 'John Travolta'. She continued to play small roles in movies, until she came up with the idea for The Nanny (1993). She was visiting a friend in England and came up with the plot line. The Nanny became an instant success, and so did Derscher. Since then, she has been in films such as The Beautician and the Beast (1997) (which she also produced) and Picking Up the Pieces (2000) co-starring 'Woody Allen'.
She is a cancer survivor and an inspiration to women everywhere.


TRIVIA:

• Went to Hillcrest High School in Queens, New York with 'Ray Romano (I)' (qv).
• Earlier in her career, in an effort to get more roles as an actress, she once went to a professional to lose her nasal voice and thick New York accent. She was very successful in learning how to speak "normal", but couldn't get any work that way! By that point, people only wanted to hire if she used the "funny" voice. Meanwhile, it was the voice that made her famous years later.
• Became good friends with 'Dan Aykroyd' (qv) and 'Donna Dixon (I)' (qv), after co-starring with them in the 1983 film, _Doctor Detroit (1983)_ (qv).
• Endorsed Hanes' Smooth Illusions line of pantyhose in 1994, appearing in print and TV ads.
• The 1960s model 'Twiggy (I)' (qv) is a friend of her's and it was her interaction with Twiggy's children that was used as the basis for _"The Nanny" (1993)_ (qv).
• Has an older sister, Nadine.
• She was admitted to Los Angeles's Cedars Sinai Hospital on 21 June 2000, after doctors diagnosed her with uterine cancer. But emergency surgery caught it early as it was only at Stage 1 and she didn't have to have radiation or chemotherapy. She has been given a clean bill of health and no post-operative treatment has been ordered.
• Is of Eastern European descent.