Fran Drescher
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Francine Joy Drescher (born in Flushing, New York, on September 30, 1956) is an American actress.
She was a studious girl and was quite popular. In fact, at age fifteen she'd met the man she thought she'd spend the rest of her life with. That man was Peter Marc Jacobson. Her first break was a bit part in the unforgettable movie, Saturday Night Fever (1977).
In 1985, robbers ransacked Drescher's apartment and raped her and one of her girlfriends. It took her many years to overcome this obstacle, and it took her even longer to admit this to the press. She was paraphrased as saying in an interview with Larry King that although it was a very negative experience, she found ways to chalk her experience into something positive; she saw her rapist sent to prison.
She continued to play small roles in movies, until she came up with the idea for The Nanny. She was visiting a friend in England and came up with the plotline. The show aired on CBS from 1993 to 1999, becoming an instant success, and so did Fran. In this sitcom she played a charming and bubbly young girl, named Fran Fine, who casually become the nanny of three children; with her wit and her charm she made love her their father, a composed Broadway producer, named Maxwell Sheffield (played by Charles Shaughnessy). As Fran Fine, Fran Drescher displayed an innate comedic talent, and a great sense of humour.
Her voice is a combination of a high nasal pitch and a New York/Jewish accent that many people find unpleasant, although others (including her first husband) found it endearing. In her autobiography Drescher discusses the fact that this is, in fact, her real voice, and the many voice lessons she has had to take to overcome it for movie auditions (only to have it end up being her trademark).
During her TV experience, she also appeared in a number of films, including Jack (1996), directed by Francis Ford Coppola, The Beautician and the Beast (1997) (which she also executive produced) and Picking Up the Pieces (2000) co-starring Woody Allen. In 1999 Fran divorced her husband, Peter Marc Jacobson.
Fran Drescher 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. She wrote about her experiences in the book Cancer Schmancer, an inspiring story of perseverance in the face of overwhelming obstacles.
In 2005 she returned on TV with the sitcom Living with Fran, in which she played Fran Reeves, a charming middle-age woman living with Riley Martin, a guy barely older than her son.
Filmography
- Saturday Night Fever (1977)
- American Hot Wax (1978)
- Gorp (1980)
- The Hollywood Knights (1980)
- Ragtime (1981)
- Doctor Detroit (1983)
- The Rosebud Beach Hotel (1984)
- This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
- Young Lust (1984)
- It Had to Be You (1989)
- UHF (1989)
- The Big Picture (1989)
- Wedding Band (1990)
- Cadillac Man (1990)
- We're Talking Serious Money (1992)
- Car 54, Where Are You? (1994)
- Jack (1996)
- The Beautician and the Beast (1997) (also executive producer)
- Kid Quick (2000) (short subject)
- Picking Up the Pieces (2000)
- Santa's Slay (2005)
TV Work
- Stranger in Our House (1978)
- Charmed Lives (1986) (canceled after 4 months)
- Rock 'n' Roll Mom (1988)
- What's Alan Watching? (1989)
- Love and Betrayal (1989)
- Princesses (1991) (canceled after 7 episodes)
- Without Warning: Terror in the Towers (1993)
- The Nanny (1993-1999)
- The Nanny Christmas Special: Oy to the World (1995) (voice)
- Living with Fran (2005-present) (also executive producer)
External links & references
- http://frans-fine.cjb.net/
- http://home.frognet.net/~ritchie/hrenterwinning.htm
- http://imdb.com/name/nm0000376/
Fran Drescher Online