It has been 21 years since the final episode of Fran Drescher’s The Nanny aired on TV, and it is still one of the most iconic sitcoms of all time.
The show — which still airs re-runs regularly on cable TV — has managed to reach and impact two younger generations of people. And yet, there is still so much about Fran that fans don’t know!
1. She survived cancer.
She was initially diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2000.
“It was strange — and kind of poetic — that my reproductive organs, of all things, had cancer,” she told USA Today . “But it was also an amazing affirmation that pain finds its way to exactly the right place in the body if you don’t deal with it.”
“Since I hadn’t been paying attention to my own vulnerabilities, my pain from the rape lodged itself in my uterus.”
“No one else around me had cancer. That was a rude awakening.”
She underwent a radical hysterectomy that same year and has been living cancer-free for the last 20 years .
2. Before being diagnosed with uterine cancer, eight different doctors misdiagnosed her.
It took Fran two whole years and eight doctors before finally learning that she had cancer.
She told Healthy Women , that although she had been experiencing typical symptoms of uterine cancer, several doctors were still challenging the idea that she actually had it.
3. She was a part of the Broadway re-make of *Cinderella*.
Fran took to Broadway in April 2015, playing the iconic role of Cinderella’s wicked stepmother.
She revealed to Variety that the producers of the show sent her the script because they felt the demographic of viewers would be the same The Nanny ‘s, and it was an offer she couldn’t refuse!
4. She finds acting in plays to be more difficult than acting on-screen.
“The difference is you’re really flying without a net. There’s no take two. If you screw up or miss a line or say the wrong line, somehow you have to navigate your way back to get back in to where you’re supposed to be,” she told Variety .
“Things go wrong all the time for you, for other people. It’s live! Therein lies the rub,” she went on.
” Theater is almost like zen meditation. You must be very focused on what you’re doing, because if you start thinking about something else, you’re going to go up on the lines, and you can’t do that. When you meditate, the whole objective is to bring your focus to one point, to be single-minded.”
5. Her first acting gig was a root beer commercial.
She told Hot Spot Magazine that her first acting job was a root beer commercial, followed by a McDonald’s commercial, and then she got her first big break in the film, Saturday Night Fever .
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6. She created the show *The Nanny*.
“I created the show, and executive produced it with my partner Peter Jacobson. It was an amazing opportunity and something I am still very grateful for,” she told Hot Spot Magazine .
“Prior to that I did a pilot that didn’t get picked up, so I decided to the South of France till next pilot season,” she continued.
“I was the plane going to France when the president of CBS walked in and I started to talk to him, and the rest was history. ..I am a carpe diem type of girl….I persuaded him to hear my brand of comedy…and the rest is history!”
7. She is still close friends with the cast of *The Nanny*.
While it has been 21 years since the final episode of The Nanny aired, Fran has managed to keep in touch and stay close friends with the entire cast.
She revealed to Hot Spot Magazine that they frequently go out for dinners and chat on the phone.
8. She loves to sing.
She revealed in an interview with Variety that even though she isn’t a professional singer by any definition, she still loves to sing for fun, and would definitely consider being a part of a musical .
9. She is a big advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.
“Gay people have always been in my life. Once you get more enmeshed in the arts you become such good friends with all different people, and they become important to you,” she told Hot Spot Magazine .
“Gender and orientation blended. I was always the one that went the extra mile for the underdog, I think everyone should be treated equally.”
“My dad used to always say ‘It’s nice to be nice.'”
10. She loves Cardi B.
In an interview on _ The Real Daytime_ , Fran revealed that she is so flattered that she has been able to make a fan out of Cardi B and she is also a fan of hers as well.
In fact, she would even consider casting Cardi to star in a reboot of the show!
11. She was told she would never have a career in Hollywood because of her voice.
“I did have like, a high school teacher that said you know, ‘You’re never gonna work with that voice. You have to learn how to speak like a normal person,” she said in an interview with BUILD Series .
“And years later when I was on The Nanny and they interviewed my parents, they asked my parents if when I was a little kid, did it seem like I had a strange voice and my mom — in almost the exact same voice said, ‘We never knew she had a funny voice.'”
