The star of “The Nanny,” a 1990s series, believes the program was a great success for transcending culture and religion.
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Fran Drescher, who in the 1990s played an openly Jewish character in “The Nanny,” believes the series owes its success to transcending culture and religion. For the 66-year-old actress, despite the rise in antisemitism, the show would still be popular today.
In an interview with Page Six, Drescher discussed why she believes the sitcom, aired from 1993 to 1999, was so popular: “I think everyone identified with that program.” According to her, the series “transcended religion.”
The actress also highlighted the success of “The Nanny” in Muslim countries: “It was huge throughout the Middle East,” she added. “In all Arab nations, Jordan, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.”
The beloved TV character, nanny Fran Fine, would have been Italian if it were up to the network bosses, but Drescher fought for her to be Jewish: “I was the first Jewish actress to star in a prime-time series playing an openly Jewish character since 1948, when Gertrude Berg starred in ‘The Goldbergs.’ With ‘The Nanny,’ they said they could sell the show to more sponsors if the character were Italian and not Jewish.”
Drescher recounted that she and her then-husband and production partner, Peter Marc Jacobson, resisted changing the character’s background and insisted she should be Jewish: “I don’t like living with regrets,” she said. “And I don’t want to rush into something to get the job, and if it doesn’t work out or fails, I’ll kick myself thinking, ‘Why didn’t we follow our instincts? Why didn’t we listen to them?'”
This content was created with the help of AI.
