In a recent interview with People magazine, Fran Drescher, the star of “The Nanny”, revealed that a real-life experience with a friend’s daughter inspired her to create the hit series.
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From 1993 to 1999, the 68-year-old Drescher played Fran Fine, the stylish and fun nanny who, with little experience, lands a job caring for three children from a wealthy family on New York’s Upper East Side.
According to the actress, the idea for the sitcom came during a trip to London with the 12-year-old daughter of model and actress Twiggy.
“I was visiting Twiggy in London — I had done that short series with her — and she and her husband were working,” she said, referring to the 1991 film “Princesses”.
“I ended up staying with their 12-year-old daughter, taking her all over London with me for company. And suddenly she says, ‘Hey, Fran, my new shoes are hurting me.’ And I think, ‘Why is she telling me this? Does she want me to take her home? Because I’m not ready yet,’” she told the publication.
According to Drescher, the interaction between her and the girl made her question how adults talk to children. “I just couldn’t get that unorthodox relationship between an adult and a child out of my head, because I wasn’t telling her what was good for her,” she explained.
“I was telling her what was good for me. I didn’t want to sacrifice my afternoon for her. I wanted her to break in the shoes so I could keep walking around London.”
The experience with Twiggy’s daughter sparked the idea for the series, and according to Drescher, she soon shared what she was thinking with Peter Marc Jacobson, her husband at the time and writing partner.
“I said, ‘I think I have an idea. What do you think of a version of “The Sound of Music”, only instead of Julie Andrews, I show up at the door?’ He thought for a moment and said, ‘That’s it. That’s the show we’re going to pitch to CBS. As soon as you get home, we’ll develop it a little more.’ And that’s what we went in with, without what they call a synopsis, and they approved it right away.”
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