‘The Nanny’: Are Fran Drescher and Renée Taylor Friends?
The Nanny is a television sitcom that many fans around the world know and love. The show, a perfect time capsule of ’90s culture, is responsible for making actor and comedian Fran Drescher.
The Nanny offers up a hilarious spin on a fish out of water tale and features everything from fabulous fashion to endearing, funny characters. The series was an ensemble, and most of the actors in the show appeared regularly until the series went off the air in 1999.
One of The Nanny’s most memorable secondary characters was played by Renée Taylor — and as Taylor revealed in an interview years after the show went off the air, she’s still quite close with the series star, Drescher.
What was the TV show ‘The Nanny’ about?
The Nanny premiered on television 1993, and instantly, made a splash with viewers. The show told the story of Fran Fine, a stylish Jewish woman from Queens, New York, who becomes the nanny for three children in an upper-class, privileged family.
Over time, Fran becomes very close to the children, and to their father, the widowed Maxwell Sheffield. Eventually, Fran and Maxwell fall in love and get married.
The Nanny was conceived by Drescher and was based largely on experiences from her own life. Certain characters were even based on Drescher’s own friends and family.
Critics responded well to Drescher’s passion project, and over the course of the series run, it was nominated for 12 Emmy Awards. Drescher, in particular, was given the nod, earning two Golden Globe nominations and an Emmy nomination.
Who did Renée Taylor play in ‘The Nanny’?
One of the characters in The Nanny that was based on a real-life person was Sylvia Fine, the talkative, sometimes overbearing mother of Fran Fine. The character was loosely based on Drescher’s own mother, and appeared frequently during the course of the series run.
Sylvia was portrayed in all seven seasons by actress Renée Taylor, a performer who worked in improv groups and comedy clubs during the early days of her career.
The role of Sylvia Fine has undoubtedly been the one that has defined Taylor’s career, and to this day, she speaks fondly about her time on the series, and about her relationship with Drescher.
Are Fran Drescher and Renée Taylor still friends?
Fran Fine and her mother Sylvia might have had a contentious relationship onscreen in The Nanny. But in real life, Drescher and Taylor are the best of friends.
As reported by Mental Floss, Drescher has often spent time with Taylor in the years since The Nanny went off the air, and frequently shares snaps of her hang sessions with Taylor to her social media pages. As recently as July 2019, Taylor sat down with WGN News, and admitted that she and Drescher are still on great terms. “I see Fran all the time,” the veteran actor said. “I was just at a Cancer Schmancer charity thing for her.”
For fans of The Nanny, it is reassuring to know that many of the cast members shared the same kind of familial connection offscreen as they did on — and that the show is as meaningful to those performers as it has been to so many fans around the world.
