Fran Drescher

Background

Fran Drescher was born in Flushing, Queens. She was reared in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, as the daughter of Sylvia and Morty Drescher. Her ancestors hail from Southeast and Central Europe. She went to Hillcrest High School in Jamaica, Queens, after attending Parsons Junior High in Flushing, which has since gone defunct.

Drescher got her first break in 1977, as a dancer in the film “Saturday Night Fever.” With flicks like “American Hot Wax” and “Summer of Fear,” she received additional popularity the following year. She was a somewhat successful actress in the 1980s and 1990s. She returned to television in the 2000s, playing both guest and lead roles. She reappeared two years later with the sitcom “Living with Fran,” in which she played Fran Reeves, a middle-aged mother of two living with a man half her age, after appearing in the short-lived “Good Morning, Miami” in 2003. Later that year, she portrayed a female golem in an episode of “The Simpsons,” guest-starred in an episode of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” and voiced a shark in “Shark Bait.” The next year, she starred in “Thank God You’re Here,” an American adaptation of an Australian improv comedy series. After several failed projects, including “The New Thirty,” “The Fran Drescher Tawk Show,” and “Happily Divorced,” Drescher made her Broadway debut in 2014, with the revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella”. She replaced Harriet Harris as the stepmother. The 10-week contract ended in April 2015. She also appeared in “Enter Whining” (1996), “Cancer Schmancer” (2002), and “Being Wendy” (2003).

When Fran Drescher was 15, she met Peter Marc Jacobson. They met in high school and married at the age of 21. The couple had a formal separation in 1996 but it was not until 1999 that they got divorced. They didn’t have any children.