‘I feel like I’m being called on the hero’s journey,’ said the actors union president and ‘The Nanny’ star
Fran Drescher is best known for her six seasons as “The Nanny”: colossal hair, loud clothes, indefatigable moxie, fathomless pluck and, most of all, that voice. It’s a voice of unadulterated New Yawkese that can cause a 10-car crackup, lift fog and part waves, and that resides as a permanent earworm in many of our brains.
Now, as president of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), it is that same indelible voice leading the approximately 160,000-member actors union on strike that may last much of the year. Last week’s measured yet fiery speech to rally the troops, a call to the picket lines, her left hand and index finger gesticulating in overtime, was peppered with Franisms: “Wake up and smell the coffee,” “The jig is up” and “What are we doing? Moving around furniture on the Titanic?”
For the 65-year-old veteran ’90s sitcom star, it may well be the role of her lifetime. It’s become The Speech. She’s Norma Fran.
The strike, coinciding with the ongoing Writers Guild labor walkout launched in early May, is the biggest potential threat to the entertainment industry in more than 60 years. Among the many issues are use of artificial intelligence to replicate actors’ likenesses, minimum compensation for background players, and residual revenue from streaming and digital services. Shorter television seasons and opacity about viewership, resulting in decreased compensation for actors signed to series, are also major talking points.
“I feel like I’m being called on the hero’s journey,” she said in a phone interview Wednesday, “and when you’re called on the hero’s journey, it’s not something you necessarily want to do, but when you’re called upon to do it, you do the right thing, and you do it.”
It was 5:40 a.m. in L.A. The voice was a rasp, stretched but still fired.
“I’m exhausted and exhilarated all at the same time. I’m sure it’s not healthy,” said Drescher, who has been the actors union president since 2021. Previous union leaders include Charlton Heston, Ronald Reagan and Melissa Gilbert. As SAG-AFTRA president, Drescher has adopted a no-nonsense uniform of black-and-white athleisure, loose hair, an occasional baseball cap. The voice is a constant.
