Fran Drescher says she feared Hollywood ‘blacklist’ after taking on industry power players

Fran Drescher had no problem taking on "the kings" of the Hollywood industry.

Drescher worried she might never work again after leading the successful SAG-AFTRA strike in 2023. The "Nanny" star feared she was blacklisted – before landing a role alongside Timothée Chalamet in the Golden Globes-nominated film, "Marty Supreme."

"It's very nice for me, because I went up against the kings of our industry, and if there was ever a blacklist out there, baby, my name would have been on it," Dresher told People magazine. "I thought I might never work again. I also thought, if that's the case, I'll always do something else. I'm a writer. But in fact, this has kind of elevated me, so I don't really have that fear anymore."

"I may not get the leads in films, we'll see," she added. "But that's okay, because I don't need to work so hard anymore, to be carrying something. That's a lot of work. And I like my play time!"

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Drescher was the president of SAG-AFTRA when the union went up against big studios and streaming giants. She claimed the strikes are actually what helped her land the role in "Marty Supreme."

The film's director, Josh Safdie, and Drescher had been working on a different movie that was shelved due to the strikes. The two kept in touch throughout the negotiations.

"It made us friends, because I always took his call," she told the outlet. "And then ‘Marty Supreme’ was his next movie that was lined up, and Josh felt like me and Timmy kind of looked alike. And he said, 'I know your background, and I know there's a depth to you that I want to extract for this movie. I know you've got that in you.' You have to love a director like that. It's always the good ones."

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Drescher's first notable appearance came with "Saturday Night Fever" in 1977. She went on to land her big break with the role of Fran Fine in "The Nanny." The show ran for six seasons, cementing Drescher as a household name.

She wanted to act from a young age, becoming inspired by "I Love Lucy."

"I could do that," Drescher remembered telling her mom. "I could do physical comedy, make funny faces, wear pretty dresses." She began to make her dream a reality by joining the high school theater group.

"I went on auditions, and I got a McDonald’s commercial and a root beer commercial," she recalled. "Neither of which they would let me speak in. Even my high school theater teacher said, ‘If you’re going to make it, you need to get rid of that voice!’"

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Drescher enrolled in elocution lessons where she learned to speak "low and slow," working to erase her Queens accent. The plan seemingly backfired when she went to audition for a period piece.

"'She speaks very slowly for an 18-hour miniseries,'" the casting director told her manager at the time. "I was like, ‘You know what? I’m a pretty girl with a funny voice who can do comedy.' That’s my sweet spot. Let’s just call it what it is."

"I was never going to have Meryl Streep's career. And I didn't need to be able to do a bunch of accents. I could play a variety of emotions based on the women who come from where I come from."