After years of small roles in films and TV shows, this brunette comic actress gained fame as a Mary Poppins from Queens in what has become her signature role, Fran Fine, "The Nanny" (CBS, 1993-99). With her husband, Peter Marc Jacobson, Dresher co-created and executive produced the sitcom which was basically a study of contrasts with most of the show's humor arising from the juxtaposition of the middle-class Jewish nanny in the refined world of the British-born, upper-class theater producer (Charles Shaughnessy). For her work, the actress was twice nominated for an Emmy as Best Actress in a Comedy Series (in 1996 and 1997).
A brazenly sexy, stylish comic performer with a distinctively honking "Noo Yawk" accent, Drescher is a former Miss New York Teenager who began her film career with a bit part in "Saturday Night Fever" (1977), uttering the memorable line "Are you as good in bed as you are on the dance floor?" to John Travolta. She attracted a little attention as a snappy secretary in "American Hot Wax" (1978) and as a plastic public relations director in Rob Reiner's "This Is Spinal Tap" (1984), but generally appeared in supporting roles in forgettable features (i.e., "G.O.R.P" 1980; "Doctor Detroit" 1982). She fared better as Robin Williams' whining mistress in the uneven "Cadillac Man" (1990) and in a reteaming with the actor in Francis Ford Coppola's "Jack" (1996). Once she became established in TV, studios began clamoring for her services. Her first big screen lead in "The Beautician and the Beast" (1997), executive produced by the actress and her husband, was almost a spin-off of her TV series. Drescher was cast as a Queens cosmetician who, through a series of mix-ups, ends up as tutor to the children of an Eastern European dictator (Timothy Dalton). Critics and audiences greeted the result with modest interest.
The small screen has always been more welcoming to Drescher's overwhelming personality. She was able to make her mark in guest appearances on sitcoms such as "ALF", "Who's the Boss?" and "Night Court" and appeared in a handful of TV-movies like the comedies "I'd Rather Be Calm" (CBS, 1982) and "Hurricane Sam" (CBS, 1990) and atypically in dramatic works such as the spooky thriller "Stranger in Our House" (NBC, 1978) and "Without Warning: Terror in the Towers" (NBC, 1993), in which played a teacher. After marking time as one of the students in "Fame" (NBC, 1982-1983), she brought her talent for daffy, deadpan wisecracking to the short-lived "Princesses" (CBS, 1991) opposite Julie Hagerty and Twiggy Lawson. In the latter, she created a role that was a blueprint for what has become her best-known character.
In 1996, Drescher published her memoirs, "Enter Whining", in which she revealed that she had been sexually assaulted in a robbery.