As the weekend’s tributes continued for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, everyone, it seems, had a favorite “Teddy story” to pass around with their canapes and cocktails while toasting his memory at various soirees. Among them: actress and activist Fran Drescher. G2 caught up with Miss Drescher at a private dinner party Saturday in her honor at Teatro Goldoni on K Street.
The New York-born actress, known best for playing the nasally voiced Fran Fine, nanny to the stuffy Sheffield family on CBS’ “The Nanny” (1993 to 1999), explained that her friend — Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, Rhode Island Democrat and Sen. Kennedy’s son, invited her to be his guest at the Kennedy Center Honors a few years back. There, she met movers and shakers, including Sen. Kennedy, while attempting to raise funds for gynecological disease research and education.
Miss Drescher was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2000 and has been a visible advocate ever since. In 2007, she founded the Cancer Schmancer Network, a nonprofit group that encourages the early diagnosis of cancer in women.
“It was a very ’Nanny’ moment,” Miss Drescher recalled. “Here I was sitting at this table with the Kennedys. The whole night I tried to get Sen. Kennedy’s attention to talk about cancer and the bill, but all of these lobbyists kept coming up and talking to him, and I could not get through. At the end of the night, I thought it was a wash, but then Sen. Kennedy saw me, and with his hands in the air said, ’Of course, I will support your bill,’ and he did and it passed.”
Miss Drescher was referring to the Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act, which was signed into law in January 2007 by former President George W. Bush.
The 50-something Miss Drescher — who was rumored to be interested in running for Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s seat in her home state of New York said she will not run for office in 2010. But that doesn’t mean she’s not up for a fight.
A self-professed Democrat, Miss Drescher regaled us with tales of her taping for Sean Hannity’s “Hannity’s America,” scheduled to air this week on the Fox News Channel. She also says she’s chatting up networks about getting her own talk show.
“He [Mr. Hannity] kept calling me a liberal Democrat, but I know how to get along with everybody,” Miss Drescher said, while explaining the need to have a thick skin in the rough-and-tumble world of cable television.
Speaking of skin, Miss Drescher then segued into how important skin is to her — and should be for other people.
“Women use all of these chemicals in creams on their necks, and we have all of these cases of breast cancer and we wonder why. Our skin is the biggest organ of the body, and we have to know what we put on it.”
Come November, Miss Drescher will unveil FranBrand, her new beauty product line on cable’s Home Shopping Network. The products feature all-natural, eco-friendly skin creams and balms made from ingredients that are carcinogen-free.
Asked whether her “Nanny” character ever made a trip to Washington, Miss Drescher paused and ticked off about every international city the Sheffields did visit, including London and Paris. Sadly, though, they never made it to the nation’s capital.
Well, give her time.
“I would love to run for office one day,” Miss Drescher said.
More tributes
Speaking at Thursday’s Leon H. Sullivan Foundation Awards Celebration at the Kennedy Center, actress Mia Farrow — who was honored for her international humanitarian work — also lauded the late Sen. Kennedy.
I’ve been watching the television compulsively — his speeches, his eulogies, the snippets of his life,” she said, noting the media’s continuous coverage. “And I feel a tremendous sense of loss and gratitude that we had such a man in a place of leadership in our country.”
Also garnering plaudits from the foundation was Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Mr. Gates, however, did not attend the event’s pre-reception. We don’t blame him given the fallout since his controversial arrest at his Cambridge, Mass., home last month.
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