(Writing and reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)
Actress Fran Drescher, former star of television sitcom “The Nanny”, has thrown her hat into the ring as a contender to replace Hillary Clinton as U.S. senator for New York, joining an illustrious list of stars who have sought to make the switch from show business to the political stage. 
Drescher, 51, is a New York woman through and through, and she has the accent to prove it. Born in Queens, she is known for broadcasting the accent native to that borough of New York on the 1990s show “The Nanny.”
But Drescher is more than just a pretty face and a nasal voice. The actress has survived uterine cancer and earlier this year she was appointed to a U.S. State Department envoy program and toured Eastern Europe to talk about health issues.
Last year, she created a charity called the Cancer Schmancer Movement after her recent battle with the disease.
Drescher told People magazine that when she was on the lecture circuit for the State Department she was often asked about a future in politics. “It was one of the single most-asked questions: When are you going to run? Only second to: Is that your real voice?,” Drescher told the celebrity magazine.
American politics has a full cast of former actors, from “Law & Order” star Fred Thompson, who ran for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination this year, to action movie star-turned California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the late President Ronald Reagan, who started out as an actor.
But Drescher has some heavyweight rivals wanting to fill the vacancy left by Clinton’s nomination as Secretary of State in Barack Obama’s new administration. Caroline Kennedy, daughter of assassinated former President John F. Kennedy, is said to be interested and other names have included New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and even former President Bill Clinton.
New York Gov. David Paterson, a Democrat, will appoint someone for the position.
Do actors and movie stars make good politicians? What do you think?
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5 comments so far
Oh. My. Gawd.
AKD
- Posted by Fred GrandyNot all of them
- Posted by ErrolyneI think Fran would work out for she is a surviver. And we need someone to speak for the people on health issues
- Posted by ErrolyneDo actors make good politicians? I don’t think one profession lends itself to the other more so than experience in any other profession save previous political experience. It certainly helps the public identify with them–their names and faces. Like a bonus round of advertisments, their careers can promote them. We as Americans need to stop and weigh what these actors say disciminately and not be clouded by false perceptions. Actors are people–plain and simple. They too have their own opinions and are just as valid as anyone elses but for us to look at Fran Drescher and actually think we are voting in the Nanny is ridiculous. The fact they were acting before their political careers begin should be a moot point. If she thinks she can do the task than more power to her! If my views coincide with hers, I would vote for her but on that basis alone not her acting career.
- Posted by Louie Cortez[...] the news that another New Yorker had expressed interest in the seat: 90s TV personality Fran Drescher. Quoth Carlson, trying to keep up with Olbermann’s logorrhea of one-?liners, “I [...]
- Posted by Dynasty or Nanny State?