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Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) is a recently dumped and fired cosmetics salesperson in need of a new job – and love. She finds herself at the door of Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy), a well-to-do Broadway producer who recently lost his wife and is struggling to raise his three children alone. So, Fran becomes "The Nanny," and one of the best TV shows of the 1990s was born. Drescher co-created the CBS comedy alongside her then-husband Peter Marc Jacobson, and the pair shepherded the series over six seasons and 146 episodes. It was nominated for a handful of Emmys, only winning one for Best Costuming (which is deserved; the fits on this show are fire). But it's still a beloved program, one that still hits with sharp jokes and surprising emotional discoveries in syndication. If you're in a hotel and a "Nanny" marathon comes on TV, you're canceling the rest of your day. In celebration of the Sheffield family and their more-than-Fine guest, we will now ask the question on everyone's minds: What happened to the cast of "The Nanny"? Based on the real-life grandmother of Fran Drescher, Grandma Yetta, played by Ann Morgan Guilbert, lived in a retirement home, got into all kinds of shenanigans, and had frequent, eccentric episodes of forgetfulness. She has a bizarre interpretation of Fran's living arrangements, often mistook the mythology of other TV shows for her real life (a joke later borrowed in the recurring "SNL" Scared Straight sketches), and seemed to pop up in various points of historical import, like the sinking of the Titanic or the invasion of Pearl Harbor. Most delightfully, she wound up getting together with a romantic partner named Sammy, played by none other than Ray Charles. After the conclusion of "The Nanny," Guilbert, a beloved actor/comedian who first broke through on "The Dick Van Dyke Show," one of the best TV shows of the 1960s, showed up in many other great TV comedies, including "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Modern Family," and "Life in Pieces" (pictured above). She also stretched her muscles with dramatic roles in "Grey's Anatomy," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and the great Nicole Holofcener film "Please Give." In 2016, Guilbert died of lung cancer at the age of 87, leaving behind two children, including actor Hallie Todd. Val Toriello, played by Rachel Chagall, is Fran's best friend on the show. She's a tough-talking Italian Catholic who is nonetheless often painted as the show's primary object of ridicule. Val lives at home with her parents and has lots of unluckiness with love, usually spending her nights at home alone without a date. Similar to another famous Italian-American TV character, Joey Tribbiani from "Friends," she's portrayed as dim-witted, putting her foot in her mouth and annoying the characters with her dull observations and malapropisms. Thankfully, by the show's end, she does find love and resolution after six seasons of comedic misery. Chagall, who broke through in the Golden Globe-nominated movie "Gaby: A True Story," has not appeared in many projects post-"Nanny." She popped in on the NBC sitcom "Just Shoot Me!", the Lifetime drama "Strong Medicine" (seen above), and one of the best Amanda Bynes TV shows, "What I Like About You." If anyone reading this is casting something that needs a "Rachel Chagall type," reach out to her! Fran's mother, Sylvia Fine, is based on Drescher's real mom, also named Sylvia. As played by Renée Taylor, Sylvia is your typical, overbearing Jewish mother, a woman who offers a little too much guidance, eats a little too much food (calling herself "hippoglycemic"), and tries to butt in a little too much in her daughter's life. Sylvia is particularly interested in Fran settling down with a nice man to give her grandchildren, often setting Fran up throughout the series (never mind that Fran obviously has a thing for Maxwell and acts as a maternal figure to his children). At the end of the series, Sylvia and her husband, Morty (Steve Lawrence), follow Fran and the Sheffields to sunny California to burden them another day. The multi-talented Taylor, Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning as a writer, has performed in lots of projects since "The Nanny." She's shown up in other sitcoms like "How I Met Your Mother" (seen above) and the eternally clever "Bob's Burgers," had a guest role on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and appeared in films like "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown," "Life During Wartime," and "The Do-Over." Grace Sheffield, played by Madeline Zima, is the youngest Sheffield child and has one of the strongest bonds with Fran. The series begins with Grace (or Gracie, as Fran sometimes calls her) in a troubled state after the death of her mother. She's seeing a therapist and inventing a recently deceased imaginary friend to process her difficult feelings. Her burgeoning camaraderie with Fran offers mutual growth for the two, with Grace actively helping Fran grow closer to Maxwell so she can become their official stepmother. Zima has enjoyed a robust television career since transitioning from childhood roles into adulthood. She had a leading role in the David Duchovny dramedy "Californication" as an author and troubled lover, and she simultaneously recurred on the better-than-you-remember TV series "Heroes" as one of Hayden Panettiere's friends and allies. She's also shown up in contemporary prestige works like "Doom Patrol" (pictured above), "Twin Peaks: The Return," and the "Perry Mason" reimagining. Brighton Sheffield is the middle child and only son of Maxwell. As played by Benjamin Salisbury, Brighton is a sensitive but squabbling child, often getting into arguments with his sisters. He also puts up resistance to Fran because of his dislike of their previous nannies, but you better believe Fran wears him down with her particular brand of charm (he also gains a good relationship with Fran's mom, Sylvia, even joining her in a canasta league). Brighton has the most aspirational view of his father, wanting to follow in his footsteps of being a Broadway producer (and constantly worried about his financial future and trust fund). At the end of the series, Brighton gets accepted into Harvard but decides to take a gap year to travel to France, showing his father that he has his own desires after all. Since "The Nanny," Salisbury has not appeared in many works. He appeared in Al Pacino's only sci-fi movie, "Simone," played a doctor on the crime drama "Numbers," did a Zoom table read of "The Nanny" pilot (seen above), and, well, that's about it! He's since been spotted working at Universal Studios as the Director of Operations. And now, the oldest Sheffield child, Maggie! Played by Nicholle Tom, Maggie began the show as a shy and awkward teenager, a suggestion made by a studio exec to "contrast to a brazen and flashy Fran" (as reported in Drescher's autobiography, "Enter Whining"). Her father, Maxwell, exacerbated this awkwardness as he encouraged her to avoid any signs of maturity, including the attention of boys, and stay her little girl forever. So when the vivacious Fran entered the picture, everything changed for Maggie. Over the series, she grew into a confident young woman and ended up marrying an underwear model (Andrew Levitas) with a family connection to Barbra Streisand. If that's not the Jewish-American dream, I don't know what is. Tom has gone on to voice the DC character Supergirl in many shows, including some of the best episodes of "Justice League Unlimited." You can also see her in shows like "Burn Notice," "Criminal Minds," "The Mentalist," "Masters of Sex," and "Gotham." She also starred in her own short-lived sitcom, IFC's "The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman," playing the frisky best friend to the title character. You can soon see her in "Martinez, Margaritas and Murder!" (pictured above). C.C. Babcock, played by Lauren Lane, might be the most objectively interesting character on "The Nanny." An associate of Maxwell's, she's generally positioned as the show's villain, harboring a crush on Maxwell and doing anything to get in the way of Fran's wants and needs. But as the series moves on, some wild and ultimately kind character decisions are made for C.C. On the wild side, C.C. is painted as an alcoholic, an uncaring maternal figure, and for at least one stretch, a menace to society that needs to be placed in a mental institute. But on the kind side, once C.C. realizes Maxwell will never love her back, she winds up turning her frenemy relationship with Niles (Daniel Davis) into a full-on marriage. All's well that ends well! After "The Nanny," Lane voiced a role in the bizarre adult animated superhero movie "Gen 13." Then, she began doing theatre in Austin, Texas, performing in such classics as "The Cherry Orchard," "God of Carnage," and "August: Osage County." She also turned up for the pandemic Zoom table read of "The Nanny" pilot, pictured above. If C.C. is the most interesting "Nanny" character, Niles might be, pound-for-pound, the funniest. As portrayed by the very American Daniel Davis, Niles the butler is the epitome of a certain kind of upper-crust, English stuffiness, which makes for quite the amusing foil to Fran's American brassiness. And yet, Niles is also an incorrigible gossip, snooping around Maxwell's mansion and getting all the tea. His one-liners and comebacks often provide the biggest laughs on the show, but he also provides the show's sneakiest emotional core, doing everything in his power to make sure Fran and Maxwell wind up together (while entering his own twisted version of a love story with C.C.). Davis has worked steadily as an actor since the conclusion of "The Nanny," including an appearance in Christopher Nolan's "The Prestige." On television, he's popped in on "The Practice," "Frasier," "Ugly Betty," "The Blacklist," and in "Star Trek: Picard," reprising his "Next Generation" role as a version of Moriarty from the "Sherlock Holmes" universe (pictured above). Maxwell Sheffield, as portrayed by Charles Shaughnessy, is often the voice of reason on "The Nanny." He's a successful Broadway producer, the patriarch of an upper-class family, and a grieving widower who invites Fran into his home to help take care of his children. Maxwell has an amusing series-long rivalry with the famous Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, culminating in a revelation that he turned down producing Webber's "Cats," missing out on a lucrative payout (though he's lucky he didn't produce the abysmal film adaptation). He also has a fruitful will-they-won't-they relationship with Fran that culminates, happily, with the two marrying in season five. At the end of the series, Maxwell, Fran, the three Sheffield children, and two new twins born to Fran all move to Los Angeles, where Maxwell will transition to producing for television, maybe starting with a sitcom about his own burgeoning romance with his nanny? Just a thought. Shaughnessy later reunited with Drescher on her follow-up sitcom "Living With Fran," where he played the title character's ex-husband, a charlatan and terrible father. He also recurred on "Mad Men" as the director of a London advertising firm (seen above) and has appeared in several soap operas. In playing Fran Fine on "The Nanny," Fran Drescher found the perfect vehicle for her particular charms as an actor and comedian. The fictionalized "Fran" is street-smart but oblivious, a particularly nasal bull in a china shop. Much of the show's comedy comes from the culture clash of the lower-class Fran bumbling her way through the wealthy milieu of the Sheffield family. But time and time again, Fran proved herself, bonding with all of the Sheffield children and helping them come out of their shells, and then eventually marrying Maxwell and having a couple of kiddos of her own. Not bad for a nobody from Queens! After "The Nanny," Drescher starred in three other sitcoms: "Living With Fran," about a May-December romance, "Happily Divorced," about her real-life divorce from "Nanny" co-creator Peter Marc Jacobson, and "Indebted," where she played the overbearing mother (seen above) to Adam Pally. She's also voiced The Bride of Frankenstein in the "Hotel Transylvania" franchise, appeared in a pair of 2025 movies ("Spinal Tap II: The End Continues" and "Marty Supreme"), and recently ended a run as president of SAG-AFTRA, the union for screen actors.
