Fran Fine

Infobox character | name = "Fran Fine Sheffield"


first = "Pilot: Part I"
"(episode 1.01)"
last = "The Finale: Part II "
"(episode 6.22)"
cause = series finale
alias =
age = 36 (last appearance)
occupation = Nanny
Shop assistant
family = Sylvia Rosenberg Fine (mother)
Morty Fine (father)
Nadine Fine Cooperman (sister)
Neddie Fine (paternal grandmother)
Yetta Rosenberg (maternal grandmother)
Joe Rosenberg (maternal grandfather)
Jack Rosenberg (uncle)
Aunt Rose(aunt)
Uncle Stanley (uncle)
Freida Fine (aunt)
Sophie (cousin)
Irving (cousin)
Aunt Cookie (aunt)
Aunt Ina (aunt)
Cousin Merrill (cousin)
Cousin Sheila (cousin)
Uncle Marvin (uncle)
Uncle Myron (uncle)
Cousin Claudene (cousin)
Aunt Esther (aunt)
Uncle Louie (uncle)
Cousin Ernie (cousin)
Cousin Susan (cousin)
Uncle Dave (paternal uncle)
Cousin Judy (paternal cousin)
Uncle Mory (paternal uncle)
spouse = Maxwell Sheffield (husband)
children = Jonah Samuel Sheffield (son)
Eve Katherine Sheffield (daughter)
Margaret Sheffield (step-daughter)
Brighton Sheffield (step-son)
Grace Sheffield (step-daughter)
portrayer = Fran Drescher
creator = Fran Drescher

Francine “Fran” Joy Fine Sheffield (born November 26, 1963) in New York City, New York) was the main character in the 1990s CBS sitcom "The Nanny" produced by Sony Pictures Television (formery TriStar Television), largely based on and played by actress Fran Drescher.

Character Information

Fran is the second daughter of Sylvia and Morty Fine. She was raised in Flushing, Queens in New York City beside her sister Nadine. In her teens, Fran and best friend Val Toriello (played by Rachel Chagall) attended local Hillcrest High School, alongside fellow students Ray Barone, Fran's arch-rival, Heather Biblow, the late actress Morgan Faulkner (played by Jane Sibbett), and taxicab driver wannabe playwright Jeffrey Needleman (played by Richard Kind).

Fran in the series is shown as a bubbly, outing and a humorous character, where she gets herself into trouble on a number of occasions but ends up solving the problems. Upon graduating, Fran attended cosmetics college while working as a foot model. She later assisted in her then-fiancé Danny Imperiali's bridal shop in Flushing, until she was dumped by Imperiali who immediately replaced her with Heather Biblow (played by Pamela Anderson). Not only did Heather steal Fran's job, she also married Danny instead.

Fran resorted to selling "Shades of the Orient" makeup door-to-door to make ends meet. In the first episode, Fran arrives at the home of Maxwell Sheffield (played by Charles Shaughnessy), a Broadway producer, who hires her as a nanny for his three kids, Maggie (played by Nicholle Tom), Brighton (played by Benjamin Salisbury), and Gracie (played by Madeline Zima). This occurs after she shows Maxwell her references, which are written in lipstick.

After she was hired by Maxwell, Fran discovered that her old physical education teacher from her days in high school, Ms. Wickavich (played by Rita Moreno), whom she derisively called "Ms. Wickavich of the West", was now teaching at "Maggie's" school and was going by the name Coach Stone. The taunting and bullying teacher did her best to make both Fran and Maggie miserable. (One of her memorable lines was when she was criticizing someone's handspring. "You call that a back handspring layout?! Shape up!! I've seen better routines in Gymboree!! You Mary Lou Rotten!") Fran did her best to stand up to her, and after saving her life by knowing the Heimlich manoeuver, Coach Stone (albeit grudgingly) passed Maggie in gym.

Miss Fine is vain and self-conscious about her age; she often claims to be 29 on the show, regardless of how much time passes. It is assumed that, because she turned 30 toward the end of the first season, Fran is thirty-five to thirty-six years old by the end of the series (which leads to some speculation about why her age is such a big dilemma in the first place, especially since it was around the time of the Nanny's creation that the trend of women were getting married later in life rather than in their twenties took hold). Fran is constantly under pressure to get married by her mother, which results in comical situations when Fran declines a chance to marry a rich man (causing her mother to threaten suicide), so she may continue caring for the Sheffields. Her Aunt Rose and Uncle Stanley were played by Fran's real-life parents, Morty and Sylvia Drescher.

Romance

The romantic tension between Maxwell and Fran lasts until the middle of the 5th season, when the couple gets engaged; following several snafus, they are finally married in the season 5 finale. Until that point, they always address each other with proper employer-employee politeness, i.e. "Miss Fine" and "Mr. Sheffield". Maxwell confesses to Miss Fine that he loves her when their plane to New York meets some turbulence, and he believes they may crash. Upon returning home, Maxwell immediately revokes the statement (this is later referred to as "the Thing" and is held over Mr. Sheffield's head with glee by Fine and Niles).

By the fifth season, Mr. Sheffield and Miss Fine begin a tentative romantic relationship, which consisted of a very large milestone: calling each other by their first names. Mr. Sheffield proposes marriage (a move that sends C. C. Babcock, who had an obsessive crush on Maxwell and jealous hatred of Fran, to an insane asylum), and they are married in the season 5 finale. Fran and Max have some difficulties conceiving a child the following year. The OB/GYN suggested that Fran relax more and that she and Maxwell should have less sex to ensure enough available sperm for Fran's time of ovulation; the latter part of the diagnosis didn't pan out as well as the former (it turned out the couple's appetite for each other was insatiable). They finally give birth to fraternal twins, Jonah and Eve, in the series finale. Jonah, who was born first, was named for Fran's side of the family, but was more reserved like his father; and Eve, who was born a few minutes later, was named for her father's side of the family, but was more nasally and boisterous like her mother.

Despite the fact they stopped using each other's last names to address each other when they married, Fran and Max would still switch to their boss/employee roles out of habit. When Max is angry with her, he will instinctively shout "Miss Fine!", causing a worried Fran to reply, "Oh no, I'm Miss Fine again!". The same is true for Fran, who calls Maxwell "Mr. Sheffield" in bed.

Trivia

* Fran attended the same high school as Ray Barone (played by Ray Romano), which she affectionately calls "Raymond" in one of the CBS crossover episodes. Ray Barone is the lead character in the hit sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond".
* Fran's favorite store is Loehmann's
* Fran Fine's most prominent trademark, her exceptionally loud and nasal voice, made the character almost legendary, in real life and in the show. Other characters regularly made comments about the sound (i.e. Fran shouts when she gets stuck in an elevator, Maxwell says "that's my wife!", without actually knowing that it was Fran before the familiar sound of her voice). Although many people believe the voice is "fake", it is Fran Drescher's real voice (although she confessed she played it up a little when filming).
*The aforementioned voice and persona would eventually find its way into a fourth-wall scene from the episode "The Baby Shower", where Fran and Niles met her idol who was staying in the hotel, which by the way was Fran Drescher, who was playing herself. When the two met, Fran told Drescher that she thought that her ironed-out hair style didn't look good. Drescher in turn told Fran that they just finished doing the same episode that Fran and Niles was in now after Fran and Niles told Drescher what they were up to.
* Fran's age has always been treated like a mystery. When asked, Fran always claims that she is twenty-nine years old.
* As seen in a flashback she first saw Mr. Sheffield in the '70s on a talk show.
* In the first season episode "The Gym Teacher", Fran and her ex-nemesis, Coach Stone, look at her yearbook which Fran comments contains "the class of '82". It can therefore be deduced that Fran was born in 1964, graduating at age 18. This coincides with when she celebrated her Thirtieth birthday in the first season episode "A Plot for Nanny". It does present a discrepancy, though, seeing as Sylvia said that JFK was president when she was born, when he was dead at that point.