Fran Drescher, star of The Nanny, Hotel Transylvania, and all of our dreams has announced she will run for president of SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). This powerful union assures that everyone you see on your various screens gets a lunch break, fair residuals, and access to affordable health care.
Drescher’s bid is backed by former Beverly Hills, 90210 star Gabrielle Carteris, who has decided not to run for a third term as head of the union.
“I’m honored to have been asked to run,” Drescher said, according to Deadline. “I hope to apply my experience as the president of the Cancer Schmancer Movement and my success on Capitol Hill and as a Public Diplomacy Envoy for uniting our union, increasing member benefits and giving our 160k strong membership a more significant presence on the national landscape.”
Drescher was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2000 and formed the non-profit Cancer Schmancer Movement, which aims to “save lives by transforming the nation’s current sick care system,” in 2007. In early 2020, it was announced that Drescher’s signature show, The Nanny, would be adapted for Broadway by Rachel Bloom and Adam Schlesinger. Schlesinger’s unexpected death from COVID-19 has left the future of this project unknown.
Drescher represents the Unite For Strength party with Star Trek: Discovery and Rent star Anthony Rapp as her running mate.
Carteris, the departing president, said, “it’s bittersweet to move on,” but “I do so with gratitude and great confidence in Fran and the remarkable Anthony Rapp.” Carteris and her current running mate, The Practice’s Camryn Manheim, do not entirely intend to leave union politics. They are both running for the SAG-AFTRA national board.
While it may be hard to think of a pairing more terrific than Drescher and Rapp (why are they running to lead SAG and not the White House?) there will be competition. Matthew Modine, who lost to Carteris in what Variety called a “hard-fought campaign” in 2019, intends to challenge Drescher as representative of the Membership First party, which held leadership in the early 2000s. Joely Fisher is his running mate. The votes will be tabulated on September 2.
The union made national news earlier this year when it began the process of removing Home Alone 2: Lost In New York co-star Donald Trump from its rolls. The disgraced former frozen steak salesman preemptively quit.
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