CINDERELLA's Fran Drescher Set for CBS SUNDAY MORNING this Weekend

Actress Fran Drescher opens up about her life, love and her Broadway debut in a revealing interview with Tracy Smith for CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH CHARLES OSGOOD to be broadcast Feb. 23, 2014 (9:00 AM ET) on the CBS Television Network.

Drescher, who hit big in the'90s with the CBS sitcom "The Nanny," talks with Smith about growing up in Queens, New York, her divorce and her battle with cancer, all of which, she says, made her stronger.

"You know, everything has led me to this moment," Drescher tells Smith. This moment, which Drescher calls "fantastic," is her debut in the Broadway production of "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella," as "Madame," the wicked stepmother.

Drescher was born and raised in Queens, NY, the daughter of an engineer and a wedding planner.

"I would lie in my twin bed and listen to the laughter coming from the other side of the wall," Drescher tells Smith. "My mom would be giggling, my dad would be laughing, and the two of them were just delightfully, joyfully happy with each other."

She initially dreamed of going to beauty school and was happy staying close to home. "I walked to college, that's how dependent I was on my parents," Drescher says. "I never wanted to leave."

Drescher did eventually leave Queens and headed for Hollywood with her high school sweetheart - and future husband - Peter Marc Jacobsen. In Hollywood, her beauty-queen looks and distinctive voice earned her character work in such films as "Saturday Night Fever" and "This is Spinal Tap."

But, it was the success of "The Nanny," which she personally pitched to a CBS executive on a plane, that made her a household name.

Off screen, Drescher faced some daunting challenges. She survived a horrific home invasion robbery. And later, after "The Nanny" was cancelled, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Drescher recalls looking in the mirror after undergoing hysterectomy surgery and examining her swollen body. She recalls thinking, "I'll never be a woman again - and, you know, life as I knew it was over."

Drescher fully recovered, as she candidly tells Smith. "Women think, you know, if they had a hysterectomy it doesn't work anymore. And it works great."

CBS SUNDAY MORNING is broadcast Sundays (9:00-10:30 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.

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