With the exception of “All In The Family’s” Archie Bunker (who portrayed the late Forest Hills native Carroll O’Connor), the most famous television character to come from Queens was Fran Fine, from the popular ‘90s sitcom, “The Nanny.” Millions of Americans laughed each week at the exploits of “the fancy girl from Flushing, the nanny named Fran.”

The start of the new millennium was anything but auspicious for Drescher. After six seasons, CBS cancelled “The Nanny.” Her twenty-year marriage ended in divorce. Chester, her pet dog for whom she cared for nineteen years, passed away. Most devastating of all, her health began to deteriorate.

Drescher began to experience physical pain in almost all areas of her life. She noticed that she was suffering from radiating leg pain, various rashes, and wild mood swings. Being in the entertainment industry, she was well aware of what had happened to another beloved comedy actress, Gilda Radner, and had read Radner’s autobiography, entitled “It’s Always Something!” Like Radner, Drescher was in her early 40s and sought medical advice.

As was the case with Gilda, the first number of doctors Fran visited pooh-poohed the possibility of cancer. It wasn’t until she went to her eighth doctor in Los Angeles that she finally insisted on having a biopsy of her uterus in a procedure known as dilation and curettage, or, for those medical buffs out there, a D&C. The D&C proved positive and was followed by a life-saving radical hysterectomy.

Inspired by Gilda Radner, Drescher decided to write her autobiography, and the result is the recently published “Cancer Schmancer” (Warner Books).

Fran Drescher called me from her home in Malibu to discuss the book and her future plans. “The reason I wrote this book was to help others learn from my experience. A person has to be his or her own best health advocate. Doctors are busy people and aren’t infallible, so you can’t be afraid to ask questions of them.”

And while Fran was occasionally disappointed with the treatment she received from the medical community, she was most dismayed with insurance companies. “Detailed, invasive procedures are costly and are therefore done as last resort, and yet early detection is the key to beating cancer.”

Drescher claims that managed care agencies are going to have to change the way they do business when it comes to early cancer detection -- whether they like it or not. “I was told that uterine cancer was a disease that primarily affects women over 60. The truth is that, for some reason, more and more types of cancer are afflicting people at a younger age now,” she stated.

“The most gratifying aspect of writing this book has been the number of people that have told me I’ve possibly helped to save their lives. When I made a book-signing appearance at the Barnes & Nobles in the Bay Terrace Shopping Center, a girl in her twenties told me that by learning about what I went through she was able to catch a tumor in its earliest stages,” said Drescher happily.

Now, Fran Drescher is feeling like her old self and ready to get back to acting. “I have offers to do a film or a television mini-series based on ‘Cancer Schmancer’ and am weighing those right now.”

When I asked her if she was afraid of being typecast as the Fran Fine character, Drescher did not pull any punches. “I will never get away entirely from her. And to be honest, she is an exaggerated extension of my own personality. My fans know that they are always getting some of my real persona in the roles I play.” Another reason that Drescher will not be able to totally separate herself from her from her famous TV alter-ego is that the nation’s most popular cable network, Lifetime, has just picked up the rights to broadcast reruns of “The Nanny.”

Next up for Fran Drescher is her Broadway debut, as she’s slated this fall to play Sixties trash novelist Jacqueline Susann in “Paper Doll.” Susann is best known for writing “Valley Of The Dolls” and, sadly, succumbed to cancer at an early age. I asked Drescher if that was one of the motivating factors to portray her; she responded, “Actually that’s a coincidence. My management team has long felt that, of all the actresses out there, I’d be the most perfect to capture her larger-than-life, outgoing personality.”