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Renée Taylor (born Renée Wechsler; March 19, 1933) is an American actress, Academy Award nominated writer and one-time director, best known for having played Fran Drescher's outspoken mother, Sylvia Fine, on the TV series The Nanny. Born in the Bronx, New York, Taylor worked as a comedian in the early 1960s at the New York City nightclub Bon Soir. Her opening act was a then unknown Barbra Streisand. In 1968, Taylor played Eva Braun in the feature film The Producers. Taylor and her husband, Joseph Bologna, co-wrote the Broadway hit comedy Lovers and Other Strangers, and received Oscar... MORE

Renée Taylor (born Renée Wechsler; March 19, 1933) is an American actress, Academy Award nominated writer and one-time director, best known for having played Fran Drescher's outspoken mother, Sylvia Fine, on the TV series The Nanny. Born in the Bronx, New York, Taylor worked as a comedian in the early 1960s at the New York City nightclub Bon Soir. Her opening act was a then unknown Barbra Streisand. In 1968, Taylor played Eva Braun in the feature film The Producers. Taylor and her husband, Joseph Bologna, co-wrote the Broadway hit comedy Lovers and Other Strangers, and received Oscar nominations for having written the 1970 film adaptation. In 1971, the couple co-wrote and starred in the film Made for Each Other. Their screenplay received a nomination for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy. From 1992 to 1994, Taylor played the stereotypically overbearing Jewish mother of the lead character on the HBO series Dream On. In 1993, she was cast as the mother of Richard Lewis, and the ex-wife of Don Rickles, in the Fox sitcom Daddy Dearest, which was canceled after a short two-month run in the fall. At about the same time, Taylor was slated for sporadic guest appearances on LESS