Maggie Sheffield-Brolin is the eldest child of Maxwell Sheffield and Sara Sheffield. She is one of the main characters on The Nanny. She is portrayed by actress Nicholle Tom.
Background[]
Margaret Isabella Sheffield was born in 1978 to Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy), who is a Broadway Producer and Sara Sheffield (Bess Armstrong) who passed away at the beginning of the series. She is the eldest daughter. When Maggie was just a little girl, her mother passed away. She has two younger brothers Brighton Sheffield, Jonah Samuel Sheffield and two younger sisters Grace Sheffield & Eve Catherine Sheffield.
Personality[]
Maggie is seen as an emotional teenager. At first, she is shy and ordinary and not seen by a lot of boys as cute. However, when her nanny Fran Fine makes her up, Maxwell comments on how much Maggie looks just like her mother Sara. Then, after Maxwell's party, he finds Maggie having her first kiss with a waiter named Eddie. Since Maggie is close to Fran's clothing size, she sometimes switches and shares with Fran. Towards the end of the series, Maggie starts dating a Jewish underwear model named Michael. In one episode, Fran, Fran's mother Sylvia Fine, and Fran's grandmother Yetta Rosenberg all walk in on Maggie and Michael in Fran's old bedroom. When Maxwell walked in and seen what happened, he ordered Michael out of the house. The next day, Maggie confides in Fran that she has been sexually active for quite some time with Michael and that her period is over a week late. When Fran and Maggie try to sneak a pregnancy test into the house, Maxwell finds out and he tells Fran to take Maggie to seen a gynecologist. Fran takes Maggie to see her OB/GYN Dr. Reynolds. When Dr. Reynolds tells Maggie she is not pregnant, but suspects Fran might be. Maggie and Michael eventually marry, having the ceremony in the Sheffield house and she then goes to Paris to be with Michael while he's modeling. They have no children when the show ends.
Physical Description[]
Maggie is around 5'9" has blue eyes and blonde hair. She is very thin.
Throughout the Series[]
Fran Fine is a beauty beautician trying to sell make-up door to door after being dumped and fired by her ex-boyfriend. She knocks on the Sheffield's door asking to speak to the woman of the house. She finds out that Maxwell is a widow and when he offers her the role of The Nanny, she accepts. Maggie and Fran bond almost instantly and had a very close relationship. Under Fran's patient tutelage, she blossomed from being a shy and awkward teenager to a very beautiful young woman. In her father's eyes, she's every bit as beautiful as her mother, Sara was.
In school, she and Fran find out that Maggie's gym coach was the same coach that had tormented Fran when she was Maggie's age. Maggie knew her as Coach Stone (because of how tough she is), but Fran knew her better has Ms. Wickavich (Rita Moreno). Ms. Wickavich was a bully, who had no liking for either Maggie or Fran. While Maggie was doing her gym routine so she could pass, Ms. Wickavich ended up choking on her whistle, making Fran, saving her life. She grudgingly passed Maggie in gym.
Maxwell, being a Broadway Producer was always seen as a strict father and always made sure that Maggie, Brighton and Grace dress modestly. Even when they weren't attending a private school that required uniforms. He has an assistant C.C. Babcock who always had a crush on him and a butler named Niles. Because of Maxwell's strict rules, he tended to smother Maggie discouraging her from any kind of activities that included boys. It's was the "Daddy's Little Girl" syndrome. He wanted Maggie to remain his little girl, and he couldn't stand it that she was growing up.
At the end of the series, Fran and Maxwell ended up falling in love and getting married. Maggie and Grace were Fran's maids-of-honor and Maxwell made Niles his best man and Bryton a groomsman. Maggie bonded well with Fran's mother and grandmother and when Maxwell and Fran got married, she adopted the three children. Making Sylvia Maggie's grandmother and Yetta, her great-grandmother.
Eventually Maggie grew up and started dating Michael Brolin, a Jewish underwear model who was related (by marriage) to Barbara Streisand (his cousin was James Brolin, Barbara's husband). This made Maggie the only one of the three children to get married during the show's run. At the pre-ceremony (with guests of honor being Barbara Streisand and her husband), Fran started experiencing premature labor pains and had to go to the hospital. Then Fran snuck out of the hospital, just as Maxwell had everyone else come to the hospital to see Fran, including Barbara Streisand. Dismayed by the failure of her plan, Fran sobbed over the phone. Maggie's wedding was postponed to the next day. In the final episode, Maggie and Michael moved to Europe where had a modeling contract in Venice, Italy, but she stayed in Paris with Brighton.
Also in the final episodes of the series, Fran got pregnant with twins (a boy and a girl) and gave birth to her son Jonah Samuel (after Maxwell's great-grandfather) and Eve Catherine (after Fran's great-grandmother).
Relationships[]
- Michael Brolin - Husband
- Barbara Streisand - Cousin by marriage
- James Brolin - Cousin by marriage
- Maxwell Sheffield - Father
- Sara Sheffield - Mother
- Fran Fine - Former nanny/Stepmother/Adoptive Mother
- Brighton Sheffield - Brother
- Grace Sheffield - Sister
- Eve Catherine Sheffield - Half-sister (Maxwell and Fran's daughter)
- Jonah Samuel Sheffield - Half-brother (Maxwell and Fran's son)
- Niles - Butler
- C.C. Babcock - Father's assistant who often got the children's names wrong.
- Morty Fine - Maggie's step/adoptive-grandfather (Fran's father)
- Sylvia Fine - Maggie's step/adoptive-grandmother (Fran's mother)
- Yetta Rosenberg - Maggie's step/adoptive-great-grandmother (Fran's grandmother)
Quotes[]
- Fran: "And remember always follow your heart."
Maggie: "Well, my heart says I should go back to Sean."
Fran: "That's not your heart talking." - Maggie: "Are there a lot of cute guys at your new apartment?"
Fran: "Oh, yeah, they're walking right out of the closets." - Brighton: "This will be a great party. A bunch of 60-year-old ladies pinching my cheeks."
Maggie: "Learn to love it. That's as close to a woman as you'll ever get."
Trivia[]
- In Fran Drescher's first book, Enter Whining, Fran explained that Maggie was added later, at the suggestion of a network exec, and wasn't part of the original family, but was said that a shy teenager would be a funny contrast to a brazen and flashy Fran, hence the addition of Maggie.
- Maggie dyed her hair reddish orange briefly, because Niles talked/tricked her into going back to blonde.
- She is easily manipulated by Grace and Niles.
- Maggie had at least 6 boyfriends before dating Michael.
- During her teen years she tried her hand at being a model.
- Many of her interactions with Fran involve Maggie's interest or involvement with a boy.
- She had an adversarial relationship with her brother when they were younger, constantly bickering and arguing.
- Her father claims she bears a striking resemblance to her mother.
- Maggie is already attending college on the field of philosophy in season 5 (episode "Educating Fran"), and assuming it was her first year, she must been around 18-19 during that season, and therefore 19-20 during season 6. However, her age was frequently changed over the course of the series; Maggie was supposed to be 15-16 in season 2, so there she should have her 16th birthday, but she had them in season 3 instead (episode "A Fine Family Feud"), and by the end of season 6, where she should be 19-20, she said she already turned 21 (episode "I'm Pregnant").
- Maggie and Michael have a joint interfaith wedding ceremony, just like Fran and Maxwell did.
- Is one month older than her husband, Michael.
Gallery[]
