Charles Shaughnessy (Actor)

Charles Shaughnessy takes a bow at the closing of the musical Urinetown. (Photo: Peter Kramer / Getty Images)

Dapper and debonair in that "so-British" way that makes American women swoon, Shaughnessy exuded charm and fortitude as Shane Donovan on NBC's long-running "Days of Our Lives" for eight years before deciding to give it a go on primetime. His gamble paid off. After well-received guest spots on "Murphy Brown" and "Mad About You", CBS slotted him into the pilot of "The Nanny" which premiered on the fall schedule in 1993. Shaughnessy was the cool, collected, uppercrust British widower and Broadway producer whose household both comes unglued and is improved by the entrance of the Nanny from Flushing, New York (Fran Drescher). It took a few months for the audience to find the series, but "The Nanny" soon became CBS' biggest sitcom hit since "Murphy Brown" in 1987. The chemistry between Shaughnessy and Drescher was said to be a big part of the success of the show, and viewers waited with anticipation to see if Maxwell and his children's Nanny would first kiss and then, perhaps, live happily ever after.