Having read all kinds of breathless accounts about Britney Spears’ new nanny Perry Taylor, we here at RedEye Celebrity News Headquarters (it’s the second cubicle from the fire exit) decided it was high time someone ranked the great nannies in pop culture history. That’s right: one ranking to rule them all.
1. Mary Poppins
She taught us how to take our medicine, how to say “Supercali-fragilisticexpialidocious” and, most importantly, how to love.
2. Fran Drescher
Her laugh and her hit show are timeless. Mind you, not in the same sense as apple pie and baseball are, but timeless nonetheless.
3. Jo Frost
Better known as ABC’s “Supernanny,” Frost gets props for silencing those little hellions we see on the promos for the show.
4. Daisy Wright
Jude Law’s nanny (below) makes the list for all the wrong reasons–her now-classic line: “I was thinking, ‘I cannot believe this. Jude Law is snogging me.’ “
5. Mrs. Doubtfire
Divorced man dresses like female nanny to spend more time with kids. Hilarity ensues … but does not extend into “Mrs. Doubtfire 2.”
6. Elin Nordegren
The Scandinavian stunner and former nanny (left) doesn’t have to clean dishes anymore, not after marrying golf superstar Tiger Woods.
7. Scarlett Johansson
She stars in the upcoming “The Nanny Diaries,” dying her hair brunet for the role. And yes, those are all the qualifications you need to crack our top 10.
8. Nanny
The sweet, motherly Nanny kept those crazy Muppets in line on the animated “Muppet Babies.” And all we ever saw of her were those unsightly stockings.
9. Perry Taylor
People magazine reported on Wednesday that, technically speaking, Taylor (below) is Britney’s bodyguard. Leave it to People magazine to ruin our fun.
10. Nanny McPhee
As played on the big screen by Emma Thompson (above), she’s a strict, Mary Poppins-like nanny who whips a flustered widower’s seven children into shape.
Soldier send-off
John Cusack’s motivation for his latest film grew out of something he did not see: flag-draped caskets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Pentagon policy bans media coverage of America’s war dead as their remains are returned.
The Bush administration has strongly enforced the ban, something Cusack described to The Associated Press as “one of the most shameful, disgraceful, cowardly political acts that I’ve seen in my lifetime.”
So the actor started looking for a project that would illustrate “what happens when the coffins come home.”
The result is “Grace Is Gone,” a small, independent film in which Cusack plays a man whose wife, Grace, is killed in service in Iraq. Filming wrapped last month.
While Cusack’s motivation for taking the part is political, he insists the movie is not. “It’s kind of a spiritual story about grief and hopefully a little bit of redemption.”
Jeezy returns
Rapper Young Jeezy (above) is expanding his curriculum. He tells mtv.com he’s in the studio working on his second album–which he’s calling “The Inspiration: Thug Motivation 102”–and hopes to have it out later this year. “October, that’s all I can say,” he told MTV.
Down Under duo
Who better to star in an Australian romantic epic than Aussies Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman? Jackman is set to star opposite Kidman in an untitled drama for “Moulin Rouge” director Baz Luhrmann, Variety reports. He’ll play an English aristocrat trying to protect Kidman from rogue cattle barons, and he actually replaced Russell Crowe in the lead role.
Queen or Senator?
Queen Latifah (below) wouldn’t mind being Sen. Latifah one day. “You know, maybe I’ll run for Senate,” the actress told people.com while on Capitol Hill for National Women’s Confidence Day. “I still have a few wild years to get out of the way first!” she joked.
