Clara Peller
Encyclopedia
Clara Peller was a retired manicurist and American
character actress
who, at the age of 81, starred in the 1984 "Where's the beef?
" advertising campaign for the Wendy's
fast food restaurant
chain, created by the Dancer Fitzgerald Sample ad agency.
, Clara Peller lived for most of her early life in Chicago
, although she later did move to the suburban North Shore area to be near her daughter. Married at age 20 to a local jeweler, she was divorced eight years later with two children, a boy and a girl. She worked for 35 years as a manicurist at a local Chicago beauty salon.
First airing on January 10, 1984, the Wendy's commercial portrayed a fictional fast-food competitor entitled "Big Bun", where three elderly ladies are served an enormous novelty hamburger bun topped with a minuscule hamburger patty. While two of the women are so engaged, they are interrupted by an irascible Peller, who searches in vain for customer assistance while making the outraged demand: "Where's the beef!". Sequels featured a crotchety Peller yelling her famous line in various scenes, such as storming drive-thru counters, or in telephone calls to a fast-food executive attempting to relax on his yacht, the 'S.S. Big Bun'.
Peller's "Where's the beef" line became an instant catchphrase across the United States. The diminutive octogenarian actress made the three-word phrase a cultural phenomenon, and herself a cult star. At Wendy's, sales jumped 31% to $945 million in 1985 worldwide. Wendy's senior vice president for communications, Denny Lynch, stated at the time that "with Clara we accomplished as much in five weeks as we did in 14½ years." Former Vice-President Walter Mondale
also used the line against rival Senator Gary Hart
in his bid for the Democratic nomination in the 1984 presidential campaign
.
While hugely popular, the advertising campaign proved to be short-lived, at least for Wendy's. Peller had made actor scale wages - $317.40 per day - for the initial Wendy's TV commercial of the campaign in January 1984. Her fee for subsequent work as a Wendy's spokesperson was not disclosed, though Peller admitted in an interview with People Magazine to earning $30,000 from the first two commercials and profits from product tie-in sales. Wendy's later alleged that the company had paid Peller a total of $500,000 for her work on the campaign, though Peller denied earning that much.
The actress had interpreted her Wendy's agreement as allowing her to participate in any commercials for products that did not compete with Wendy's hamburgers. She subsequently signed a contract with the Campbell Soup Company
to appear in an advertisement for Prego
Pasta Plus spaghetti sauce. In the Prego commercial, Peller examines the Prego sauce and after wondering "Where's the beef?" declares, "I found it! I really found it". However, after the Prego commercial aired on television in 1985, Wendy's mananagement decided to terminate her contract, contending that the Prego commercial "infers that Clara found the beef at somewhere other than Wendy's restaurants". In announcing the dismissal, Wendy's Denny Lynch stated, "Clara can find the beef only in one place, and that is Wendy's". Peller's response was short and swift: "I've made them millions, and they don't appreciate me."
Following the conclusion of the "Where's the beef" campaign, Wendy's Restaurants entered a prolonged two-year sales slump. Vice President Lynch later admitted that consumer awareness of the Wendy's brand did not recover for another five years, with the advent of a new, humorous line of TV commercials featuring the brand's founder, Dave Thomas
.
which was guest hosted that night by 1972 Democratic
presidential candidate George McGovern
. She also made an appearance in the low-rated, low-budget 1985 Neal Israel
comedy, Moving Violations
, alongside John Murray
, Sally Kellerman
, Fred Willard
, and Jennifer Tilly
, where she played the straightman friend to Nedra Volz
's character who was a haphazard driver needing to renew her license at traffic school. In that film, Peller uttered "Where's the bags?"- a reference to her Wendy's commercials fame. In Larry Cohen
's The Stuff
, she appeared with Abe Vigoda
in a commercial shouting "Where's the Stuff?". On April 7, 1986, she even made an appearance at WWF's
WrestleMania 2
pay-per-view
event, which featured guest appearances by numerous celebrities.
, one week after her 85th birthday. She is buried in Waldheim Jewish Cemetery.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
character actress
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
who, at the age of 81, starred in the 1984 "Where's the beef?
Where's the beef?
"Where's the beef?" is a catchphrase in the United States and Canada. Since it was first used as an advertising slogan, it has become an all-purpose phrase questioning the substance of an idea, event, or product.-History:...
" advertising campaign for the Wendy's
Wendy's
Wendy's is an international fast food chain restaurant founded by Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The company decided to move its headquarters to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. It has been owned by Triarc since 2008...
fast food restaurant
Fast food restaurant
A fast food restaurant, also known as a Quick Service Restaurant or QSR within the industry itself, is a specific type of restaurant characterized both by its fast food cuisine and by minimal table service...
chain, created by the Dancer Fitzgerald Sample ad agency.
Early life
Born in IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Clara Peller lived for most of her early life in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, although she later did move to the suburban North Shore area to be near her daughter. Married at age 20 to a local jeweler, she was divorced eight years later with two children, a boy and a girl. She worked for 35 years as a manicurist at a local Chicago beauty salon.
Acting career
At age 80, Peller was hired as a temporary manicurist for a television commercial set in a Chicago barbershop. Impressed by her no-nonsense manners and unique voice, the agency later asked her to sign a contract as an actress for the agency. Though hard of hearing and suffering from emphysema, which limited her ability to speak long lines of dialogue, Peller was quickly utilized in a number of TV spot advertisements, including a new commercial for the Wendy's Restaurant chain.Wendy's campaign
Peller's "Where's the beef" line became an instant catchphrase across the United States. The diminutive octogenarian actress made the three-word phrase a cultural phenomenon, and herself a cult star. At Wendy's, sales jumped 31% to $945 million in 1985 worldwide. Wendy's senior vice president for communications, Denny Lynch, stated at the time that "with Clara we accomplished as much in five weeks as we did in 14½ years." Former Vice-President Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
also used the line against rival Senator Gary Hart
Gary Hart
Gary Hart is an American politician, lawyer, author, professor and commentator. He served as a Democratic Senator representing Colorado , and ran in the U.S...
in his bid for the Democratic nomination in the 1984 presidential campaign
United States presidential election, 1984
The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982...
.
While hugely popular, the advertising campaign proved to be short-lived, at least for Wendy's. Peller had made actor scale wages - $317.40 per day - for the initial Wendy's TV commercial of the campaign in January 1984. Her fee for subsequent work as a Wendy's spokesperson was not disclosed, though Peller admitted in an interview with People Magazine to earning $30,000 from the first two commercials and profits from product tie-in sales. Wendy's later alleged that the company had paid Peller a total of $500,000 for her work on the campaign, though Peller denied earning that much.
The actress had interpreted her Wendy's agreement as allowing her to participate in any commercials for products that did not compete with Wendy's hamburgers. She subsequently signed a contract with the Campbell Soup Company
Campbell Soup Company
Campbell Soup Company , also known as Campbell's, is an American producer of canned soups and related products. Campbell's products are sold in 120 countries around the world. It is headquartered in Camden, New Jersey...
to appear in an advertisement for Prego
Prego
Prego is a trade mark brand name pasta sauce of Campbell Soup Company. It was introduced internationally in 1981-Varieties:...
Pasta Plus spaghetti sauce. In the Prego commercial, Peller examines the Prego sauce and after wondering "Where's the beef?" declares, "I found it! I really found it". However, after the Prego commercial aired on television in 1985, Wendy's mananagement decided to terminate her contract, contending that the Prego commercial "infers that Clara found the beef at somewhere other than Wendy's restaurants". In announcing the dismissal, Wendy's Denny Lynch stated, "Clara can find the beef only in one place, and that is Wendy's". Peller's response was short and swift: "I've made them millions, and they don't appreciate me."
Following the conclusion of the "Where's the beef" campaign, Wendy's Restaurants entered a prolonged two-year sales slump. Vice President Lynch later admitted that consumer awareness of the Wendy's brand did not recover for another five years, with the advent of a new, humorous line of TV commercials featuring the brand's founder, Dave Thomas
Dave Thomas (American businessman)
David "Dave" Thomas was an American fast-food entrepreneur and philanthropist. Thomas was the founder and chief executive officer of Wendy's, a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in hamburgers...
.
Final appearances
Despite the setback with Wendy's, Peller continued to make the most of her newfound fame, granting numerous press interviews and making several guest TV appearances. She regularly amused interviewers and friends by claiming not to know exactly how old she was, once telling a frustrated Social Security clerk (who was given three different ages by Ms. Peller) that she was "whichever one will get me Social Security". On April 14, 1984, Peller made an uncredited cameo appearance on Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
which was guest hosted that night by 1972 Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
presidential candidate George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
. She also made an appearance in the low-rated, low-budget 1985 Neal Israel
Neal Israel
Neal Israel is an American actor, screenwriter, film and television producer and director best known for his comedic work in the 1980s.-Career:...
comedy, Moving Violations
Moving Violations
Moving Violations is a 1985 comedy film starring John Murray, Jennifer Tilly, Brian Backer, Sally Kellerman, Nedra Volz, Clara Peller, Wendie Jo Sperber and Fred Willard. It was directed by Neal Israel...
, alongside John Murray
John Murray (actor)
John Murray is an American actor.He has eight siblings, including actors Bill Murray, Joel Murray, and Brian Doyle-Murray. He has appeared in the films Starting Over , They All Laughed , Moving Violations , and Scrooged .-External links:...
, Sally Kellerman
Sally Kellerman
Sally Clare Kellerman is an American actress and singer known for her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the film MASH , for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.-Early life:...
, Fred Willard
Fred Willard
Fred Willard is an American actor, comedian, and voice over actor, best known for his improvisational comedy skills. He is known for his roles in the Christopher Guest mockumentary films This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration as well as...
, and Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly is an American actress and poker player. She is an Academy Award nominee, and a World Series of Poker Ladies' Event bracelet winner. She is the older sister of actress Meg Tilly.-Early life:...
, where she played the straightman friend to Nedra Volz
Nedra Volz
Nedra Volz was an American film and television actress.-Early life and career:Born Nedra Gordonier in Montrose, Iowa, she began her career in the family tent show, and appeared in vaudeville as a toddler...
's character who was a haphazard driver needing to renew her license at traffic school. In that film, Peller uttered "Where's the bags?"- a reference to her Wendy's commercials fame. In Larry Cohen
Larry Cohen
Lawrence G. "Larry" Cohen is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter. He is best known as a B-Movie auteur of horror and science fiction films - often containing a police procedural element - during 1970s and 1980s...
's The Stuff
The Stuff
The Stuff is a 1985 American horror film written, produced, and directed by Larry Cohen and starring Michael Moriarty, Garrett Morris, Andrea Marcovicci, and Paul Sorvino. It was also the last film of noted actor Alexander Scourby.-Plot:...
, she appeared with Abe Vigoda
Abe Vigoda
Abe Vigoda is an American movie and television actor. Vigoda is well known for his portrayal of Sal Tessio in The Godfather, and for his portrayal of Detective Sgt. Phil Fish on the sitcom television series Barney Miller from 1975–1977 and on its spinoff show Fish that aired from February 1977 to...
in a commercial shouting "Where's the Stuff?". On April 7, 1986, she even made an appearance at WWF's
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
WrestleMania 2
WrestleMania 2
WrestleMania 2 was the second annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation...
pay-per-view
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
event, which featured guest appearances by numerous celebrities.
Death
Peller died on August 11, 1987 in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, one week after her 85th birthday. She is buried in Waldheim Jewish Cemetery.