Clara Peller

Clara Peller (born Rocha Swerdlova;

Life and career Born in Polotsk in Imperial Russia,

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 used in a number of TV spot advertisements. She first attracted attention as a comical cleaning lady in an advertisement for the new Massachusetts State Lottery game "Megabucks", and later nationally in a series of commercials for the Wendy's restaurant chain.

Wendy's campaign First airing on January 10, 1984, the Wendy's commercial portrayed a fictional fast-food competitor named "Big Bun", where three elderly ladies are served an enormous hamburger bun containing a minuscule hamburger patty. While two of the women are commenting on the size of the bun, they are interrupted by an irascible Peller, who looks around 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 instantly became a catchphrase across the United States and Canada. 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 years."

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 acknowledged in an interview with People magazine that she had earned $30,000 from the first two commercials and profits from product tie-in sales. Wendy's later stated that the company had paid Peller a total of $500,000 for her work on the campaign, though Peller denied earning that much. In announcing the dismissal, Wendy's Denny Lynch stated, "Clara can find the beef only in one place, and that is Wendy's". Peller responded, "I've made them millions, and they don't appreciate me." 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.

Final appearances and death 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 Peller) that she was "whichever one will get me Social Security."

Peller died on August 11, 1987, in Chicago, one week after her 85th birthday, from congestive heart failure. She is buried at Waldheim Jewish Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois.

Daughter Marlene Necheles published a biography in 2010, Clara Peller: An American Icon, then collaborated with Geoff Shell on a musical, Clara and the Beef, based on her biography.