Clara (Where’s the Beef?) Peller Dies at 86 at Daughter’s Home

Clara Peller, the feisty TV commercial star who made “Where’s the beef?” a household phrase, died of congestive heart failure early today at her daughter’s apartment. She was 86.

Peller, who worked as a manicurist and beautician for 35 years, became a media darling in 1984, when she appeared on two television commercials for fast-food restaurants run by Wendy’s International Inc. of Dublin, Ohio.

In the commercials, the 4-foot-10 Mrs. Peller played the part of a consumer outraged by the small size of hamburger patties served by other fast-food chains.

“Where’s the beef?” she demanded in a husky voice.

The expression even made it into the 1984 political scene, when Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale used it to suggest there was a lack of substance in his rival’s campaign.