Peter Elbling (November 29, 1943 ) is a British actor, writer and musician who appeared as Mork & Mindy's French Waiter at Chez Michel's in Season 1's Mork's Mixed Emotions.
Biography[]
He was born in London, England on November 29, 1943 as Harold Peter Elbling, to a well to do family, attending the private Marylebone Grammar School. [1] At age 19, however, he took off and took up life of a traveling folksinger in Canada. At age 20, he met Michel Choquette to form the comedy team, The Times Square Two. For the next five years they toured coffee houses, night clubs, and concert halls, their growing success seeing them appear on such TV shows as The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Dean Martin Show, The Gold Diggers, The Johnny Carson Show, and The Kraft Music Hall -- and many more.
After the duo finished, Elbling, like many of the guest actors who appeared on Mork & Mindy, studied acting with the improvisational comedy troupes "The Committee" in San Francisco and "The Second City." in Chicago, before embarking on his career on and behind the screen.
In 1979, he created, co-authored, and co-edited With humorist Tony Hendra, the satirical best-selling book, The 1980's - A Look Back which became a New York Times best-seller. Ten years later, in 1989, he wrote a sequel, The 1990's - A Look Back, He joined Jim Krusoe's writing workshop at Santa Monica City College. After a couple of years he had my first success with the children's book, Aria. 20 years later, inspired by Story Theater and his sons, Dimitri and Simon, Elbling wrote and directed an evening of children's stories, called "The Tales of Uncle Jo." His first novel, The Food Taster, was published in 2003 in the United States and subsequently published in 20 countries around the world. In 2004, he filmed a children's story he had written called "Archie the Anteater."
Inspired by silent movie comedians, he created the character of Mr. Vinégar -- or Mr. Vin-EH-gar as he prefers to be called -- for the short films, "Mr. Vinégar and the Crossword." and "Mr. Vinégar and the Curse,"
His latest novel, Acts of Amusement, which will be published in 2022. [2]
Elbling is good friends with fellow Mork & Mindy guest star and member of Off The Wall Improv Group with Robin Williams, Paul Willson, and with Beans Morocco
He lives in Venice, California.
Career[]
He garnered his first on screen credit in 1972 in the Burt Reynolds movie Fuzz as Harold Oblong, and appeared under that name in many TV series guest appearances from 1972 to 1977. His second movie appearance 1974's The Phantom of the Paradise also gave him the chance to sing, dance and choreograph. [3] [2]
Filmography (Movies)[]
| Year | Movie | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Fuzz | Detective |
| 1974 | Phantom of the Paradise | The Juicy Fruits / The Beach Bums / The Undeads |
| 1977 | Demon Seed | Scientist |
| 1977 | The World's Greatest Lover | Robert Drake |
| 1978 | Rabbit Test | Monya |
| 1981 | Private Lessons | Waiter |
| 1983 | Doctor Detroit | Guptor |
| 1983 | The Man with Two Brains | Morgue Attendant |
| 1985 | Once Bitten | Bookseller |
| 1987 | Some Kind of Wonderful | Maitre 'D |
| 1987 | Baby Boom | Maitre D' |
| 1989 | Police Academy 6: City Under Siege | Store Manager |
| 1991 | Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever | Biology Teacher |
| 2001 | Barstow 2008 | Nigel |
| 2016 | A Journey to a Journey | Professor Edward Forsythe |
| 2016 | Radical | The Boss |
*1972-1977 As Harold Oblong
His first TV appearance also came in 1972 in the Hugh O'Brian led 'Search', leading to two decades of appearing on TV in shows like Shaft, Taxi, WKRP in Cincinnati, Laverne and Shirley, Rhoda, Phyllis, while also appearing on stage in Shakespeare.
Filmography (TV Series)[]
| Year | TV Series | Episodes | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Search | One of Our Probes Is Missing | Aaron Kaplos |
| 1973 | Shaft | The Enforcers | Numbers |
| 1974 | Get Christie Love! | Deadly Betrayal | |
| 1975 | Mannix | Bird of Prey: Part 1
Bird of Prey: Part 2 |
Gufo |
| 1975 | Caribe | The Patriots | Kevin Scott |
| 1975 | The Rookies | Reading, Writing and Angel Dust | Doc Merton |
| 1975-1981 | Barney Miller | Heat Wave
Resignation |
Fresh Talker
Jordan Heath |
| 1976-1980 | Laverne & Shirley | How Do You Say 'Are You Dead' in German?
Call Me a Taxi Bus Stop Not Quite South of the Border |
Eric
Dancer Bum Jose |
| 1977 | Phyllis | Dan's Ex | The Waiter |
| 1976 | Rhoda | You Deserve a Break Today | Jacques |
| 1977 | Sirota's Court | The Alien | Nicholas |
| 1978 | The Bastard | General | |
| 1978 | WKRP in Cincinnati | Hoodlum Rock | Blood |
| 1979 | Mork & Mindy | Mork's Mixed Emotions | The French Waiter |
| 1980 | Knots Landing | Kristin | Al Tuna |
| 1982 | Love, Sidney | Sail Away | Steward |
| 1982 | Police Squad! | The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand) | The Mime |
| 1982 | Taxi | The Wedding of Latka and Simka
Scenskees from a Marriage: Part 1 |
Mascha |
| 1982 | Hart to Hart | In the Hart of the Night | Akbar |
| 1983 | The A-Team | Diamonds 'n Dust | Morey Moran |
| 1983-1984 | Benson | Love in a Funny Phase
Make War, Not Love |
The Waiter
President Fredrick Voorhies |
| 1983-1985 | Scarecrow and Mrs. King | Sudden Death
Sour Grapes |
Lazlo
Jean-Pierre |
| 1984 | Blue Thunder | Clipped Wings | Ed Lang |
| 1985 | Punky Brewster | Play It Again, Punky | Mr. Dell |
| 1985 | V | The Wildcats
War of Illusions The Secret Underground |
Oswald |
| 1985 | Remington Steele | Steele Blushing | Coyle |
| 1985 | 1st & Ten | Wine Time | Jacque St. George |
| 1986 | Crazy Like a Fox | The Road to Tobago
|
|
| 1986 | Misfits of Science | Three Days of the Blender | Chaplain |
| 1987 | The Judge | It's Only Rock and Roll | Jimmy Goldstein |
| 1987-1989 | It's a Living | The Sonny's Mother Show
My Little Red Book |
Mr. Larouch
Sergei |
| 1988 | Cheers | Airport V | Murray Treadwell |
| 1988 | Magnum, P.I. | Resolutions: Part I
Resolutions: Part II |
Emile, the Tailor |
| 1988 | CBS Summer Playhouse | Further Adventures | Moshul |
| 1988 | Baby Boom | The He-Man Woman's Hater Club | Walter |
| 1989 | The Golden Girls | The Golden Girls | Desk Clerk |
| 1991 | Sons and Daughters | The Dating Games | Waiter |
| 1991 | L.A. Law | On the Toad Again | Wendel Mueller |
| 1995 | Live Shot | A Death in the Family | Duke |
| 1997 | Murphy Brown | A Butcher, a Faker, a Bummed-Out Promo Maker | Stage Manager |
| 2014 | NCIS | So It Goes | Gentleman / Samuel Colpepper |
| 2015 | Blunt Talk | Goodnight, My Someone | Trainer |
| 2015 | Criminal Minds | Future Perfect | Harold McDermott |
| 2019 | Liza on Demand | Sorry, Not Sorry | Old Salesman |
*1972-1977 As Harold Oblong
In addition he also appeared in numerous TV Movies including: Six Characters in Search of an Author (1976); The Plant Family (1978); Disco Beaver from Outer Space (1979); Brave New World (1980); The Stepford Children (1987); Bus People (2012), and numerous short movies.
In 1980 and 1981, he produced and directed a series of late night stage shows called The Hollywood Primary, a satirical cabaret with alumni of "The Committee", "The Second City," and "The National Lampoon."
As with many actors he also started to write for a variety of productions, including television specials, such as Great Performances: Dance in America (1985) The Best of Ed Sullivan (1992), TV Movies like the TVTV Show (1977), Disco Beaver from Outer Space (1979), Prime Times (1983) Redeye Express (1988) and Documentaries like E.T. and Friends: Magical Movie Visitors (1982) which was hosted by Robin Williams.
In the early 90s Garry Goodrow and Elbling wrote a film called "Big Baby," which was bought by Disney and turned into Honey, I Blew up the Kid (1992). He was now devoting so much time to writing that he gave up acting altogether, with an almost 17 year gap in his Network TV appearances between Murphy Brown in 1997 and his return in NCIS in 2014.
Mork & Mindy[]
Elbling appeared as the slightly snobbish French Waiter at the expensive upmarket Boulder restaurant Chez Michel, that Mindy and Mork go to, to celebrate her 22nd Birthday. Unfortunately for the waiter, Mork is still suffering the after effects of his emotions having finally broken free after Mindy had blasted open the mental door he had locked them behind. The waiter's supercilious reaction to Mindy's asking for her favourite Thousand Island Dressing bringing out Mork's wrist slashing despair and sending the waiter into a rush to get her dressing from the 7/11.
Note:[]
Elbling was also cast as a character called 'Derek' in Season 2's Jeanie Loves Mork, but his part never made it to the screen.