She worked for 35 years as a manicurist at a Chicago beauty salon, and later moved to the suburban North Shore area to be near her daughter, Marlene Necheles.

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",[5] and later nationally in a series of commercials for the Wendy's restaurant chain.

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?

"[7] Sequels featured a crotchety Peller yelling her famous line in various scenes, such as storming drive-thru counters,[8] or in telephone calls to a fast-food executive attempting to relax on his yacht, the S.S. Big Bun.

"[9] Former Vice President Walter Mondale also used the line against rival Senator Gary Hart in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1984 campaign.

[12] 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.

[12] Per the terms of her Screen Actors Guild union contract, the actress was free to participate in any commercials for products, goods or services, which did not directly compete with Wendy's hamburgers.

On April 7, 1986, she made an appearance at WrestleMania 2 at Chicago's Rosemont Horizon, where she was the guest timekeeper for the 20-man invitational over-the top-rope battle royal involving both wrestlers and NFL players of the 1970s and 1980s.