Friedman Paul Erhardt

Friedman Paul Erhardt ( born November 5, 1943 in Stuttgart, † October 26, 2007 in Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania, known as Chef Tell) was a German - American television chef.

Life

Erhardt was the son of a newspaper owner. His nickname Tell was derived from a school production of William Tell, in which he played the lead role. He completed his culinary training in various European restaurants. With the West German team, he won a gold medal at the Culinary Olympics.

In 1972 he met his second wife Janet Louise Nicoletti, a former Miss Philadelphia, with whom he moved to Philadelphia. He became an American citizen in 1986 at the suggestion of Richard Nixon. Most recently, he was married to his third wife for 19 years with Bunny Erhardt. He had a son who lives in Germany.

Career as a TV chef

As TV chef Erhardt appeared for the first time in 1974 at a regional station from Philadelphia in the mission Dialing for Dollars in appearance. He became better known by his cooking section in U.S. syndicated Evening Magazine and appearances on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. He then worked for QVC, and he got his own show on PBS ( In the Kitchen With Chef Tell). In his last years he taught at the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia.

He was among the first chefs who were seen regularly on American television. Erhardt, among its features, a corpulent physique and a strong German accent, was regularly the subject of parodies, such as Saturday Night Live. He claimed of himself, to have been the presentation of the chef from the Muppet Show.