Mark Blankfield

{{Short description|American actor (1950–2024)}} {{Multiple issues| {{Overly detailed|date=November 2023}} {{More citations needed|date=August 2024}} }} {{Infobox person | name = Mark Blankfield | image = | caption = | birth_name = Mark W. Blankfield | birth_date = {{Birth date|1950|05|08}} | birth_place = [[Pasadena, Texas]], U.S.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mark Blankfield|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/70/Mark-Blankfield.html|work=Filmreference.com}}</ref> | death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|03|20|1950|05|08}} | death_place = United States | occupation = Actor, comedian | years_active = 1979–2017 | spouse = {{marriage|[[Brandis Kemp]]|1972|1987|reason=divorced}} }}

'''Mark W. Blankfield''' (May 8, 1950 – March 20, 2024) was an American actor and comedian. He is best known as a regular cast member of the television variety series ''[[Fridays (TV series)|Fridays]]''. Other work included roles in ''[[Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again|Jekyll and Hyde...Together Again]]'',<ref name=N>{{cite web|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=MODERNIZED JEKYLL AND HYDE|author-link=Janet Maslin|author=Maslin, Janet|date=December 3, 1982|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A07E1D8123BF930A35751C1A964948260}}</ref> ''[[The Incredible Shrinking Woman]]'', ''[[Robin Hood: Men in Tights]]'', ''[[Dracula: Dead and Loving It]]'', and ''[[The Jerk, Too]]'', a reworked [[TV-movie]] version of ''[[The Jerk]]''.<ref>{{cite news|title= TV WEEKEND; 'JERK TOO,' 'BLUE THUNDER'|work=The New York Times|date=6 January 1984|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/06/arts/tv-weekend-jerk-too-blue-thunder.html?scp=5&sq=blue%20thunder&st=cse|accessdate=2010-11-08|authorlink=John J. O'Connor (journalist)|first=John J.|last=O'Connor}}</ref>

He made appearances in television series such as ''[[Taxi (TV series)|Taxi]]'', ''[[Night Court]]'', ''[[The Nutt House]]'',<ref name=NYT>{{cite web| title=Mark Blankfield| url=https://movies.nytimes.com/person/6697/Mark-Blankfield| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622113639/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/6697/Mark-Blankfield| url-status=dead| department=Movies & TV Dept.| work=The New York Times|date=2008| archive-date=2008-06-22}}</ref> ''[[The Jamie Foxx Show]]'', ''[[Saved by the Bell]]'', ''[[Sledge Hammer!]]'', ''[[Crusade (TV series)|Crusade]]'', ''[[Double Rush]]'', ''[[Hangin' with Mr. Cooper]]'' and ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]''.

Blankfield died on March 20, 2024, at the age of 73.<ref>{{cite web |title=Summer 2024 magazine |url=https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1525111-summer-2024/73? |website=SAG-AFTRA |access-date=13 August 2024 |pages=72}}</ref>

==Recurring characters on ''Fridays''== *Pastor Babbitt, a highly conservative, yet very hypocritical televangelist whose sermons would always lead to admissions of being abused in his youth or indulging in the very sins and vices he's preaching against, such as homosexuality, prostitution, and premarital sex. *Ken the Monster, a hunchback and working actor with an exaggerated walk that could be described as a spoof of Grandpa Amos McCoy of ''The Real McCoys''. He was also cross-eyed, which impaired his depth perception. Ken found himself in various scenarios, including a parody of "The Postman Always Rings Twice", called "The Monster Always Rings Twice" where he seduces a lonely diner waitress, and a parody of ''[[Mommie Dearest (film)|Mommy Dearest]]'' (framed as Ken pitching a movie to a sleazy Hollywood producer [played by cast member Michael Richards]), where his movie star father (played by guest host [[Marty Feldman]]) tries to keep the press and his circle of friends from discovering that he has a son and abuses him, though most of what Ken goes through were fairly normal (going to his high school reunion, waking up from a one-night stand with a woman dressed as Tinker Bell from ''Peter Pan'', and auditioning for acting roles). *The Pharmacist,<ref name=NYT/> a jittery, drug-addled owner of "Drugs R Us" who tried to keep sane while working at his drug store (and getting high on the drugs and other assorted products, like glue, unmarked pills, and the testing liquid to a pregnancy kit, in his store). His catchphrases were, "I can handle it. ''I can handle it''!" and "Take a pill!" *One of The Transphibians, a trio of men (the other two members are played by Darrow Igus and Michael Richards) who, like actual transsexuals, feel that they were born in the wrong body, got surgery to look how they perceive themselves to be, and are discriminated for it by other people. Unlike actual transsexuals, the Transphibians are men who identify as amphibians and got surgery to look like them.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb name|0087578}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blankfield, Mark}} [[Category:1950 births]] [[Category:2024 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American male actors]] [[Category:21st-century American male actors]] [[Category:American male film actors]] [[Category:American male television actors]] [[Category:American sketch comedians]] [[Category:Male actors from Harris County, Texas]] [[Category:People from Pasadena, Texas]] [[Category:Comedians from Texas]] [[Category:American male comedians]] [[Category:Place of death missing]]