Mark Blankfield


Mark W. Blankfield was an American actor and comedian. He is best known as a regular cast member of the television variety series Fridays. Other work included roles in Jekyll and Hyde...Together Again, 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.
He made appearances in television series such as Taxi, Night Court, The Nutt House, The Jamie Foxx Show, Saved by the Bell, Sledge Hammer!, Crusade, Double Rush, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper and Arrested Development.
Blankfield died on March 20, 2024, at the age of 73.

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 Mommy Dearest, where his movie star father 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.
  • The Pharmacist, a jittery, drug-addled owner of "Drugs R Us" who tried to keep sane while working at his drug store. His catchphrases were, "I can handle it. I can handle it!" and "Take a pill!"
  • One of The Transphibians, a trio of men 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.