Nero Wolfe supporting characters

The Nero Wolfe stories are populated by a cast of supporting characters who help sustain the sense that each story takes place in familiar surroundings.

Fritz Brenner is an exceptionally talented Swiss cook who prepares and serves all of Wolfe's meals except those that Wolfe occasionally takes at Rusterman's Restaurant. Fritz also acts as the household's majordomo and butler. Fritz's living quarters are in the basement of Wolfe's brownstone; here he keeps 289 cookbooks, the head of a wild boar he shot in the Vosges, and busts of Escoffier and Brillat-Savarin as well as a cooking vessel thought to have been used by Julius Caesar's chef. Archie and Fritz have an easygoing working relationship, and Archie often spends time in the kitchen, as he puts it, "chinning" with Fritz. Fritz's relationship with Wolfe is one of mutual respect, admiration and devotion, excepting the times when they quarrel over a recipe. The notoriously finicky Wolfe has even gone so far as to refuse to eat one of Fritz's dishes when he used tarragon and saffron instead of sage to season starlings.

In Champagne for One it is noted that Fritz is very interested in Wolfe getting new clients, since the fees they pay Wolfe are the source from which Fritz's own salary is derived. Fritz can become anxious when a long time passes without a new paying client appearing. However, when the new client does arrive, Fritz is singularly uninterested in the details of the mystery, being supremely confident that Wolfe will solve it and duly collect his fee. When Archie is unavailable Fritz fields phone calls and follows Wolfe's instructions regarding callers at the front door, but his involvement in business is limited to taking messages (and serving drinks and snacks to clients in Wolfe's office). When Wolfe does not want his own and Archie's movements to be known, he arranges for Fritz to be able to claim truthfully that he does not know where they are or when they will return.

In the Columbia Pictures feature film Meet Nero Wolfe (1936), the character of Fritz was transformed into a Scandinavian cook named Olaf, played by John Qualen.

In the ABC-TV movie Nero Wolfe (1977), Fritz is portrayed by David Hurst. In the NBC TV series Nero Wolfe (1981), Fritz Brenner is played by George Voskovec. In the A&E TV original series A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Fritz is played by Colin Fox.

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