Medical Center with his wife, Heather, by his side, said Joe Trentacosta of Springer Associates, Mr. Randall's publicity firm. ", During this same period he became national chairman of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation, a post he occupied for some 30 years. Randall starred as nearly all of the leading characters in the 1964 classic film 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, which was based on The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney. They had two children — Julia Laurette Randall, born in April 1997, named after Mr. Randall's mother and Laurette Taylor, a Broadway actress who died in 1946; and Jefferson Salvini Randall, born in June 1998, who was named after Tommaso Salvini, an Italian Shakespearean actor in the 19th century. His teachers there included Sanford Meisner, a stern taskmaster, and Martha Graham, the dancer, who gave him lessons on how to move about the stage gracefully. He is … and he also got the role of E. K. Hornbeck, the iconoclastic reporter in "Inherit the Wind," a dramatization of the 1925 Scopes "monkey trial" about the teaching of evolution in Tennessee. Randall was a frequent guest as well on both of David Letterman's late-night shows Late Night with David Letterman and the Late Show with David Letterman, making 70 appearances, according to his obituary in The Washington Post; Letterman said that Randall was one of his favorite guests, along with Regis Philbin. As a teenager, he went to see plays whenever he could and on one occasion, the renowned Katharine Cornell came to town in a touring company production of "Romeo and Juliet." His last job with the Army was delivering classified documents to various offices in Washington. The show was based on a TV movie in which Sidney was gay; in the TV show, the character’s sexual orientation was implied, but never specified. At the awards ceremony he quipped: “I’m so happy I won. Periodically, he performed in stage revivals of The Odd Couple with Jack Klugman including a stint in London in 1996. The role made both Mr. Cox and Mr. Randall stars. Mr. Randall was Reggie. But Mr. Randall, who won an Emmy Award for his portrayal, made clear that he didn't want to be always or only thought of as Felix Unger, because he could do so many other things. On television he was in Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl (1956) co-written by Neil Simon. “It’s amazing. But when he went to Tulsa's Central High School, he was unsuccessful when he tried out for parts in school plays, perhaps because he then had a childhood stammer he was in the process of overcoming. [6] As Anthony Randall, he starred with Jane Cowl in George Bernard Shaw's Candida and Ethel Barrymore in Emlyn Williams's The Corn Is Green. The couple had two children: 7-year-old Julia Laurette and 5-year-old Jefferson Salvini. Among his other television credits are "The Tony Randall Show" (1977-78), in which he played a judge and "Love, Sidney" (1981-83), in which he played a middle-aged man who took in an unwed mother and offered to help raise her child. Now if I only had a job.”. Mr. Randall died in his sleep at N.Y.U. In addition to portraying and voicing the eponymous 7 Faces (Dr. Lao, the Abominable Snowman, Merlin, Appolonius of Tyana, The Giant Serpent, Pan, and Medusa), Randall also appeared without makeup in a two-second cameo, as a solemn spectator in the crowd, for a total of 8 roles in the film. Location of death: New York City [1] Cause of death: Pneumonia. “Tony had such a beautiful spirit and so much youth and vigor,” Heather Randall said on “Larry King Live.”. Randall starred in Love, Sidney from 1981 to 1983. Even 20 years after "The Odd Couple" went off the air, Mr. Randall was often stopped on the streets of New York (he loved to walk and when he did not, he almost always took public transportation) by people who never forgot Felix and were convinced that Unger and Randall were one and the same. Randall's first major role in a Broadway hit was in Inherit the Wind (1955–57) portraying Newspaperman E. K. Hornbeck (based on real life cynic H. L. Mencken), alongside Ed Begley and Paul Muni. “He was a vociferous advocate for the proposition that serious plays are the lifeblood of our culture.”. Tony Randall was born Leonard Rosenberg in Tulsa, Okla., on Feb. 26, 1920. I haven’t heard anyone have a life like that,” he said last year. After the war, he worked at the Olney Theatre in Montgomery County, Maryland before heading back to New York City. Mr. Randall was performing as recently as December. Although unfailingly good humored about his television fame, Mr. Randall remained dismayed that most of the television-watching public did not often, if ever, go to stage productions, and many did not recall "M. Butterfly" and the role he had enjoyed so much. The dedicated theater advocate entered the hospital after starring in a revival of Luigi Pirandello’s play “Right You Are,” the 20th production of the National Actors Theatre, which Randall founded. In 1958, Randall played the leading role in the Broadway musical comedy Oh, Captain!, taking on a role originated on film by Alec Guinness. He then starred in an NBC-TV special The Secret of Freedom, which was filmed during the summer of 1959 in Mount Holly, New Jersey, and broadcast on the network during the fall of 1959 and again in early 1960. Mr. Randall went backstage to get her autograph, for which he was asked to pay 25 cents (Miss Cornell informed him that such money went to charity). He had one of the leads in No Down Payment (1957). They appeared in character as Felix and Oscar, and the TV spots were filmed on the same set as The Odd Couple. Later film roles included Fatal Instinct (1994) and Down with Love (2003). During the series run he had a small role in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972). Mr. Trentacosta said Mr. Randall had been hospitalized since December, when he underwent a triple heart bypass and later contracted pneumonia. [7]:207 Oh, Women!" After Randall’s death, Klugman canceled the remaining Milwaukee performances of “An Evening With Jack Klugman,” his one-man show scheduled to run through Sunday, and flew to New York. After the new opera house was finally built, Mr. Randall became a frequent visitor, showing up at the stage door for rehearsals and happily sitting through them when he wasn't working himself. Randall co-starred with Debbie Reynolds in The Mating Game (1959) at MGM. He was in the TV movie The Littlest Angel (1969), alongside Johnny Whitaker and Fred Gwynne. The show was called "Mr. This article is about the actor. He was politically liberal. Oh, Women!" Broadway’s marquee lights were being dimmed in his honor Tuesday night. The following year, he said, "I wish I believed I'd see my parents again, see my wife again. Pace University granted him an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 2003. “I was lucky enough to know Tony as an actor and friend,” Letterman said Tuesday. I think that’s unique.”. In September 1993, Randall and Jack Klugman reunited in the CBS-TV movie The Odd Couple: Together Again reprising their roles. He is survived by his wife, Heather Harlan Randall — who had made him a father for the first time at age 77. He was cast as the foil to Mr. Hudson's romantic lead. “A world without Tony Randall is a world that I cannot recognize,” Klugman said Tuesday night on CNN’s “Larry King Live.”. Last year, Randall told AP Radio that, thanks to reruns, it was no surprise most people knew him as Felix Unger. In September, during a speech to the National Funeral Directors Association, Randall joked about how he envisioned his own ceremony: President Bush and Vice President Cheney would show up to pay their respects, but they’d be turned away because his family knows he didn’t like them. Tony Randall was married to his first wife, model Florence Randall, for 54 years until her death in 1992. Tony Randall. Randall also began appearing on television, notably episodes of One Man's Family. Being gay “was unacceptable on network television.”, Kurtz recalled Randall’s sense of humor as being “outrageous. Eva Wolas wrote what was then described as a "sex comedy" in 1948, called "To Tell the Truth," and Mr. Randall got a part in it. This was the 100th episode of the show. He was in rehearsal for a part in Thornton Wilder's "The Skin of Our Teeth" in 1942 when he was drafted into the Army. In 1999 the City College of New York honored Randall with the John H. Finley Award for outstanding service to the City of New York. Their productions included The Crucible (1991), A Little Hotel on the Side (1992), The Master Builder (1992), The Seagull (1992), Saint Joan (1993), Three Men on a Horse (1993), Timon of Athens (1993), The Government Inspector (1993), The Flowering Peach (1994), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1994), The School for Scandal (1995), Inherit the Wind (1996), and The Gin Game (1997). 2, 1987 promotional mailer, Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask), Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, "Tony Randall - Archive Interview Part 1 of 4", "Tony Randall, 84, Dies; Fussbudget Felix in 'Odd Couple,' He Loved the Stage", "Tony Randall, Bright, Zestful And Always Endearing", "Randall's dreams of acting started in Tulsa", Invitation letter for "Together for McGovern at the Garden, June 14, 1972" (producer: Warren Beatty), The Interviews: An Oral History of Television, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tony_Randall&oldid=983414949, Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Primetime Emmy Award winners, Infectious disease deaths in New York (state), Central High School (Tulsa, Oklahoma) alumni, Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre alumni, Signals Intelligence Service cryptographers, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Dr. Lao / Merlin / Pan / Abominable Snowman / Medusa / Giant Serpent / Apollonius of Tyana, Gnome King / Ghost of the Black Lake (voice), This page was last edited on 14 October 2020, at 02:56. Tony's cause of death was pneumonia following heart surgery. "Autograph or pen?` Miss Cornell tartly inquired. It was made at 20th Century Fox who promoted Randall to stardom with Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

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