Tony Randall
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Tony Randall (February 26, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was an American comic actor.
Early life
He was born as Arthur Leonard Rosenberg in a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the only child of Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer, and his wife, Julia Finston.Show business
He was first attracted to show business when a ballet company played in Tulsa. He attended Northwestern University for a year before traveling to New York City to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. He studied under Sanford Meisner and choreographer Martha Graham around 1935. Under the name Anthony Randall, he acted in radio soap operas and worked onstage opposite stars Jane Cowl in George Bernard Shaw's Candida and Ethel Barrymore in Emlyn Williams's The Corn Is Green. Tony then served for four years with the United States Army Signal Corps in World War II. Then he worked at the Olney Theatre in Montgomery County, New York before heading back to New York City.
National Actors Theatre
He was the founder of National Actors Theatre (currently housed at Pace University in New York City) and also starred in many plays and popular movies, including Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957), Pillow Talk (1959), Let's Make Love (1960), The King of Comedy (1983), and (1990). Randall also starred in several television shows, including The Odd Couple (playing Felix Unger) and The Tony Randall Show. He also starred in Love, Sidney, the first television show to feature a gay lead character (however, this was never directly referenced in the show).He was a frequent and popular guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and often spoke of his love of opera, claiming it was due in no small part to the salaciousness of many of the plotlines. He also admitted to (actually bragged about) sneaking tape recorders into operas to make his own private bootleg recordings. He would often chide Johnny Carson for his chain-smoking, and was generally fastidious and fussy, much like his Felix Unger characterization. He seemed to have a wealth of facts and trivia at his disposal, and he told Carson that the secret was simply "to retain everything you were supposed to have learned in elementary school."
In keeping with his penchant for both championing and mocking the culture that he loved, during the Big Band Era revival in the mid-1960s he produced a record album of 1930s songs, Vo Vo De Oh Doe, inspired by (and covering) The New Vaudeville Band's one-hit wonder, "Winchester Cathedral." He mimicked (and somewhat exaggerated) the vibrato style of Carmen Lombardo, and the two of them once sang a duet of Lombardo's signature song "Boo Hoo (You've Got Me Crying for You)" on the Carson show.
Marriages
He was married to Florence Gibbs from 1942 until her death from cancer in 1992 and then, from November 17, 1995 until his death, to Heather Harlan, with whom he had two children, Julia Laurette Randall (b. 1997) and Jefferson Salvini Randall (b. 1998). To say the least, Randall became a father late in life but Heather talked of how he adored his children and how loving he was with them. She said he faced death bravely, but his greatest sorrow was leaving them behind.Death
His final film appearance was in Down with Love (2003) starring Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, an affectionate send-up of the Pillow Talk type of films that helped establish Randall's career.
In 2005, Randall's good friend and Odd Couple co-star Jack Klugman wrote Tony And Me: A Story Of Friendship. In the book, Klugman told many stories about Randall's kindness and generosity and said Randall was the best friend he ever had.
Awards
- He was nominated for five Golden Globe awards and two Emmys, winning one Emmy in 1975 for his work in the sitcom The Odd Couple.
- Received an honorary degree, Doctor of Fine Arts, from Pace University in 2003.
Trivia
- Tony Randall endorsed a game, called "Word Quest", in 1984. where the objective was to guess the proper definition of a given word.
- He starred as nearly all of the leading characters in the 1963 film 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. The film received an Oscar for William Tuttle's makeup artistry, but many believe Randall never received proper acknowledgement for his versatile performances in the film.
- Randall, along with John Goodman and Drew Barrymore was one of the first guests on the debut episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien on September 13, 1993. He would also appear in Conan's 5th Anniversary Special with the character PimpBot 5000.
- Was one of the earliest advocates against smoking, and often would chide celebrities in person on the air for the habit.
- Randall was mentioned in "Maximum Homerdrive", an episode of The Simpsons, for being one of the two men to ever finish Sirloin A Lot, a 16-pound steak.
- In September 2003, Randall joked that if President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney should come to his funeral, they were to be turned away. [link]
- Tony Randall named Felix Unger's TV children after himself (Leonard) and his sister (Edna).
External links
- [High school yearbook photo and comments]
- [News of his death]
- [Tony and Me, A Story of Friendship. By Jack Klugman]
- [Pace University's tribute to Tony Randall]
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