Tony Randall (February 26, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was an American actor, producer, and director, best known for his role as Felix Unger in the television adaptation of Neil Simon’s play, The Odd Couple He was born to a Jewish family in Oklahoma, the son of Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer, and his wife, Julia Finston.
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Full Name: Arthur Leonard Rosenberg
Description: Actor, USA
Known For: Film “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter” 1957
Location: OK, United States of America
Date Born: 26th February 1920
Location Born: Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States of America
Date Died: 18th May 2004
Location Died: NYC, New York, United States of America
Cause Of Death: Pneumonia
Memorial: He is interred at the Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
CONTACT DETAILS
Web Site: http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/R/htmlR/randalltony/randalltony.htm
YOUTUBE VIDEO
BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg, to a Jewish family, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia (née Finston) and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer. He attended Tulsa Central High School.
Randall attended Northwestern University for a year before going 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. 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. Randall then served for four years with the United States Army Signal Corps in World War II, refusing an entertainment assignment with Special Services. After the war, he worked at the Olney Theatre in Montgomery County, Maryland before heading back to New York City. Prior to his appearance in Candida, Randall worked as an announcer at radio station WTAG, Worcester MA.
Career
Randall appeared in minor roles on Broadway, and supporting roles on tours. In the 1940s one of his first jobs was playing “Reggie” on the long-running radio series I Love a Mystery. In 1946, he was cast as one of the brothers in a touring production of Katharine Cornell’s revival of The Barretts of Wimpole Street. His first major role in a Broadway hit was in Inherit the Wind in 1955 portraying Newspaperman E. K. Hornbeck (based on real life cynic H. L. Mencken). In 1958, he played the leading role in the musical comedy Oh, Captain!, taking on a role originated on film by Alec Guinness. Oh, Captain! was a financial failure, but Randall received a Tony Award nomination for his legendary dance turn with prima ballerina Alexandra Danilova.
Television
His first major television role was as history teacher Harvey Weskit in Mr. Peepers (1952–1955). 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.
He returned to television in 1970 as Felix Unger in The Odd Couple, opposite Jack Klugman, a role lasting for five years. The names of Unger’s children on The Odd Couple were Edna and Leonard, named after Randall’s sister and Randall himself. In 1974, Randall and Jack Klugman appeared in television spots endorsing a Yahtzee spinoff, Challenge Yahtzee. They appeared in character as Felix and Oscar, and the TV spots were filmed on the same set as The Odd Couple.
Later he starred in The Tony Randall Show, playing a Philadelphia judge, and Love, Sidney. In the TV movie that served as the latter show’s pilot, Sidney Shorr was written as a gay man, but his character’s sexuality was made ambiguous when the series premiered. Randall refused to star in any more television shows, favoring the Broadway stage as his medium.
Randall was the host for the October 30 – November 2, 1987 free preview of HBO’s short-lived premium channel Festival.
In September 1993, Randall and Jack Klugman reunited in the CBS-TV movie The Odd Couple: Together Again reprising their roles. The story began when, after Felix ruined plans for his daughter Edna’s wedding, his wife Gloria threw him out of the house for 11 days, which left him no choice but to move back in with Oscar and to help him recover, getting him back in shape after throat cancer surgery left his voice very raspy.
Film
He 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. The film received an Oscar for William J. Tuttle’s makeup artistry. His film roles included Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1957) Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957), The Mating Game (1959), Pillow Talk (1959), Let’s Make Love (1960), Boys’ Night Out (1962), The Brass Bottle (1964), Hello Down There (1969), Scavenger Hunt (1979), The King of Comedy (1983) and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990).
Randall was married to Florence Gibbs from 1942 until her death from cancer in 1992. The following year, he said, “I wish I believed I’d see my parents again, see my wife again. But I know it’s not going to happen.” He remarried on November 17, 1995, to Heather Harlan, an intern in one of his theatrical programs. At the time, Tony was 75 years old and Heather 25. The couple lived in a Manhattan apartment and bought a vacation apartment, in Key Biscayne, in 2003. They had two children, Julia & Jefferson and remained married until his death, in May 2004.
In his book Which Reminds Me, he said that any publicity an actor generates should be about his work, not himself. “The public knows only one thing about me: I don’t smoke.” In 1995 he made his engagement and marriage to Harlan and his fatherhood public.
Death
Randall died in his sleep on May 17, 2004, at NYU Medical Center of pneumonia that he had contracted following coronary bypass surgery in December 2003. His remains are interred at the Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York State.