TONY RANDALL

February 26, 1920

Anthony “Tony” Randall was born Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is best known for his role as Felix Unger in a television adaptation of the 1965 play The Odd Couple by Neil Simon. In a career spanning about six decades, Randall received six Golden Globe Award nominations and six Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning one.

Randall attended Northwestern University before going to New York City to study acting. Randall worked as a radio announcer and served four years with the US Army during World War II.  

Randall appeared on Broadway in Katharine Cornell’s production of Antony and Cleopatra (1947–48) alongside Cornell and Charlton Heston and Maureen Stapleton. 

This began a love of theatre that spanned more than fifty years and won him a 1958 Tony nomination for Oh Captain!  

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. In the 1960 film his role was played by Gene Kelly. 

His first screen appearance was a brief appearance (uncredited) as a camera man in Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur (1942).

Busy with theatre, his next screen appearance was also his television debut: a recurring character on “One Man’s Family” (1950-51) with Eva Marie Saint (above). 

He played the title role in a February 1959 episode of “The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse” titled “Martin’s Folly”. The episode also featured now-iconic television performers Jay North, Bart Braverman, Frank Cady, George O’Hanlon, Phil Ober, and Carl Reiner.  The show was hosted by Desi Arnaz. 

In September 1970 he began playing the role that would make him a household name, Felix in “The Odd Couple” appearing in all 114 episodes of the series alongside the other half of the ‘couple’, Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. 

During his second year of “The Odd Couple” he took time to appear on “Here’s Lucy” in “Lucy and the Mountain Climber” (HL S4;E2) on September 20, 1971. 

From 1978 to 1981 he had his own show, “The Tony Randall Show” playing a Judge for 2 seasons on CBS. From 1981 to 1983 he had another show titled “Love, Sidney” playing a middle-aged gay artist sharing his New York apartment with a single mother and her little girl. 

Randall appeared on several awards shows and specials that also featured Lucille Ball: 

• “CBS On The Air” (1978) ~ Randall represented Saturday nights on the five-night celebration, a night also led by Carol Burnett, Audrey Meadows, Betty White, Fred MacMurray, and Mike Connors. 
• “Dean Martin Celebrity Roast for Jimmy Stewart” (1978) ~ Randall and Ball are both on the dais. 
• “Night of 100 Stars II” (1985) ~ held at Radio City Music Hall. 

• “Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC” (1988)

Randall shares a birthdate with other “Lucy” guest stars Jackie Gleason and Robert Alda. When “Goodbye, Mrs. Hips” (HL S5;E23) first aired on their birthdays in 1973, Randall turned 53, Gleason was 57, and Alda was 59. 

In “Lucy’s Replacement” (HL S4;E19) in January 1972, Kim calls Harry and EXMO (computer) “the odd couple”. While it might be taken as a general reference (and Randall’s name or character is not mentioned), the sitcom was proving immensely popular with viewers at the time of filming.

Randall was married to his high school sweetheart Florence Gibbs from 1938 until her death in 1992. He remarried in 1995 to Heather Harlan, 50 years his junior. The couple had two children and remained married until his death in May 17, 2004 of pneumonia contracted following coronary bypass surgery.

Randall was an advocate for the arts founding the short-lived National Actors Theatre. He was also an anti-smoking advocate and did charity work to fight AIDS.  

"The public knows only one thing about me: I don’t smoke.” ~ Tony Randall