Tony Randall
Encyclopedia
Tony Randall was a U.S. actor
, comic, producer and director.
, 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 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. As Anthony Randall, he worked onstage opposite stars 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. Then he worked at the Olney Theatre
in Montgomery County
, Maryland
before heading back to New York City.
. 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 a personal success for Randall, who received glowing notices and a Tony Award
nomination for his legendary dance turn with prima ballerina Alexandra Danilova
.
(1952–1955). He had the starring role 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.
After a long hiatus from the medium, he returned in 1970 as fussbudget Felix Unger in The Odd Couple
, opposite Jack Klugman
, a role he would keep 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
.
Subsequently, he starred in The Tony Randall Show
, in which he played a Philadelphia judge, and Love, Sidney
. In the TV movie that served as the latter show's pilot, Sidney Shorr was clearly written as a gay
man, but his character's sexuality was made ambiguous when the series premiered. Disappointed by what he perceived as censorship (plus the series' lack of acceptance), Randall refused to star in any more television shows.
Randall was the host during the breaks 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 once again in the CBS-TV movie The Odd Couple: Together Again reprising their roles as Felix Unger and Oscar Madison. 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.
, co-starring Barbara Eden
. The film received an Oscar
for William J. Tuttle's makeup artistry.
Randall's other 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), The King of Comedy
(1983) and Gremlins 2: The New Batch
(1990).
Pillow Talk was the first of three movies in which Doris Day
, Rock Hudson
and Randall all starred. Randall, by all accounts, ended up with the best lines ("It takes an early bird to take a worm like me"; on the crying Doris Day: "I never knew a woman that size had that much water in her", etc.). The other two are Lover Come Back
(1961) and Send Me No Flowers
(1963). Elements from the plots of these films, particularly Pillow Talk, were parodied in the 2003 comedy Down With Love
, with Renée Zellweger
in the Doris Day role, Ewan McGregor
in the Rock Hudson, and David Hyde Pierce
as the Tony Randall character, with Randall himself playing Hyde Pierce's father.
(ultimately housed at Pace University
in New York City) where he gave his final stage performance in Luigi Pirandello
's Right You Are (If You Think You Are) in 2003.
Periodically, he performed in stage revivals of The Odd Couple
with Jack Klugman
including a stint in London in 1996. The following year, Randall and Klugman reunited to appear on Broadway in a revival of The Sunshine Boys
. From 1988 to 1990, he appeared in John Dexter
's production of M. Butterfly.
in the episode "The Pirate's House" of the CBS
anthology series, Appointment with Adventure
.
Randall 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." At the time of his death, Randall had appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show more often (105 times) than any other celebrity.
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 13 September 1993. He would also appear in Conan's
5th Anniversary Special with the character PimpBot 5000. Randall was also a frequent guest 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
.
Randall appeared frequently on What's My Line?
, Password, The Hollywood Squares, and the $10,000 and $20,000 Pyramids
. He also sent up his somewhat pompous image with a single appearance as a "contestant" on The Gong Show
in 1977.
On November 7, 1994, Randall appeared on the game show Jeopardy!
, as part of a Special Edition Celebrity Jeopardy! episode, playing on behalf of the National Actors Theatre. He came in second place after General Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
and before Actress Stefanie Powers
, with a final score of $9,900.
In 1999, Randall was featured in the Simpsons episode "Maximum Homerdrive
" (season 10, episode 17). A picture of Randall is seen on a wall of fame in a steakhouse, displaying the only two persons who have finished a 16-lb. steak called "Sir Loinalot".
, Randall co-wrote with Mike Mindlin a collection of amusing and sometimes racy show business anecdotes called Which Reminds Me, published in 1989.
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 Tonight Show
.
He was an avid fan of the opera and quite knowledgeable on the subject. He was a frequent guest on the Opera Quiz intermission features of the Saturday afternoon broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera.
, New York City
.
He was also politically active with leftwing causes. During the U.S. presidential primaries
in 1972
, he appeared as the featured celebrity at numerous fundraising house-parties for Democratic candidate
George McGovern
.
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, Heather 25. The couple subsequently had two children, Julia Laurette Randall (b. 1997) and Jefferson Salvini Randall (b. 1998), and they remained married until his death in 2004.
In his book Which Reminds Me, he proclaimed 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", he proclaimed. But by 1995, he revised his opinion, and made his engagement and marriage to Harlan, and subsequent fatherhood, quite public. For the most part, the media treated the marriage in a light-hearted spirit, but when the two became parents, not everyone was convinced the couple was completely forthright regarding how the babies were conceived.
he contracted following bypass surgery
in December 2003. He is interred at the Westchester Hills Cemetery
in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
s, winning one Emmy in 1975 for his work on the sitcom The Odd Couple
. In 1993, he received The Hundred Year Association of New York
's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." Pace University
granted him an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 2003.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, comic, producer and director.
Early years
Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in TulsaTulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, the son of Julia (née Finston) and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer. He attended Tulsa Central High School
Central High School (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
Central High School is the oldest high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was founded in 1906 as Tulsa High School, and located in downtown Tulsa until 1976. The school now has a campus in northwest Tulsa. Tulsa Central is part of the Tulsa Public Schools, Oklahoma's largest school district, and is a...
.
Randall attended Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
for a year before traveling to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. He studied under Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner , also known as Sandy, was an American actor and acting teacher who developed a form of Method acting that is now known as the Meisner technique....
and choreographer Martha Graham
Martha Graham
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
around 1935. As Anthony Randall, he worked onstage opposite stars Jane Cowl
Jane Cowl
Jane Cowl was an American film and stage actress and playwright "notorious for playing lacrymose parts". Actress Jane Russell was named in Cowl's honor.-Biography:...
in George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
's Candida
Candida (play)
Candida, a comedy by playwright George Bernard Shaw, was first published in 1898, as part of his Plays Pleasant. The central characters are clergyman James Morell, his wife Candida and a youthful poet, Eugene Marchbanks, who tries to win Candida's affections. The play questions Victorian notions...
and Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors.-Early life:Ethel Barrymore was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second child of the actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew...
in Emlyn Williams
Emlyn Williams
George Emlyn Williams, CBE , known as Emlyn Williams, was a Welsh dramatist and actor.-Biography:He was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family in Mostyn, Flintshire....
's The Corn Is Green
The Corn is Green
The Corn Is Green is a semi-autobiographical play by Emlyn Williams.At its core is L. C. Moffat, a strong-willed English school teacher working in a small poverty-stricken coal mining town in the late 19th century...
. Randall then served for four years with the United States Army Signal Corps
United States Army Signal Corps
The United States Army Signal Corps develops, tests, provides, and manages communications and information systems support for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of United States Army Major Albert J. Myer, and has had an important role from...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, refusing an entertainment assignment with Special Services. Then he worked at the Olney Theatre
Olney Theatre
Located just north of Washington, D.C. in Montgomery County, Maryland, the Olney Theatre Center for the Arts offers a diverse array of professional productions year-round that enrich, nurture and challenge a broad range of artists, audiences and students...
in Montgomery County
Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland, situated just to the north of Washington, D.C., and southwest of the city of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
before heading back to New York City.
Career
Randall began his career on the stage, appearing in minor roles on Broadway, and supporting roles on tours. In the 1940s one of his first breaks was playing "Reggie" on the long-running radio series I Love a MysteryI Love a Mystery
I Love a Mystery was a radio drama series about three friends who ran a detective agency and traveled the world in search of adventure. Distinguished by the high octane scripting of Carlton E...
. In 1946, he was cast as one of the brothers in a touring production of Katharine Cornell
Katharine Cornell
Katharine Cornell was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York.Cornell is known as the greatest American stage actress of the 20th century...
's revival of The Barretts of Wimpole Street
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
The Barretts of Wimpole Street is a 1934 American film depicting the real-life romance between poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning , despite the opposition of her father Edward Moulton-Barrett . The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture...
. His first major role in a Broadway hit was in Inherit the Wind
Inherit the Wind (play)
Inherit the Wind is a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. The play, which debuted in 1955, is a parable that fictionalizes the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial as a means to discuss the then-contemporary McCarthy trials.-Background:...
in 1955 portraying Newspaperman E. K. Hornbeck (based on real life cynic H. L. Mencken
H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the...
). In 1958, he played the leading role in the musical comedy Oh, Captain!
Oh, Captain!
Oh, Captain! is a musical comedy based on the film The Captain's Paradise, which had been written by Alec Coppel and Nicholas Phipps. The film starred Alec Guinness as a philandering ship's captain, with a wife in one port and a mistress in another. The musical starred Tony Randall, and updated the...
, taking on a role originated on film by Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
. Oh, Captain! was a financial failure, but a personal success for Randall, who received glowing notices and a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination for his legendary dance turn with prima ballerina Alexandra Danilova
Alexandra Danilova
Aleksandra Dionisyevna Danilova was a Russian-born prima ballerina who became an American citizen....
.
Television
He is perhaps best known for his work on television. His breakthrough role was as history teacher Harvey Weskit in Mr. PeepersMr. Peepers
Mr. Peepers is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from July 3, 1952 to June 12, 1955.-Overview:Mr. Peepers starred Wally Cox as Jefferson City's junior high school science teacher Robinson J. Peepers...
(1952–1955). He had the starring role 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.
After a long hiatus from the medium, he returned in 1970 as fussbudget Felix Unger in The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (TV series)
The Odd Couple is a television situation comedy broadcast from September 24, 1970 to July 4, 1975 on ABC. It starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. It was based upon the play of the same name, which was written by Neil Simon.Felix and Oscar are two divorced men....
, opposite Jack Klugman
Jack Klugman
Jacob Joachim "Jack" Klugman is an American stage, film and television actor known for his roles in sitcoms, movies, and television and on Broadway...
, a role he would keep for five years. The names of Unger's children on The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (TV series)
The Odd Couple is a television situation comedy broadcast from September 24, 1970 to July 4, 1975 on ABC. It starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. It was based upon the play of the same name, which was written by Neil Simon.Felix and Oscar are two divorced men....
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
Yahtzee
Yahtzee is a dice game made by Milton Bradley , which was first marketed by game entrepreneur Edwin S. Lowe in 1956. The game is a development of earlier dice games, such as Yacht and Generala. The object of the game is to score the most points by rolling five dice to make certain combinations...
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
The Odd Couple (TV series)
The Odd Couple is a television situation comedy broadcast from September 24, 1970 to July 4, 1975 on ABC. It starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. It was based upon the play of the same name, which was written by Neil Simon.Felix and Oscar are two divorced men....
.
Subsequently, he starred in The Tony Randall Show
The Tony Randall Show
The Tony Randall Show is an American television sitcom that debuted on September 23, 1976 and aired on ABC during its first season and on CBS for its second and final season.-Synopsis:...
, in which he played a Philadelphia judge, and Love, Sidney
Love, Sidney
Love, Sidney was an American situation comedy television series about a gay man, Sidney Shorr, and his relationship with a single mother and her five year-old daughter whom he invites to live with him...
. In the TV movie that served as the latter show's pilot, Sidney Shorr was clearly written as a gay
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
man, but his character's sexuality was made ambiguous when the series premiered. Disappointed by what he perceived as censorship (plus the series' lack of acceptance), Randall refused to star in any more television shows.
Randall was the host during the breaks for the October 30 – November 2, 1987 free preview
Free preview
Free preview, sometimes referred to by the portmanteau nickname "freeview", is a term, most commonly used by cable television, referring to when cable systems offer a pay-TV service to customers for free for a short period of time.-History:...
of HBO's short-lived premium channel Festival.
In September 1993, Randall and Jack Klugman reunited once again in the CBS-TV movie The Odd Couple: Together Again reprising their roles as Felix Unger and Oscar Madison. 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 cult classic film 7 Faces of Dr. Lao7 Faces of Dr. Lao
7 Faces of Dr. Lao is a Metrocolor 1964 film adaptation of the 1935 fantasy novel The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney. It details the visit of a magical circus to a small town in the southwest United States, and the effects that visit has on the people of the town...
, co-starring Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early years:...
. The film received an Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for William J. Tuttle's makeup artistry.
Randall's other film roles included Oh, Men! Oh, Women!
Oh, Men! Oh, Women!
Oh, Men! Oh, Women! is a 1957 film directed by Nunnally Johnson. It stars Dan Dailey and Ginger Rogers.-Plot:Mildred Turner, Arthur Turner's bored housewife, seeks psychiatric help from Dr.Alan Coles who also solves his own emotional problems.-Cast:*Dan Dailey as Arthur Turner*Ginger Rogers as...
(1957) Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is a 1957 American satiric comedy film starring Jayne Mansfield and Tony Randall, with Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell, John Williams, Henry Jones, Lili Gentle, Mickey Hargitay, and a cameo by Groucho Marx...
(1957), The Mating Game
The Mating Game (film)
The Mating Game is an MGM color film made in 1959 and starring Debbie Reynolds, Tony Randall and Paul Douglas in his final screen appearance. Reynolds sings the title song during the opening credits....
(1959), Pillow Talk (1959), Let's Make Love
Let's Make Love
Let's Make Love is a 1960 musical comedy film made by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by George Cukor and produced by Jerry Wald from a screenplay by Norman Krasna, Hal Kanter and Arthur Miller...
(1960), Boys' Night Out
Boys' Night Out (film)
Boys' Night Out is an American comedy film released in 1962, starring Kim Novak, James Garner, and Tony Randall, and directed by Michael Gordon...
(1962), The Brass Bottle
The Brass Bottle
The Brass Bottle is a 1964 American fantasy film about a modern man who accidentally acquires a djinn. Though the word is commonly translated into English as "genie", author F. Anstey made a distinction between the two in the novel of the same name which provides the basis of the film.The film...
(1964), Hello Down There
Hello Down There
Hello Down There is a 1969 musical comedy film made by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Arnold and Ricou Browning and produced by George Sherman and Ivan Tors from a screenplay by John McGreevey and Frank Telford. It starred Tony Randall and Janet Leigh...
(1969), The King of Comedy
The King of Comedy (1983 film)
The King of Comedy is a 1983 American dark comedy film starring Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis, and directed by Martin Scorsese. The subject of the movie is celebrity stalking...
(1983) and Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Gremlins 2: The New Batch is a 1990 American horror comedy film, and the sequel to Gremlins . It was directed by Joe Dante and written by Charles S. Haas, with creature designs by Rick Baker...
(1990).
Pillow Talk was the first of three movies in which Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
, Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
and Randall all starred. Randall, by all accounts, ended up with the best lines ("It takes an early bird to take a worm like me"; on the crying Doris Day: "I never knew a woman that size had that much water in her", etc.). The other two are Lover Come Back
Lover Come Back
Lover Come Back is a 1961 Eastmancolor romantic comedy released by Universal Pictures. The film stars Doris Day and Rock Hudson in their second film together. The supporting cast includes Tony Randall, Edie Adams, Ann B. Davis, and Donna Douglas....
(1961) and Send Me No Flowers
Send Me No Flowers
Send Me No Flowers: a 1964 American comedy film, directed by Norman Jewison and starring Rock Hudson, Doris Day, and Tony Randall. After Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back, it is the third and final film in which Hudson, Day and Randall starred together.The screenplay by Julius J...
(1963). Elements from the plots of these films, particularly Pillow Talk, were parodied in the 2003 comedy Down With Love
Down with Love
Down with Love is a 2003 romantic comedy film directed by Peyton Reed and written by Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake. It stars Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, and is a pastiche of the romantic comedies of the early 1960s starring Doris Day, Rock Hudson and Tony Randall such as Pillow Talk and Lover...
, with Renée Zellweger
Renée Zellweger
Renée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress and producer. Zellweger first gained widespread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire , and subsequently received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles as Bridget Jones in the comedy Bridget Jones's Diary ...
in the Doris Day role, Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
in the Rock Hudson, and David Hyde Pierce
David Hyde Pierce
David Hyde Pierce is an American actor and comedian best known for playing psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier, for which he received many accolades including four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.-Early life:Pierce, the youngest of four siblings,...
as the Tony Randall character, with Randall himself playing Hyde Pierce's father.
Stage
In 1991, he founded the National Actors TheatreNational Actors Theatre
The National Actors Theatre was a theater company founded in 1991 by Tony Randall, whose dream it was to create such an organization. He was chairman until his death in 2004. At first the company was housed at the Belasco Theatre New York, then at the nearby Lyceum Theatre, and in 2002 was based...
(ultimately housed at Pace University
Pace University
Pace University is an American private, co-educational, and comprehensive multi-campus university in the New York metropolitan area with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York.-Programs:...
in New York City) where he gave his final stage performance in Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
's Right You Are (If You Think You Are) in 2003.
Periodically, he performed in stage revivals of The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...
with Jack Klugman
Jack Klugman
Jacob Joachim "Jack" Klugman is an American stage, film and television actor known for his roles in sitcoms, movies, and television and on Broadway...
including a stint in London in 1996. The following year, Randall and Klugman reunited to appear on Broadway in a revival of The Sunshine Boys
The Sunshine Boys
The Sunshine Boys is a play by Neil Simon that was produced on Broadway in 1972 and later adapted for film and television.-Plot:The play focuses on aging Al Lewis and Willy Clark, a one-time vaudevillian team known as "Lewis and Clark" who, over the course of forty-odd years, not only grew to hate...
. From 1988 to 1990, he appeared in John Dexter
John Dexter
John Dexter was an English theatre, opera, and film director.- Theatre :Born in Derby, England, Dexter left school at the age of fourteen to serve in the British army during World War II. Following the war, he began working as a stage actor before turning to producing and directing shows for...
's production of M. Butterfly.
Guest appearances
On September 4, 1955, Randall and Jack Klugman appeared together with Gena RowlandsGena Rowlands
Gena Rowlands is an American actress of film, stage and television. The four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner is best known for her collaborations with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, in two of which, Gloria and A Woman Under the Influence, she gave Academy...
in the episode "The Pirate's House" of the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
anthology series, Appointment with Adventure
Appointment with Adventure
Appointment with Adventure is a half-hour adventure/dramatic anthology television series broadcast live on CBS from 1955-1956. The program has no host. It aired at 10 p.m...
.
Randall was a frequent and popular guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
and often spoke of his love of opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, 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
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
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." At the time of his death, Randall had appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show more often (105 times) than any other celebrity.
Randall, along with John Goodman
John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...
and Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore is an American actress, film director, screenwriter, producer and model. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was 11 months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered...
was one of the first guests on the debut episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
on 13 September 1993. He would also appear in Conan's
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
5th Anniversary Special with the character PimpBot 5000. Randall was also a frequent guest on both of David Letterman
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...
's late-night shows Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
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
Regis Philbin
Regis Francis Xavier Philbin is an American media personality, actor and singer, known for hosting talk and game shows since the 1960s. Philbin is often called "the hardest working man in show business" and holds the Guinness World Record for the most time spent in front of a television camera...
.
Randall appeared frequently on What's My Line?
What's My Line?
What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
, Password, The Hollywood Squares, and the $10,000 and $20,000 Pyramids
Pyramid (game show)
Pyramid is an American television game show which has aired several versions. The original series, The $10,000 Pyramid, debuted March 26, 1973 and spawned seven subsequent Pyramid series...
. He also sent up his somewhat pompous image with a single appearance as a "contestant" on The Gong Show
The Gong Show
The Gong Show is an amateur talent contest franchised by Sony Pictures Television to many countries. It was broadcast on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976 through July 21, 1978, and in first-run syndication from 1976–1980 and 1988–1989. The show was produced by Chuck Barris, who also served...
in 1977.
On November 7, 1994, Randall appeared on the game show Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
, as part of a Special Edition Celebrity Jeopardy! episode, playing on behalf of the National Actors Theatre. He came in second place after General Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
General Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf KCB , also known as "Stormin' Norman" and "The Bear", is a retired United States Army General who, while he served as Commander of U.S. Central Command, was commander of the Coalition Forces in the Gulf War of 1991.-Early life:Schwarzkopf was born in Trenton, New...
and before Actress Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers is an American actress best known for her role as Jennifer Hart in the 1980s television series Hart to Hart.-Early life:...
, with a final score of $9,900.
In 1999, Randall was featured in the Simpsons episode "Maximum Homerdrive
Maximum Homerdrive
"Maximum Homerdrive" is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons tenth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 28, 1999. In the episode, Homer challenges trucker Red Barclay to a meat eating contest, which Barclay is the long-standing champion of. Barclay wins, but...
" (season 10, episode 17). A picture of Randall is seen on a wall of fame in a steakhouse, displaying the only two persons who have finished a 16-lb. steak called "Sir Loinalot".
Other creative activities
A noted raconteurStorytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
, Randall co-wrote with Mike Mindlin a collection of amusing and sometimes racy show business anecdotes called Which Reminds Me, published in 1989.
In keeping with his penchant for both championing and mocking the culture that he loved, during the Big Band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
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
The New Vaudeville Band
The New Vaudeville Band was a group created by songwriter Geoff Stephens in 1966 to record his novelty composition "Winchester Cathedral", a song inspired by the dance bands of the 1920s and a Rudy Vallee megaphone style vocal...
's one-hit wonder, "Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral (song)
"Winchester Cathedral" is a song released in late 1966 by Fontana Records, whereupon it shot to the No. 1 spot in Canada on the RPM 100 national singles charts and shortly thereafter in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was released by The New Vaudeville Band, a novelty group established...
." He mimicked (and somewhat exaggerated) the vibrato
Vibrato
Vibrato is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms of two factors: the amount of pitch variation and the speed with which the pitch is varied .-Vibrato and...
style of Carmen Lombardo
Carmen Lombardo
Carmen Lombardo was the younger brother of bandleader Guy Lombardo. He was a vocalist and composer whose compositions included the 1928 classic "Sweethearts on Parade", which was number one for three weeks in 1929 on the U.S...
, 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 Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
.
He was an avid fan of the opera and quite knowledgeable on the subject. He was a frequent guest on the Opera Quiz intermission features of the Saturday afternoon broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera.
Activism
Randall was an advocate for the arts. During the summer of 1980, he served as the celebrity host of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra's concerts in Central ParkCentral Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
He was also politically active with leftwing causes. During the U.S. presidential primaries
Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1972
The 1972 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 1972 U.S. presidential election...
in 1972
United States presidential election, 1972
The United States presidential election of 1972 was the 47th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 7, 1972. The Democratic Party's nomination was eventually won by Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against incumbent Republican President Richard...
, he appeared as the featured celebrity at numerous fundraising house-parties for Democratic candidate
George McGovern presidential campaign, 1972
George McGovern, a United States Senator from South Dakota, launched his second candidacy for the presidency of the United States in an ultimately unsuccessful bid for the 1972 presidential election.-Leading up to the announcement:...
George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
.
Personal life
In his book Which Reminds Me, he proclaimed 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", he proclaimed. But by 1995, he revised his opinion, and made his engagement and marriage to Harlan, and subsequent fatherhood, quite public. For the most part, the media treated the marriage in a light-hearted spirit, but when the two became parents, not everyone was convinced the couple was completely forthright regarding how the babies were conceived.
Death
Randall died in his sleep on May 17, 2004, at NYU Medical Center of complications from pneumoniaPneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
he contracted following bypass surgery
Coronary artery bypass surgery
Coronary artery bypass surgery, also coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and colloquially heart bypass or bypass surgery is a surgical procedure performed to relieve angina and reduce the risk of death from coronary artery disease...
in December 2003. He is interred at the Westchester Hills Cemetery
Westchester Hills Cemetery
The Westchester Hills Cemetery, approximately 20 miles north of New York City, was established at 400 Saw Mill River Road in Hastings-on-Hudson, Westchester County, New York. It welcomes the burial of Christians and Jews, and many well-known entertainers and performers are interred there...
in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Oh, Men! Oh, Women! | Cobbler | |
| 1957 | Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is a 1957 American satiric comedy film starring Jayne Mansfield and Tony Randall, with Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell, John Williams, Henry Jones, Lili Gentle, Mickey Hargitay, and a cameo by Groucho Marx... |
Rockwell P. Hunter/Himself/Lover Doll | Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1957 | No Down Payment No Down Payment No Down Payment is a 1957 film directed by Martin Ritt. It was scripted by Philip Yordan, who fronted for a then uncredited and blacklisted Ben Maddow and is based on the novel of the same name by John McPartland... |
Jerry Flagg | |
| 1959 | The Mating Game The Mating Game (film) The Mating Game is an MGM color film made in 1959 and starring Debbie Reynolds, Tony Randall and Paul Douglas in his final screen appearance. Reynolds sings the title song during the opening credits.... |
Lorenzo Charlton | |
| 1959 | Pillow Talk | Jonathan Forbes | Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture |
| 1960 | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960 film) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a 1960 film directed by Michael Curtiz.Based on the famous Mark Twain novel of the same name, it was the third sound film version of the story and the second filmed by MGM... |
The King of France | |
| 1960 | Let's Make Love Let's Make Love Let's Make Love is a 1960 musical comedy film made by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by George Cukor and produced by Jerry Wald from a screenplay by Norman Krasna, Hal Kanter and Arthur Miller... |
Alexander Coffman | |
| 1961 | Lover Come Back Lover Come Back Lover Come Back is a 1961 Eastmancolor romantic comedy released by Universal Pictures. The film stars Doris Day and Rock Hudson in their second film together. The supporting cast includes Tony Randall, Edie Adams, Ann B. Davis, and Donna Douglas.... |
Peter 'Pete' Ramsey | Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture |
| 1962 | Boys' Night Out Boys' Night Out (film) Boys' Night Out is an American comedy film released in 1962, starring Kim Novak, James Garner, and Tony Randall, and directed by Michael Gordon... |
George Drayton | |
| 1962 | Two Weeks in Another Town Two Weeks in Another Town Two Weeks in Another Town is a 1962 drama film based on a novel by Irwin Shaw, directed by Vincente Minnelli, and starring Kirk Douglas, Edward G. Robinson, Cyd Charisse, Claire Trevor, Daliah Lavi, George Hamilton, and Rosanna Schiaffino.... |
Ad Lib in Lounge | (uncredited) |
| 1963 | Island of Love | Paul Ferris | |
| 1964 | 7 Faces of Dr. Lao 7 Faces of Dr. Lao 7 Faces of Dr. Lao is a Metrocolor 1964 film adaptation of the 1935 fantasy novel The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney. It details the visit of a magical circus to a small town in the southwest United States, and the effects that visit has on the people of the town... |
Dr. Lao / Merlin / Pan / Abominable Snowman / Medusa / Giant Serpent | |
| 1964 | The Brass Bottle The Brass Bottle The Brass Bottle is a 1964 American fantasy film about a modern man who accidentally acquires a djinn. Though the word is commonly translated into English as "genie", author F. Anstey made a distinction between the two in the novel of the same name which provides the basis of the film.The film... |
Harold Ventimore | |
| 1964 | Robin and the 7 Hoods Robin and the 7 Hoods Robin and the 7 Hoods is a 1964 American musical film that transplants the Robin Hood legend to a 1930s Chicago gangster setting. Directed by Gordon Douglas and produced by Frank Sinatra, with a screenplay by David R. Schwartz, the movie stars members of the Rat Pack as well as Bing Crosby, Peter... |
Hood | (uncredited) |
| 1964 | Send Me No Flowers Send Me No Flowers Send Me No Flowers: a 1964 American comedy film, directed by Norman Jewison and starring Rock Hudson, Doris Day, and Tony Randall. After Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back, it is the third and final film in which Hudson, Day and Randall starred together.The screenplay by Julius J... |
Arnold | |
| 1965 | Fluffy | Prof. Daniel Potter | |
| 1965 | The Alphabet Murders The Alphabet Murders The Alphabet Murders is a 1965 British detective film based on the novel The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie, starring Tony Randall as Hercule Poirot. The part of Poirot had originally been intended for Zero Mostel but the film was delayed because Agatha Christie objected to the script. The... |
Hercule Poirot | |
| 1966 | Our Man in Marrakesh Our Man in Marrakesh Our Man in Marrakesh is a 1966 British comedy film directed by Don Sharp, starring Tony Randall and Senta Berger.-Plot:... |
Andrew Jessel | |
| 1969 | Hello Down There Hello Down There Hello Down There is a 1969 musical comedy film made by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Arnold and Ricou Browning and produced by George Sherman and Ivan Tors from a screenplay by John McGreevey and Frank Telford. It starred Tony Randall and Janet Leigh... |
Fred Miller | |
| 1972 | Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) | The Operator | |
| 1979 | Scavenger Hunt Scavenger Hunt Scavenger Hunt is a 1979 comedy film with a large ensemble cast, in the mold of the 1963 comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.-Plot summary:... |
Henry Motley | |
| 1980 | The Gong Show Movie The Gong Show Movie The Gong Show Movie is a 1980 film that shows how Chuck Barris lives through a week of being the host and creator of The Gong Show, through a series of outrageous competitors, stressful situations, a nervous breakdown and other comic hijinks in his life and work on the TV show... |
Performer in Tuxedo | |
| 1980 | Foolin' Around Foolin' Around Foolin' Around is a 1980 film directed by Richard T. Heffron and starring Gary Busey and Annette O'Toole. The film was shot on location in Minnesota.-Plot:... |
Peddicord | |
| 1983 | The King of Comedy The King of Comedy (1983 film) The King of Comedy is a 1983 American dark comedy film starring Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis, and directed by Martin Scorsese. The subject of the movie is celebrity stalking... |
Himself | |
| 1986 | My Little Pony: The Movie My Little Pony: The Movie My Little Pony: The Movie is a 1986 animated feature film based on the Hasbro toy line, My Little Pony. It was released on June 20, 1986 by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group... |
The Moochick | (voice) |
| 1987 | The Gnomes' Great Adventure | Gnome King/Ghost of the Black Lake | (voice) |
| 1988 | The Man in the Brown Suit The Man in the Brown Suit The Man in the Brown Suit is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and was first published in the UK by The Bodley Head on August 22 1924 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year... |
Rev. Edward Chicester/Miss Wilke/Stewardess | Agatha Christie TV Movie |
| 1989 | It Had to Be You | Milton | |
| 1989 | That's Adequate That's Adequate That's Adequate is a 1989 mockumentary documenting a fictional Hollywood studio, Adequate Film Studios. Narrated and hosted by Tony Randall, the film features an all-star cast including James Coco, Robert Downey, Jr., Anne Meara, Jerry Stiller, and Bruce Willis.... |
Host | |
| 1990 | Gremlins 2: The New Batch Gremlins 2: The New Batch Gremlins 2: The New Batch is a 1990 American horror comedy film, and the sequel to Gremlins . It was directed by Joe Dante and written by Charles S. Haas, with creature designs by Rick Baker... |
Brain Gremlin | (voice) |
| 1991 | The Boss | Narrator | (voice) |
| 1993 | Fatal Instinct Fatal Instinct Fatal Instinct is a 1993 comedy film directed by Carl Reiner. It parodies the erotic thriller movie genre, which at the time had reached its commercial peak. The film stars Armand Assante as a lawyer and cop named Ned Ravine who has an affair with a woman named Lola Cain played by Sean Young... |
Judge Skanky | |
| 1996 | How the Toys Saved Christmas | Mr. Grimm | (voice) |
| 2003 | Down with Love Down with Love Down with Love is a 2003 romantic comedy film directed by Peyton Reed and written by Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake. It stars Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, and is a pastiche of the romantic comedies of the early 1960s starring Doris Day, Rock Hudson and Tony Randall such as Pillow Talk and Lover... |
Theodore Banner | |
| 2005 | It's About Time | Mr. Rosenberg |
Awards and nominations
Randall was nominated for five Golden Globe awards and two Emmy AwardEmmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s, winning one Emmy in 1975 for his work on the sitcom The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (TV series)
The Odd Couple is a television situation comedy broadcast from September 24, 1970 to July 4, 1975 on ABC. It starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. It was based upon the play of the same name, which was written by Neil Simon.Felix and Oscar are two divorced men....
. In 1993, he received The Hundred Year Association of New York
The Hundred Year Association of New York
The Hundred Year Association of New York, founded in 1927, is a non-profit organization in New York City aimed at recognizing and rewarding dedication and service to the City of New York by businesses and organizations that have been in operation in the city for a century or more and by individuals...
's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." Pace University
Pace University
Pace University is an American private, co-educational, and comprehensive multi-campus university in the New York metropolitan area with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York.-Programs:...
granted him an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 2003.
Further reading
- Memoirs: Which Reminds Me by Tony Randall and Michael Mindlin. (New York: Delacorte Press, 1989), ISBN 0-385-29785-8
External links
- Archive of American Television Interview with Tony Randall April 28, 1998
- Pace University's tribute to Tony Randall
- Tony Randall interview: Performance Working in the Theatre CUNY-TV video by the American Theatre WingAmerican Theatre WingThe American Theatre Wing is a New York City-based organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre," according to its mission statement...
, September 1989 - Jack Klugman & Tony Randall-Infopage
- Unofficial Odd Couple TV Show Website