Tony Randall

Anthony Leonard Randall (born Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg; February 26, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was an American actor, comedian, director, producer and singer, active in film, television and stage. He is best known for portraying the role of Felix Unger in the 1970–1975 television adaptation of the 1965 play The Odd Couple by Neil Simon. In a career spanning six decades, Randall received six Golden Globe Award nominations and six Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning one Emmy. Randall was born 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, where he studied speech and drama, 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. Randall worked as an announcer at radio station WTAG in Worcester, Massachusetts. 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 was in the United States Army Signal Corps for five years, including work during World War II at Arlington Hall for the codebreaking Signal Intelligence Service. He rose to the rank of first lieutenant prior to his discharge. After the war he worked at the Olney Theatre in Montgomery County, Maryland, before returning to New York City. One of Randall's first acting jobs was as the character Reggie York in the 1949-1952 revival of the radio adventure series I Love a Mystery. In 1946, Randall was cast as one of the brothers in a touring production of Katharine Cornell's revival of The Barretts of Wimpole Street. Randall appeared on Broadway in Cornell's production of Antony and Cleopatra (1947–48) with Cornell, Charlton Heston, and Maureen Stapleton, and in Caesar and Cleopatra (1949–50) with Cedric Hardwicke and Lilli Palmer. Randall began appearing on television, notably episodes of One Man's Family. Randall's first major television role was as history teacher Harvey Weskit in Mister Peepers (1952–1955). He continued to guest-star on other shows such as The Gulf Playhouse (directed by Arthur Penn), The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse, Kraft Theatre, The Motorola Television Hour, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Studio One in Hollywood, Appointment with Adventure, and The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse. Randall replaced Gig Young in the Broadway hit Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1954). Randall's first major role in a Broadway hit was in Inherit the Wind (1955–1957), portraying newspaperman E. K. Hornbeck (based on real-life cynic H. L. Mencken), alongside Ed Begley and Paul Muni. On television he appeared in Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl (1956), co-written by Neil Simon. He also guest-starred on The Alcoa Hour. Randall's success in Inherit the Wind led to film offers and his first significant big-screen role in Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1957) for 20th Century Fox, which promoted Randall to stardom with Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) alongside Jayne Mansfield. He played one of the leads in No Down Payment (1957). He was replaced with Dean Martin shortly before the filming of Fox's The Young Lions. In 1958, Randall played the leading role in the Broadway musical comedy Oh, Captain!, taking on a role originated on film by Alec Guinness. The show was a financial failure, but Randall received a Tony Award nomination for his dance turn with prima ballerina Alexandra Danilova. Randall appeared in Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, Goodyear Theatre, The United States Steel Hour, Sunday Showcase and Playhouse 90. Randall co-starred with Debbie Reynolds in The Mating Game (1959) at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He appeared in the hit film Pillow Talk (1959) supporting Doris Day and Rock Hudson, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. He would reunite with Day and Hudson for two more films, Lover Come Back (1961), which earned him another Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor nomination, and Send Me No Flowers (1964). Randall 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. On TV he was also in The Man in the Moon (1960), co-written by Mel Brooks. Randall was top-billed in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from MGM in 1960. He had a Pillow Talk-style supporting role in Let's Make Love (1960) with Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand, and Lover Come Back (1961) with Hudson and Day. Randall continued to guest on TV shows including General Electric Theater and Checkmate. In 1961, Randall played a highly dramatic role in "Hangover," an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in which he portrayed an alcoholic advertising executive spiraling into self-destruction. He starred in a TV adaptation of Arsenic & Old Lace (1962), and had big-screen leading roles in Boys' Night Out (1962) and Island of Love (1963). In 1964, Randall starred in the classic MGM film, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, which was based on The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney. In addition to portraying and voicing the eponymous seven faces (Dr. Lao, the Abominable Snowman, Merlin, Apollonius 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 eight roles in the film. He played the lead in The Brass Bottle (1964) and made one last film with Hudson and Day, Send Me No Flowers (1964). Randall took the lead in Fluffy (1965), a comedy about a lion; The Alphabet Murders (1965), playing Hercule Poirot for Frank Tashlin; Our Man in Marrakesh (1966), as a secret agent; and Hello Down There (1969). Randall returned to Broadway in UTBU (1966), which had only a short run. He appeared in the TV movie The Littlest Angel (1969) with Johnny Whitaker and Fred Gwynne. Randall returned to television in 1970 as Felix Unger in The Odd Couple, opposite Jack Klugman, a role that lasted five years. The names of Felix's children in The Odd Couple were Edna and Leonard, named for Randall's sister and Randall himself.[citation needed] In 1974, Randall and 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 set of The Odd Couple.[citation needed] During the series run, Randall took a small role in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972). In 1973, he was hired to play the voice of Templeton the gluttonous rat in Charlotte's Web, and recorded the part, but was replaced in the film by Paul Lynde. Randall's voice was perceived as too sophisticated by co-director Iwao Takamoto, who wanted Templeton to have a nasal voice. Beginning in 1976, Randall starred for two seasons in The Tony Randall Show, playing Philadelphia judge Walter Franklin. He had roles in Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid (1978), Scavenger Hunt (1979), and Foolin' Around (1980). Randall starred in the NBC series Love, Sidney from 1981 to 1983. In the TV movie that served as the show's pilot, Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend, Sidney Shorr was written as a middle-aged homosexual man; the character's sexuality was made ambiguous for the series. After the show was canceled in 1983, Randall refused to star in another television series, favoring the Broadway stage as his medium. Randall continued to appear in TV movies. He starred in Sunday Drive (1986) for Disney, Save the Dog! (1988), and The Man in the Brown Suit (1989). From October 30 to November 2, 1987, he hosted the free preview of HBO's short-lived premium channel Festival. In 1989, Randall returned to Broadway as a replacement in M. Butterfly. In 1991, Randall founded the National Actors Theatre, ultimately based at Pace University in New York City. Their productions included The Crucible