Tony Randall - 1920 to 2004

At 8 o'clock On Tuesday night the lights in Broadway's many theaters were dimmed in recognition of the death of a man whose passion for acting had spanned eight decades. A man who'd starred in Hollywood movies, who was the star of a hit TV comedy, who'd appeared on more talk shows than almost anyone else alive, and who'd used his time and money to help many worthwhile causes.

Tony Randall was born Leonard Rosenberg on 26th February eighty-four years ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He graduated from Tulsa Central High School and went on to major in Speech and Drama at North Western University. He then headed off to New York to spend time at Columbia University and at the Neighborhood Playhouse under the tutelage of Sanford Meisner. He studied movement with Martha Graham and voice with Henri Jacobi.

He made his Broadway debut in 1941 in "A Circle of Chalk" and this was followed by appearances with Ethel Barrymore in "The Corn is Green" and Jane Cowl in "Candida". Unfortunately, after just one day of rehearsals for Elia Kazan's production of "The Skin of Our Teeth" he received his call-up for the army.

After four years in the Signal Corps he was discharged as a lieutenant and took a variety of roles in the theater and on radio in both Washington and New York. For three years he played the part of Reggie Yorke in I Love A Mystery alongside Russell Thorson as Jack Packard (Robert Dryden took over this part later in the run), Jim Boles as Doc Long and the wonderful Mercedes McCambridge in a variety of roles.

At the same time as his appearance on "I Love A Mystery" he was also becoming a prolific theatrical actor in productions such as "Anthony and Cleopatra", "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" and with Lilli Palmer and Sir Cedric Hardwicke in Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra".

The role that took him from cast member to star was his portrayal of Arthur Turner in the Broadway version of Edward Chodorov's comedy "Oh Men! Oh Women!". The play was made into a film in 1957 and Tony Randell starred alongside David Niven, Ginger Rogers, Dan Dailey and Barbara Rush. In the film version Randall changed roles and played the part of Cobbler to much critical acclaim.

His film career saw him appear alongside many of Hollywoods greatest names; Marilyn Monroe in "Let's Make Love", Debbie Reynolds in "The Mating Game", and Doris Day and Rock Hudson in "Pillow Talk" (1959), "Lover Come Back" (1961) and "Send Me No Flowers" (1964).

But it was on TV that Randall was best known. By the early 1950s Randall had become a minor TV star in his role of Mac in "One Man's Family" and as Harvey Weskitt in the live sitcom "Mr. Peepers", but it was his portrayal of Felix Unger alongside Jack Klugman's Oscar Madison in the TV version of the "Odd Couple" that really made him into a household name. The series ran for just five seasons, but in those five years it established itself as a television classic.

In the years following his success in "The Odd Couple" he appeared in "The Tony Randall Show" (1976-78), in which he played a Philadelphia judge and took the starring role as Sidney in "Love, Sidney" (1981-83). He also became a regular on the chat-show circuit. He appeared on David Letterman's "Late Night" and "Late Show" more than one-hundred times and made more appearances on "The Tonight Show" than any other actor.

In 1991 Randall founded and became Artistic Director of the not-for-profit National Actors Theater. He used one million dollars of his own money and managed to raise a further two million dollars from corporate sponsors. The aim was to bring classic theater back to Broadway. The first performance was Arthur Millers "Crucible" starring Martin Sheen and Michael York. This has been followed by critically-acclaimed productions of "Night Must Fall", "The Gin Game", "The Sunshine Boys", "The Master Builder" and "Inherit The World" to name but a few.

Tony Randall was also a passionate and pro-active lobbyist. In the 1980's he marched in Washington against apartheid and in the 1990s he helped raise money for AIDS research and was a vocal opponent of smoking in public places.

He was married twice. His first marriage was to his childhood sweetheart, which lasted for fifty-four years until she died of cancer in 1992. Three years later he married Heather Harlan, who he met when she was an intern at his National Actor's Theater. She was fifty-years his junior. They were married in 1995 by Mayor Rudolph Giulliani and shortly after had the first of their two children, Julia Laurette (7), who was followed two years later by Jefferson Salvini (5).

Tony Randall led a long and, for the most part, happy life. Only last year he said "It's amazing. I haven't heard anyone have a life like that. The most amazing, wonderful things in my life have happened since I was 70. I think that's unique." That should be a message to us all. No matter how old we are we can still do wonderful things with our lives. In Tony Randall's case that involved starting The National Actor's Theatre and having two children when he was well into his 70's - a brave man indeed.

In recognition of his passing I've put the first part of an series of episodes from I Love A Mystery in which he starred as Reggie Yorke. I'll continue to put the rest up over the next few days. Unfortunately, I currently don't have access to the complete series of these shows (Temple Of Vampires) at this moment in time, but will do my best to correct that situation over the next week or two as I wouldn't want you to miss the ending.

Happy listening my friends,