The son of an art dealer, Tony Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg on February 26, 1920 in Tulsa, OK. Not much is mentioned in regards to the actor's early life, likely the result of paper having not yet been invented in 1920. In 1937, Tony Randall attended Northwestern University's School of Speech for only one academic year before leaving to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in New York City from 1938-1940. "Circle of Chalk" marked his Broadway debut in 1941, after which he joined the army and went on to fight for the great United States as private and first lieutenant from 1942-1946. We can all thank Tony for defeating the Germans. We can also thank Florence Gibbs, who married Randall in 1938 and presumably forced Tony out of the country.
Tony Randall can be best recognized from his role as Felix Unger in television's "The Odd Couple". The program costarred Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison, and can be described as: the show that asks the question "Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?" (The answer, of course, is no.) Randall played the anal retentive, neurotic, hypochondriac sissy boy who constantly annoyed his roommate, a tough guy sports fanatic. Randall received an emmy in 1975 for his work on the program. The Odd Couple now appears on Nick-At-Night.
In 1991, Randall created the National Actors Theater, a New York-based repertory company devoted to American and British classics, and he currently serves as its artistic director.
After the death of his first wife, Florence, in 1992, Tony Randall married Heather Harlan on November 17, 1995 - a woman 50 years his junior. Tony and Heather met while she was an actress who performed at his theater company. On April 11, 1997, Heather gave birth to the couple's first child, Julia Laurette. Their second child, Jefferson Salvini, was born on June 15, 1998. Please note the age of Tony Randall at the time of the birth of his first child: 77!!!
Throughout the decades, Tony Randall has appeared as guest star on numerous talk shows, sitcoms, and comedy programs. My favorite of which are "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Saturday Night Live", although the number on which he has appeared is simply too large to list all of them here. Please see below for a listing of credits.
TELEVISION SERIES
- 1949-52 One Man's Family
- 1952-55 Mr. Peepers
- 1970-75 The Odd Couple
- 1976-78 The Tony Randall Show
- 1981-83 Love, Sidney
MADE-FOR-TELEVISION MOVIES
- 1978 Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid
- 1981 Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend
- 1984 Off Sides
- 1985 Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil
- 1986 Sunday Drive
- 1987 Bob Hope Winterfest Christmas Show
- 1987 The Great American Quiz Show
- 1988 Save the Dog
- 1989 The Man in the Brown Suit
- 1989 The Opening
- 1993 The Odd Couple: Together Again
- 1999 Howard Cosell: Telling It Like It Is
TELEVISION SPECIALS (selection)
- 1956 Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl (host)
- 1960 Four For Tonight (co-star)
- 1960 So Help Me Aphrodite (Ernest)
- 1962 Arsenic and Old Lace (Mortimer Brewster)
- 1967 The Wide Open Door (Inspector Berry/Geoffrey Judge)
- 1969 The Littlest Angel (Democritus)
- 1977 They Said it With Music: Yankee Doodle to Ragtime (co-host)
- 1981 Tony Randall's All-Star Circus (host)
- 1985 Curtain's Up (host)
- 1987 Walt Disney World Celebrity Circus (host)
FILMS
- 1957 Oh Men, Oh Women
- 1957 Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter
- 1959 The Mating Game
- 1959 Pillow Talk
- 1960 Let's Make Love
- 1962 Lover Come Back
- 1964 Send Me No Flowers
- 1964 The Brass Bottle
- 1965 Fluffy
- 1966 Bang, Bang, You're Dead
- 1969 Hello Down There
- 1972 Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex...
- 1974 Huckleberry Finn
- 1979 Scavenger Hunt
- 1980 Foolin' Around
- 1983 The King of Comedy
- 1986 My Little Pony
- 1987 Lyle, Lyle Crocodile: The Musical: The House on East 88th Street
- 1987 The Gnome's Great Adventure
- 1988 Going Hollywood: The War Years
- 1989 It Had to Be You
- 1989 That's Adequate
- 1990 Gremlins 2: The New Batch (voice)
- 1993 Fatal Instinct
- 1999 Pixelon's iBash
- 2000 Playboy: The Party Continues
STAGE (selection)
- 1941 Circle of Chalk
- 1941 Candida
- 1942 The Corn Is Green
- 1947 The Barretts of Wimpole Street
- 1948 Anthony and Cleopatra
- 1950 Caesar and Cleopatra
- 1954 Oh Men, Oh Women
- 1955-56 Inherit the Wind
- 1958 Oh Captain
- 1966 UTBU
- 1988 Two Into One
- 1989 M. Butterfly
- 1992 A Little Hotel on the Side
- 1993 Three Men on a Horse
- 1994 The Government Inspector
- 1994 The Odd Couple
RADIO
- I Love a Mystery
- Portia Faces Life
- When a Girl Marries
- Life's True Story
PUBLICATION
RESOURCES:
- http://www.library.northwestern.edu/archives/exhibits/alumni/randall.html
- http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/R/htmlR/randalltony/randalltony.htm
- http://odd_couple.tripod.com/
- http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800062658&cf=biog&intl=us
- http://www.meninmovies.com/tony_randall.html
- http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-897