Tony Randall Biography Quotes 24 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Tony Randall, born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg on February 26, 1920, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, emerged as one of the quintessential American character actors of the 20th century. Raised in a Jewish family, he showed an early interest in literature, languages, and the performing arts. After graduating from high school in Tulsa, he briefly attended Northwestern University before moving to New York City to train at the Neighborhood Playhouse. There he studied under the influential acting teacher Sanford Meisner, an experience that shaped his disciplined approach to craft and his facility with both comedy and drama.

Stage and Early Career
Randall began in radio and regional theater before building a footing on Broadway after World War II. His precision with language, alert comic timing, and urbane demeanor made him a natural for sophisticated comedy. He won particular notice in the musical Oh, Captain! (1958), which earned him a Tony Award nomination and cemented his reputation as a deft, agile leading man on the stage. He returned repeatedly to classical and modern plays throughout his life, a commitment that would eventually lead him to found his own company.

Film Breakthroughs
By the mid-1950s, Hollywood recognized Randall's deft comic poise. He gave a buoyant, satirical turn in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) opposite Jayne Mansfield, collaborating with director Frank Tashlin on a cartoon-bright send-up of advertising and celebrity. He became a stylish fixture in sophisticated romantic comedies, notably in a string of films with Doris Day and Rock Hudson, including Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961), and Send Me No Flowers (1964), where he sharpened the tone as the witty confidant or exasperated friend. He also showed range in The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), playing multiple roles in a fable-like fantasy directed by George Pal, and he teamed with Barbara Eden and Burl Ives in The Brass Bottle (1964), a light fantasy later cited as an inspiration for television's I Dream of Jeannie.

Television Stardom
Randall's first major television exposure came on Mister Peepers in the early 1950s, where his suave, excitable Harvey Weskit played comic foil to Wally Cox's gently befuddled teacher. His signature television role arrived with The Odd Couple (1970, 1975), based on Neil Simon's play, where Randall's Felix Unger, a fastidious, anxious aesthete, sparred week after week with Jack Klugman's comfortably slovenly Oscar Madison. The interplay between Randall and Klugman became a classic American sitcom partnership and earned Randall an Emmy Award. He followed with The Tony Randall Show (1976, 1978), playing a principled Philadelphia judge, and then headlined Love, Sidney (1981, 1983), a quietly groundbreaking comedy-drama that centered on a single, middle-aged man and his evolving, makeshift family, co-starring Swoosie Kurtz. Randall was also a beloved talk-show guest, trading erudite and playful banter with hosts like Johnny Carson and David Letterman, often steering the conversation toward theater and opera, two of his lifelong passions.

National Actors Theatre
Determined to keep great plays accessible to broad audiences, Randall founded the National Actors Theatre in New York in 1991. The company set out to present classical and modern repertory on Broadway with ticket prices that were more affordable than the norm. Randall acted in and produced numerous revivals, working alongside major talents. He appeared with George C. Scott and Charles Durning in Inherit the Wind and supported star-led revivals such as Judgment at Nuremberg featuring Maximilian Schell. The enterprise was a bold, sometimes precarious attempt to maintain a resident company on Broadway, and Randall's fundraising, advocacy, and onstage leadership became central to his late-career identity.

Personal Life
Randall married Florence Gibbs in 1942, a partnership that lasted five decades until her death in 1992. In 1995 he married Heather Harlan, an actress associated with the National Actors Theatre; the couple had two children, Julia and Jefferson. Colleagues often remarked on his courtesy, punctilious professionalism, and wide-ranging cultural appetite, from opera to literature. He published a memoir, Which Reminds Me, sharing anecdotally rich reflections on a career that spanned stage, film, and television. Randall remained loyal to friends and collaborators; his rapport with Jack Klugman, forged on The Odd Couple, became one of television's defining friendships, mirrored by a lifelong mutual affection off-camera.

Legacy and Death
Tony Randall died in New York City on May 17, 2004, at age 84, from complications of pneumonia following heart surgery. Tributes emphasized his technical elegance as a performer, his sly intelligence, and his commitment to the theater. He left a distinct legacy in three arenas: as a movie comedian whose urbane style polished a golden era of romantic comedies; as a television star whose Felix Unger remains an archetype of American sitcom character; and as a cultural advocate who invested his energy and reputation in the National Actors Theatre, striving to keep great plays alive on Broadway. In the memories of audiences and colleagues, among them Jack Klugman, Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Jayne Mansfield, Barbara Eden, Wally Cox, Swoosie Kurtz, George C. Scott, Charles Durning, and Maximilian Schell, Randall endures as a model of wit, taste, and devotion to craft.

Our collection contains 24 quotes who is written by Tony, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Music - Learning - Art - Sarcastic.

Other people realated to Tony: George Axelrod (Writer), Brett Somers (Actress)