Attended Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois), where he majored in speech and drama.
first child born at 12:00am EST; named Julia Laurette Randall. She was named after his mom Julia and actress Laurette Taylor whom Tony says is "the best actress I've ever seen in my life." [11 April 1997]
Is militantly opposed to smoking.
Met his wife, Heather, in a play in New York. She was fifty years younger than him.
Founder of the National Actors Theatre. N.Y.
He was originally cast as the voice of Templeton the Rat in the movie Charlotte's Web (1973) without an audition. When Joseph Barbera realized he wasn't right for the voice they paid him and hired Paul Lynde instead.
Got his break on radio as "Reggie" in the long-running "I Love a Mystery" series during the 1940s.
Suffered from tinnitus (chronic ringing in the ears), and starred in a Public Service Announcement to encourage diagnosis and treatment for viewers.
Second child, Jefferson Salvini Randall, born on June 15, 1998. Named after comic actor Joseph Jefferson and Italian tragic actor Tommasso Salvini.
Studied acting at New York City's prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse under the direction of legendary acting coach, Sanford Meisner.
The two children of Felix and Gloria Unger in "The Odd Couple" (1970) were named Leonard and Edna - the real-life first names of Tony Randall and his late sister.
Has taken ballet classes and can dance at a semi-professional level.
Appeared on "Late Show with David Letterman" (1993) a record 70 times.
Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to television. (1998)
The son of an art dealer, he was graduated from Tulsa Central High School.
A member of the Metropolitan Opera Association from 1972.
National chairman of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation, which is an incurable neuromuscular disease.
Dropped out of Northwestern University in Illinois majoring in speech and drama in order to study acting with Sanford Meisner and dancer Martha Graham at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. Later, Tony received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree in 2002 from Pace University.
An avid art collector, his father was an art and antiques dealer.
Studied voice for 32 years but did not act on it, quipping "I have a nice healthy tone, but it's not terribly musical. If beautiful voices are golden, mine is aluminum."
Originated the role of E. K. Hornbeck in the Broadway production of "Inherit the Wind", which ran for 806 performances from Apr 21, 1955 to Jun 22, 1957 at the National Theatre (now the Nederlander Theatre). The role was played by Gene Kelly in the 1960 film Inherit the Wind (1960). In 1996, his National Actors Theater company put on a Broadway revival of "Wind" that ran for 45 appearances in 1996. Randall was a stand-in for both Anthony Heald as Hornbeck and George C. Scott as Henry Drummond, taking over the Drummond role when Scott had to leave the play. Scott was nominated for a 1996 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for the role.
Was asked in the 1970s if there had been anyone in his career whom he had really disliked. After saying he hated to criticize the dead, he revealed that he had an animosity against the late Ethel Barrymore. As a young actor, he had appeared in a play with her, and he was offended by her imperial manners, which included not making any noise in the vicinity of her dressing room.
Was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award five times: as Best Acrtor (Musical), in 1958 for "Oh, Captain!;" and, later, as co-producer with his National Actors Theatre of four nominated plays: as Best Revival, in 1993 for "St. Joan," and as Best Revival (Play) in 1994 for "Timon of Athens," in 1996 for "Inherit the Wind" and in 1997 for "The Gin Game."
Tony Randall Detailed Biography
He was born as Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the only child of Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer, and his wife, Julia Finston.
He was first attracted to show business when a ballet company played in Tulsa. He 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. Under the name Anthony Randall, he acted in radio soap operas and worked onstage opposite stars Jane Cowl in George Bernard Shaw's Candida and Ethel Barrymore in Emlyn Williams's The Corn Is Green. Tony then served for four years with the United States Army Signal Corps in World War II. Then he worked at the Olney Theatre in Montgomery County, New York before heading back to New York City.
He was the founder of National Actors Theatre in New York City, and also starred in many plays and popular movies, including Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957), Pillow Talk (1959), The King of Comedy (1983), and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990). Randall also starred in several television shows, including The Odd Couple (playing Felix Unger) and The Tony Randall Show. He also starred in Love, Sidney, the first television show to feature a gay lead character (however, this was never directly referenced in the show).
He 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."
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 Carson show.
