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Tony Randall
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Spouse
Heather Harlan (17 November 1995 - 17 May 2004) (his death) 2 children
Florence Gibbs (1942 - 1992) (her death)
Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
When he won a long overdue Emmy for his portrayal of Felix Unger on "The Odd Couple" (1970-75) after the show had been canceled, Randall quipped: "I'm so happy I won. Now if I only had a job." He needn't have been worried. An actor who's built a career on playing best friends and fussbudgets (usually simultaneously), this crisp, impeccable comedy star has been a favorite to stage, screen, radio, and TV audiences for four decades. Randall made his feature-film debut in Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1957), quickly followed by his best comedy vehicle, re prising his Broadway role as a hapless ad executive caught up in the rat race in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957). In 1959 he played the fussy best friend (what did we tell you?) in the Doris Day/Rock Hudson smash romantic comedy Pillow Talk and performed the same task for them in Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1964). That same year, he had his most unusual screen role-actually,roles-in the fantasy 7 Faces of Dr. Lao submerged under clever makeups and sporting elaborate accents.
Randall has also been effective in The Mating Game (1959), Let's Make Love (1960), The Brass Bottle(1964), Fluffy (1965), Hello Down There (1969), Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask (1972), Scavenger Hunt (1979), Foolin' Around (1980), The King of Comedy (1983, as himself), and Gremlins 2 The New Batch (1990, as the voice of the Brain Gremlin). Randall's most enjoyable change-of-pace role was his turn as the comically pompous but brilliant detective Hercule Poirot in an Agatha Christie whodunit, The Alphabet Murders (1966). Frank Tashlin, who directed that film as well as Rock Hunter said that directing him was like playing a Stradivarius. In the late 1980s he founded the National Actors Theatre in New York, a longtime dream finally brought to fruition. |  |
