Persönliche Nachricht an alle Tony Randall-Fans: 

 

Eine persönliche Message von Heather Randall findet man hier.

 

Tony Randall wurde am 26. Februar 1920 in der kleinen Stadt Tulsa in Oklahoma geboren. Er absolvierte erfolgreich die Playhouse Schauspielschule in New York City und besuchte die Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, bei der er die Fächer Rede und Drama belegte.

 

Tony trat in über 50 Filmen auf und spielte den besten Freund in Komödien mit Doris Day und Rock Hudson (Bettgeflüster - 1959, Ein Pyjama für zwei - 1961, Schick mir keine Blumen - 1964), sowie einen glücklosen Verehrer Kim Novaks (Sexy! - 1962). Die Filme mit Doris Day und Rock Hudson geniessen noch heute grosse Beliebtheit und sind alle auf DVD erschienen. 

 

 

Bemerkenswert war seine Rolle in „Der mysteriöse Dr. Lao" (7 Faces of Dr. Lao, 1964), in der er sieben verschiedene Charaktere spielte. Zu sehen war er ebenfalls ein einziges mal als Hercule Poirot in „Die Morde des Herrn ABC" im Jahr 1965. In diesem Film gab es auch einen Gastauftritt von Margaret Rutherford als Miss Marple.

 

In Deutschland wurde er in der Rolle des Felix Unger in der US-Fernsehserie Männerwirtschaft (orig. The Odd Couple) bekannt, die vom ZDF ausgestrahlt wurde. „Gegenspieler" war Jack Klugman als Sportjournalist Oscar Madison. Die Serie wurde 1970 bis 1975 produziert und beruhte auf Neil Simons gleichnamigem Theaterstück, das zuvor bereits mit Jack Lemmon und Walter Matthau verfilmt worden war.

 

Später trat er als Richter Walter B. Franklin in der Tony-Randall-Show und als Werbegrafiker in Love, Sidney auf. 1998 wurde Randall ein Stern auf dem Walk of Fame in Hollywood gewidmet. Politisch engagierte er sich gegen die Apartheid und sammelte Geld für die AIDS-Hilfe.

 

Tony Randall war Gründer des "National Actors Theatre" in New York. Das "National Actors Theatre" war sein Lebenswerk. Auch Jack KLugman wusste dies und ging mit Tony sogar auf Tournee mit dem Bühnenstück "The Odd Couple" um Geld zu sammeln. Tony Randall hält den Rekord, mit 70 Besuchen der häufigste Gast in der Late Show des Moderators David Letterman gewesen zu sein. 1994 heiratete Toni seine Heather. Zusammen hatten sie zwei Kinder: Julia und Jefferson. Tony starb nach einer Herzoperation am 17. Mai 2004 in New York an einer Lungenentzündung.

 

Tony Randall (February 26, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was an American actor, comic, producer and director.

 

Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia (née Finston) and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer. He attended Tulsa Central High School.
 
Randall 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. As Anthony Randall, he worked onstage opposite stars Jane Cowl in George Bernard Shaw's Candida and Ethel Barrymore in Emlyn Williams's The Corn Is Green. Randall then served for four years with the United States Army Signal Corps in World War II, refusing an entertainment assignment with Special Services. Then he worked at the Olney Theatre in Montgomery County, Maryland before heading back to New York City. Prior to his appearance in "Candida", Randall worked as an announcer at radio station WTAG, Worchester MA.

Randall began his career on the stage, appearing in minor roles on Broadway, and supporting roles on tours. In the 1940s one of his first breaks was playing "Reggie" on the long-running radio series I Love a Mystery. In 1946, he was cast as one of the brothers in a touring production of Katharine Cornell's revival of The Barretts of Wimpole Street.[6] His first major role in a Broadway hit was in Inherit the Wind in 1955 portraying Newspaperman E. K. Hornbeck (based on real life cynic H. L. Mencken). In 1958, he played the leading role in the musical comedy Oh, Captain!, taking on a role originated on film by Alec Guinness. Oh, Captain! was a financial failure, but a personal success for Randall, who received glowing notices and a Tony Award nomination for his legendary dance turn with prima ballerina Alexandra Danilova.

 

He is perhaps best known for his work on television. His breakthrough role was as history teacher Harvey Weskit in Mr. Peepers (1952–1955). He had the starring role in an NBC-TV special The Secret of Freedom which was filmed during the summer of 1959 in Mount Holly, New Jersey, and broadcast on the network during the fall of 1959 and again in early 1960.
 
After a long hiatus from the medium, he returned in 1970 as fussbudget Felix Unger in The Odd Couple, opposite Jack Klugman, a role he would keep for five years. The names of Unger's children on The Odd Couple were Edna and Leonard, named after Randall's sister and Randall himself. In 1974, Randall and Jack Klugman appeared in television spots endorsing a Yahtzee spinoff, Challenge Yahtzee. They appeared in character as Felix and Oscar, and the TV spots were filmed on the same set as The Odd Couple.
 
Subsequently, he starred in The Tony Randall Show, in which he played a Philadelphia judge, and Love, Sidney. In the TV movie that served as the latter show's pilot, Sidney Shorr was clearly written as a gay man, but his character's sexuality was made ambiguous when the series premiered. Disappointed by what he perceived as censorship (plus the series' lack of acceptance), Randall refused to star in any more television shows.
 
Randall was the host during the breaks for the October 30 – November 2, 1987 free preview of HBO's short-lived premium channel Festival.
 
In September 1993, Randall and Jack Klugman reunited once again in the CBS-TV movie The Odd Couple: Together Again reprising their roles as Felix Unger and Oscar Madison. The story began when, after Felix ruined plans for his daughter Edna's wedding, his wife Gloria threw him out of the house for 11 days, which left him no choice but to move back in with Oscar and to help him recover, getting him back in shape after throat cancer surgery left his voice very raspy.

 

Movies

 

He starred as nearly all of the leading characters in the 1964 cult classic film 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, co-starring Barbara Eden. The film received an Oscar for William J. Tuttle's makeup artistry.
 
Randall's other film roles included Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1957) Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957), The Mating Game (1959), Pillow Talk (1959), Let's Make Love (1960), Boys' Night Out (1962), The Brass Bottle (1964), Hello Down There (1969), The King of Comedy (1983) and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990).

The hand prints of Tony Randall in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.
Pillow Talk was the first of three movies in which Doris Day, Rock Hudson and Randall all starred. Randall, by all accounts, ended up with the best lines ("It takes an early bird to take a worm like me"; on the crying Doris Day: "I never knew a woman that size had that much water in her", etc.). The other two are Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1963). Elements from the plots of these films, particularly Pillow Talk, were parodied in the 2003 comedy Down With Love, with Renée Zellweger in the Doris Day role, Ewan McGregor in the Rock Hudson, and David Hyde Pierce as the Tony Randall character, with Randall himself playing McGregor's Boss.

 

 

 

 

Das grosse Glück!

 

Tony mit seiner Frau Heather.

In 1991, he founded the National Actors Theatre (ultimately housed at Pace University in New York City) where starred in The Inspector General(1994), Three Men on a Horse (1993), and gave his final stage performance in Luigi Pirandello's Right You Are (If You Think You Are) in 2003.
 
Periodically, he performed in stage revivals of The Odd Couple with Jack Klugman including a stint in London in 1996. The following year, Randall and Klugman reunited to appear on Broadway in a revival of The Sunshine Boys. From 1988 to 1990, he appeared in John Dexter's production of M. Butterfly.

Tony Randall hat auch fünf Schallplatten als Sänger veröffentlicht. Dazu gehören die LP "Tony Randall" (Label: Imperial) von 1960, sowie die Produktionen aus dem Jahr 1967 "Warm and Wavery" (Mercury) und "Vo Vo De Oh Doe" (Mercury). Bei "Vo Vo de Oh Doe" ging Tony Randall zurück zur Zeit der Megaphone-Sänger der 20er und 30 er Jahre. Tony Randall war von dieser Musik immer sehr begeistert. Und die LP klingt auch genau so, als als wäre sie damals aufgenommen worden. "Winchester Cathedral" war der einzig aktuelle Song. Die LP "Warm and Wavery" kann schon eher  mit "The Odd Couple sings" verglichen werden.

 

1973 folgte dann die LP "The Odd Couple sings" (London) und 1980 die letzte Soloplatte "Power is you" (Clarus). Diese Platte war ein Musical-Projekt. Das Album war jedoch nicht einfach einzuordnen. Verschiedene Musikrichtigungen wurden gemischt und manche Kritiker beschrieben es wie eine Kinderplatte für Erwachsene. Es gibt noch weitere LPs von Musicals und Filmen, welche man aber hier nicht in diesem Sinne dazu zählen sollte.

 

Hier nun noch zwei Ausschnitte aus dem Album "Vo Vo de Oh Doe" und zwar "Willkommen" (Tony Randall singt in Deutsch!) und "Winchester Cathedrale".

 

EMBAMINK - Eine von 11 besonderen Farbnuancen/Schattierungen von EMBA Lunaraine, (dem) natürlich dunkelbraunem amerikanischen Nerzmantel von Michael Forrest.

 

Jack Klugman machte auch auch für EmbraMink 1979 Werbung. Sein Bild findet man hier.

 

Anmerkung: Man bedenke bitte, dass die Werbung schon bald 30 Jahre alt ist und zu dieser Zeit die Einstellung gegenüber Pelzen eine andere war. So sollte man dies als Zeitdokument sehen.