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Tony Randall

Tony Randall

Jack Klugman and Tony Randall performed together in "Appointment with Adventure" (1955) {The Pirate's House (#1.23)} from the golden age of television 15 years before they did the classic sit-com "The Odd Couple".

11 April 1997: 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."

A liberal Democrat, in September 2003 Randall joked in a speech that President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney would be turned away if they tried to attend his funeral.

A member of the Metropolitan Opera Association from 1972.

An avid art collector, his father was an art and antiques dealer.



Appeared on "Late Show with David Letterman" (1993) a record 70 times.

Attended Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois), where he majored in speech and drama.

Avid collector of modern art, opera recordings, and antiques.

Biography in "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives," Volume 7, 2003-2005, pp. 444-446. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.

Contracted pneumonia following heart bypass surgery in December 2003.

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.

Father was an art dealer. Mother's name was Julia Finston.

Founder of the National Actors' Theater, New York.

Had taken ballet classes and danced at a semi-professional level.

He was originally cast as the voice of "Templeton the Rat" in the movie Charlotte's Web (1973) without an audition. When Joseph Barbera realised he wasn't right for the voice, they paid him and hired Paul Lynde instead.

Met his wife Heather in a play in New York. She was 50 years his junior.

National chairman of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation, which is an incurable neuromuscular disease.

Originated the role of E.K. Hornbeck in the Broadway production of "Inherit the Wind," which ran for 806 performances from April 21, 1955, to June 22, 1957, at the National Theater (now the Nederlander Theater). 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 "Inherit the Wind" that ran for 45 appearances in 1996. Randall was a stand-in for both Anthony Heald as E. K. Hornbeck and George C. Scott as Henry Drummond, taking over the latter 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.

Randall recalls the making of 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964) in an interview in the book "A Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde" (McFarland & Co., 2010) by Tom Weaver.

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for his contribution to television. (1998).

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