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TCM Schedule for Thursday, August 26, 2021 -- Summer Under the Stars: Tony Randall
Today's Star is consumate comic actor Tony Randall. From his TCM mini-bio:Though he had a long, successful career on stage and screen, it was not until he made millions laugh as the fussy Felix Unger on The Odd Couple (ABC, 1970-75) that actor Tony Randall found the perfect role. Prior to his career-defining turn, Randall had appeared in a number of Broadway productions and foreshadowed Felix as an overbearing history teacher on Mr. Peepers (NBC, 1952-55). In features, he stole the show from Doris Day and Rock Hudson in the famous onscreen couple's three classic collaborations, hilariously playing the friend role in Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1964). On the surface, his performances were played for laughs, but there was always an emotional vulnerability and complexity about his characters. Following the success of The Odd Couple, Randall starred in two short-lived series, The Tony Randall Show (ABC/CBS, 1976-78) and the controversial Love, Sidney (NBC, 1981-83), where he played a not-so-closeted gay man which caused vehement response from religious groups. After that show was duly canceled, Randall swore never to star in his own series again and kept to his word. Meanwhile, he appeared less and less as he grew older, effectively retiring following a turn as a judge in Basic Instinct (1993). Of course, he was a frequent guest on talk shows, and held the record for appearances with David Letterman, proving that Randall's star continued to shine regardless of where he was in his career.
Born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg on Feb. 26, 1920 in Tulsa, OK, Randall was raised by his father, Mogscha, an art and antiques dealer, and his mother, Julia. After graduating from Tulsa Central High School, he spent a year studying speech and drama at Northwestern University, before moving to New York City to continue his studies at Columbia University and the Neighborhood Playhouse with renowned acting coach Sanford Meisner. Also at the time, he studied movement with Martha Graham and took voices lessons from Henri Jacobi. Following his years of training, Randall made his Broadway debut in A Circle of Chalk (1941), and soon turned in critically praised performances in The Corn is Green with Ethel Barrymore and Candida with Jane Cowl. Randall was set to star in Elia Kazan's The Skin of Our Teeth, only to have his career interrupted after being called to serve in the U.S. Army during World War II. He served four years in the Signal Corps and was discharged with the rank of lieutenant. Randall wasted no time returning to acting, and moved back to New York where, after a brief stint on Harry Morgan's popular radio show, was ready to take on the theater world once again.
In the early 1950s, Randall appeared in a role that largely foreshadowed Felix Unger - overbearing Mr. Weskitt on the high school sitcom Mr. Peepers (NBC, 1952-55). After his stint on television, he returned to features with a breakthrough performance opposite Jayne Mansfield in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957), which followed with a leading stage role in the musical Oh, Captain (1958), based on the Alec Guinness film The Captain's Paradise (1953). He was hilarious in the lead role of a ferry captain who had a wife in every port, and although the musical was not a critical success, the actor received a Tony Award nomination for his performance. He followed with a successful trio of romantic comedies alongside Doris Day and Rock Hudson, playing the best friend role in Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961), and Send Me No Flowers (1964). Randall played multiple roles like Merlin, Pan, Medusa and the titular Dr. Lao in the comedy 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), before portraying more straightforward characters in The Brass Bottle (1964), Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964) and the mystery spoof The Alphabet Murders (1965).
Following more film roles in Our Man in Marrakesh (1966), The Littlest Angel (1969) and Hello Down There (1969), Randall found the role with which he would forever be identified, playing neurotic neat freak Felix Unger opposite the cigar-chomping slob Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman) on the TV version of The Odd Couple (ABC, 1970-75). For five years, Randall and Klugman entertained audiences with a deft blend of witty dialogue and physical comedy, and while the 1968 film version was made famous by Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, both Randall and Klugman made the characters their own. In fact, Randall added his own touch of having Felix make strange noises during his sinus attacks and having him love opera as the actor did in real life. Over the course of the show's five seasons, Randall was nominated for five Golden Globes and two Emmy Awards, winning the later in 1975 for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. After The Odd Couple ended its esteemed run, Randall received his own show, The Tony Randall Show (ABC/CBS, 1976-78), where he played Walter Franklin, a stuffy judge and widower from Philadelphia. The show struggled to stay on air and was canceled after switching networks for its second season.
Though he spent most of the 1970s on the small screen, Randall did manage to tackle the occasional film role. He appeared as the operator of a NASA-like control center of a man's brain in the What Happens During Ejaculation? segment of Woody Allen's sex spoof, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972). He next portrayed the father of four spoiled kids in the ensemble comedy Scavenger Hunt (1979) and was a tuxedoed performer in the critically derided comedy The Gong Show Movie (1980). Back on television, Randall played a single, middle-aged commercial artist in Love, Sidney (NBC, 1981-83), a character that was thought to be gay, though the series never overtly confirmed the speculation. Still, it was clear enough for most viewers and created controversy among religious and conservative groups. The series failed thanks in part to the uproar, and Randall refused to star in any more television series due to what he perceived as censorship. Instead, he returned to features and the stage, while often appearing on a number of talk and variety shows, including David Letterman's two late night shows on NBC and CBS, where Randall sat in the guest chair for a record 70 times or made unannounced cameos.
As he advanced in years, Randall was seen less and less on screen, though he did secure some voice work in the animated My Little Pony: The Movie (1986) and the sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990). Following a turn as a judge in Basic Instinct (1993) and a voice role as Mr. Grimm in How the Toys Saved Christmas (1996), Randall remained essentially retired from acting, though he did reprise Felix Unger opposite Jack Klugman's Oscard Madison - despite Klugman's throat cancer issues - for a black tie benefit performance of The Odd Couple, which was followed by the television movie version, The Odd Couple: Together Again (CBS, 1993) with guest stars Penny Marshall, Jerry Adler and Dick Van Patten. Meanwhile, in 1992, Randall lost his wife of 55 years, Florence Gibbs, to cancer and remarried three years later to 25-year-old aspiring actress, Heather Harlan, when he was 50 years her senior. Regardless of the age difference, the pair had children in 1997 and 1998, which landed Randall in the tabloids for the first time in his storied career.
Meanwhile, Randall spent his later years advocating for causes, including an anti-smoking campaign, while launching the National Actors Theater in 1991 and donating $1 million to the theater in order to preserve and ensure the place of classical theater in everyday life. In fact, it was in one of his theater programs that he had met Harlan. After a long absence from the screen, Randall returned one last time for a cameo in the Ewan McGregor-Renee Zellweger romantic comedy, Down with Love (2003), a throwback to the 1960s sex farces that made Randall famous. In the visually stylish but under-performing romantic comedy, Randall spoofed his characters from Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back. The role turned out to be the last time he appeared in film or on television. To the surprise of many, Randall died on May 17, 2004 of complications from pneumonia contracted after bypass surgery in 2003. Klugman - who believed he would predecease Randall due to his own throat cancer struggles - was devastated and wrote affectionately of his relationship with him in his memoir, Tony and Me: A Story of Friendship (2005).
By Shawn Dwyer
Born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg on Feb. 26, 1920 in Tulsa, OK, Randall was raised by his father, Mogscha, an art and antiques dealer, and his mother, Julia. After graduating from Tulsa Central High School, he spent a year studying speech and drama at Northwestern University, before moving to New York City to continue his studies at Columbia University and the Neighborhood Playhouse with renowned acting coach Sanford Meisner. Also at the time, he studied movement with Martha Graham and took voices lessons from Henri Jacobi. Following his years of training, Randall made his Broadway debut in A Circle of Chalk (1941), and soon turned in critically praised performances in The Corn is Green with Ethel Barrymore and Candida with Jane Cowl. Randall was set to star in Elia Kazan's The Skin of Our Teeth, only to have his career interrupted after being called to serve in the U.S. Army during World War II. He served four years in the Signal Corps and was discharged with the rank of lieutenant. Randall wasted no time returning to acting, and moved back to New York where, after a brief stint on Harry Morgan's popular radio show, was ready to take on the theater world once again.
In the early 1950s, Randall appeared in a role that largely foreshadowed Felix Unger - overbearing Mr. Weskitt on the high school sitcom Mr. Peepers (NBC, 1952-55). After his stint on television, he returned to features with a breakthrough performance opposite Jayne Mansfield in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957), which followed with a leading stage role in the musical Oh, Captain (1958), based on the Alec Guinness film The Captain's Paradise (1953). He was hilarious in the lead role of a ferry captain who had a wife in every port, and although the musical was not a critical success, the actor received a Tony Award nomination for his performance. He followed with a successful trio of romantic comedies alongside Doris Day and Rock Hudson, playing the best friend role in Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961), and Send Me No Flowers (1964). Randall played multiple roles like Merlin, Pan, Medusa and the titular Dr. Lao in the comedy 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), before portraying more straightforward characters in The Brass Bottle (1964), Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964) and the mystery spoof The Alphabet Murders (1965).
Following more film roles in Our Man in Marrakesh (1966), The Littlest Angel (1969) and Hello Down There (1969), Randall found the role with which he would forever be identified, playing neurotic neat freak Felix Unger opposite the cigar-chomping slob Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman) on the TV version of The Odd Couple (ABC, 1970-75). For five years, Randall and Klugman entertained audiences with a deft blend of witty dialogue and physical comedy, and while the 1968 film version was made famous by Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, both Randall and Klugman made the characters their own. In fact, Randall added his own touch of having Felix make strange noises during his sinus attacks and having him love opera as the actor did in real life. Over the course of the show's five seasons, Randall was nominated for five Golden Globes and two Emmy Awards, winning the later in 1975 for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. After The Odd Couple ended its esteemed run, Randall received his own show, The Tony Randall Show (ABC/CBS, 1976-78), where he played Walter Franklin, a stuffy judge and widower from Philadelphia. The show struggled to stay on air and was canceled after switching networks for its second season.
Though he spent most of the 1970s on the small screen, Randall did manage to tackle the occasional film role. He appeared as the operator of a NASA-like control center of a man's brain in the What Happens During Ejaculation? segment of Woody Allen's sex spoof, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972). He next portrayed the father of four spoiled kids in the ensemble comedy Scavenger Hunt (1979) and was a tuxedoed performer in the critically derided comedy The Gong Show Movie (1980). Back on television, Randall played a single, middle-aged commercial artist in Love, Sidney (NBC, 1981-83), a character that was thought to be gay, though the series never overtly confirmed the speculation. Still, it was clear enough for most viewers and created controversy among religious and conservative groups. The series failed thanks in part to the uproar, and Randall refused to star in any more television series due to what he perceived as censorship. Instead, he returned to features and the stage, while often appearing on a number of talk and variety shows, including David Letterman's two late night shows on NBC and CBS, where Randall sat in the guest chair for a record 70 times or made unannounced cameos.
As he advanced in years, Randall was seen less and less on screen, though he did secure some voice work in the animated My Little Pony: The Movie (1986) and the sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990). Following a turn as a judge in Basic Instinct (1993) and a voice role as Mr. Grimm in How the Toys Saved Christmas (1996), Randall remained essentially retired from acting, though he did reprise Felix Unger opposite Jack Klugman's Oscard Madison - despite Klugman's throat cancer issues - for a black tie benefit performance of The Odd Couple, which was followed by the television movie version, The Odd Couple: Together Again (CBS, 1993) with guest stars Penny Marshall, Jerry Adler and Dick Van Patten. Meanwhile, in 1992, Randall lost his wife of 55 years, Florence Gibbs, to cancer and remarried three years later to 25-year-old aspiring actress, Heather Harlan, when he was 50 years her senior. Regardless of the age difference, the pair had children in 1997 and 1998, which landed Randall in the tabloids for the first time in his storied career.
Meanwhile, Randall spent his later years advocating for causes, including an anti-smoking campaign, while launching the National Actors Theater in 1991 and donating $1 million to the theater in order to preserve and ensure the place of classical theater in everyday life. In fact, it was in one of his theater programs that he had met Harlan. After a long absence from the screen, Randall returned one last time for a cameo in the Ewan McGregor-Renee Zellweger romantic comedy, Down with Love (2003), a throwback to the 1960s sex farces that made Randall famous. In the visually stylish but under-performing romantic comedy, Randall spoofed his characters from Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back. The role turned out to be the last time he appeared in film or on television. To the surprise of many, Randall died on May 17, 2004 of complications from pneumonia contracted after bypass surgery in 2003. Klugman - who believed he would predecease Randall due to his own throat cancer struggles - was devastated and wrote affectionately of his relationship with him in his memoir, Tony and Me: A Story of Friendship (2005).
By Shawn Dwyer
Enjoy!
6:00 AM -- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960)
1h 47m | Adventure | TV-G
Classic Mark Twain story of a young troublemaker who tries to help a runaway slave.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Tony Randall, Patty Mccormack, Neville Brand
The four songs included in the film were originally intended for an M-G-M Technicolor musical version of "Huckleberry Finn" which was supposed to have been filmed in 1952, but was never made. It was supposed to have starred Dean Stockwell as Huck, William Warfield (fresh from his triumph as Joe in Show Boat (1951)) as Jim, and Gene Kelly and Danny Kaye as the two con men. The film was abandoned because Kelly wanted to take advantage of a tax deal that required that he work in Europe for eighteen months.
8:00 AM -- The Alphabet Murders (1965)
1h 30m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
Belgian detective Hercule Poirot investigates a series of murders committed in alphabetical order.
Director: Frank Tashlin
Cast: Tony Randall, Anita Ekberg, Robert Morley
The only movie in which both Hercule Poirot (Tony Randall) and Miss Jane Marple (Dame Margaret Rutherford) appeared.
9:45 AM -- Boys' Night Out (1962)
1h 55m | Comedy | TV-PG
A psychology student researches infidelity by becoming a platonic kept woman for four buddies.
Director: Michael Gordon
Cast: Kim Novak, James Garner, Tony Randall
Toni Jackson (Anne Jeffreys) asks Cathy (Kim Novack) if her survey on the sexual patterns of the suburban male is something like the Kinsey Report. The Kinsey Report is actually two different surveys: "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female" (1953). These two books were controversial and groundbreaking on opening up opinions and discussions on human sexuality and bringing them into public discourse.
12:00 PM -- Pillow Talk (1959)
1h 45m | Comedy | TV-G
A man and woman carry their feud over the telephone line they share into their real lives.
Director: Michael Gordon
Cast: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall
Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Russell Rouse (story), Clarence Greene (story), Stanley Shapiro (screenplay) and Maurice Richlin (screenplay)
Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Doris Day, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Thelma Ritter, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Richard H. Riedel, Russell A. Gausman and Ruby R. Levitt, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Frank De Vol
After Jonathan (Tony Randall) slaps Jan (Doris Day) in the diner, a truck driver (John Indrisano) punches him in the jaw. In an interview, Randall said that he and Indrisano practised the punch many times, and Indrisano assured him that he would not be hit. During the take, Indrisano misjudged, and Randall actually was struck and knocked unconscious.
2:00 PM -- Lover Come Back (1961)
1h 47m | Comedy | TV-G
An ad exec in disguise courts his pretty female competitor.
Director: Delbert Mann
Cast: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall
Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning
Donna Douglas was cast as Tony Randall's secretary shortly before landing the role for which she is best-remembered; Jed Clampett's daughter Ellie Mae in the long-running CBS sitcom, The Beverly Hillbillies (1962). As the screenplay was co-written by "Hillbillies" creator Paul Henning, it's a pretty safe bet he remembered her when casting the role.
4:00 PM -- Send Me No Flowers (1964)
1h 40m | Comedy | TV-G
When he mistakenly thinks he's dying, a hypochondriac tries to choose his wife's next husband.
Director: Norman Jewison
Cast: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall
If you look quickly whenever any characters drive down the "street" where Rock Hudson and Doris Day live, you may spot the "houses" from The Munsters, the Don Knotts vehicle The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, and many other Universal movies and TV shows from the 1960s.
6:00 PM -- Fluffy (1965)
1h 32m | Comedy
A scientist proves that he can domesticate a lion, but nobody seems to believe him.
Director: Earl Bellamy
Cast: Tony Randall, Shirley Jones, Edward Andrews
Ralph Helfer, the trainer and owner of Zamba (a.k.a. Fluffy), doubled for Tony Randall in the scenes where he and the lion were together.
WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS -- TONY RANDALL
8:00 PM -- 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)
1h 40m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-PG
A Chinese showman uses his magical powers to save a Western town from itself.
Director: George Pal
Cast: Tony Randall, Barbara Eden, Arthur O'connell
Winner of an Honorary Oscar Award for William Tuttle for his outstanding make-up achievement for 7 Faces of Dr. Lao
Nominee for an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Visual Effects -- Jim Danforth
Tony Randall shaved his head for the role of Dr. Lao. It also made it easier to apply the make-up for the different characters he played. The studio publicity department wanted to photograph Randall getting his head shaved but arrived at the barber too late. They had the make-up artist glue hair back on Randall's head so Randall could pose for photos while getting the hair cut off again.
10:00 PM -- The Mating Game (1959)
1h 37m | Comedy | TV-G
A tax agent falls for a farm girl whose father he's investigating.
Director: George Marshall
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Tony Randall, Paul Douglas
Debbie Reynolds was 27 when this film was made, and Tony Randall was 39 - but his character states that he's 29 in one scene.
12:00 AM -- Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)
1h 34m | Comedy | TV-PG
A lowly adman tries to better his lot by courting a glamorous Hollywood star.
Director: Frank Tashlin
Cast: Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Betsy Drake
Although uncredited, if the woman promoting Tres Chic, (one of the very funny, tongue-in-cheek) fake adverts in the film's beginning sounds/looks familiar, that's because it's Majel Barrett; a pre-'number one'/nurse Christine Chapel from Star Trek: The Original Series (1966).
2:00 AM -- Our Man in Marrakesh (1966)
1h 33m | Comedy | TV-PG
One of six travelers on a bus is carrying $2 million to pay a local operator to fix UN votes.
Director: Don Sharp.
Cast: Tony Randall, Senta Berger, Herbert Lom
The picture has a number of titles in English-speaking territories that include Bang, Bang, Bang! Marrakesh; I Spy, You Spy; Marrakesh; Bang Bang!; Our Man in Marrakesh; and Bang! Bang! Your Dead!.
4:00 AM -- Island of Love (1963)
1h 41m | Comedy | TV-PG
A con artist scams a gangster into financing his movie.
Director: Morton Dacosta
Cast: Robert Preston, Tony Randall, Georgia Moll
Walter Matthau played the original Oscar Madison in the film version of The Odd Couple (1968), while Tony Randall played the part of Felix Unger in the classic TV series The Odd Couple (1970), upon which it was based. This was (unfortunately) the only time the 2 men worked together.