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Tony Randall Biography

Actor

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Name at birth: Arthur Leonard Rosenberg

Tony Randall played Felix Unger, the fastidious photographer who was half of TV's The Odd Couple, from 1970-75. (Jack Klugman co-starred as sloppy Oscar Madison, a sportswriter). Randall was a comic actor who first stepped on the New York stage in 1941. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Randall worked on radio and television, appearing in the TV series One Man's Family (1950-52) and, more famously, co-starring with Wally Cox in Mr. Peepers (1952-55). He was memorable in the films Pillow Talk (1959) and Lover Come Back (1961), romantic comedies starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day, and in the fantasy The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), in which he played multiple roles. His real success, however, came in television, in comedy series and as a guest on talk shows and game shows (he was a frequent guest of Johnny Carson and, later, David Letterman). After The Odd Couple he starred in two more comedy series, The Tony Randall Show (1976-78) and Love, Sidney (1981-83), and appeared in small roles in the movies. In the 1990s he founded the National Actors Studio and made headlines by becoming a father for the first time at the age of 77.

Extra credit: Randall was married 54 years to his first wife, Florence, until her death in 1992... He married Heather Harlan in 1995 (she was 24, he was 75) and they had two children, Julia (b. 1997) and Jefferson (b. 1998)... The Odd Couple was based on the play by Neil Simon and the feature film starring Jack Lemmon (Felix) and Walter Matthau (Oscar).

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