ACTOR
Tony Randall
16 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (16)
- #001
In December 2003, after heart bypass surgery, Tony Randall contracted pneumonia and remained in the hospital until his death.
- #002
Asked in the 1970s whether there was anyone in his career he truly disliked, Randall said he hated speaking ill of the dead but then admitted to hostility toward the late Ethel Barrymore. As a young actor he had appeared with her in a play and had been put off by her imperious manner, which included a demand that her fellow cast members observe absolute silence near her dressing room.
- #003
Tony Randall appeared on Late Show with David Letterman (1993) a record 70 times.
- #004
Randall took ballet lessons and danced at a semi-professional level.
- #005
During World War II, Tony Randall served as a cryptologist.
- #006
In an effort to bring classical theater back to Broadway, Randall founded and served as artistic director of the nonprofit National Actors Theatre in 1991, contributing $1 million of his own money and raising $2 million from corporations and foundations.
- #007
Randall met his wife, Heather, during a play in New York. She was 50 years younger than he was.
- #008
Randall graduated from Tulsa Central High School but dropped out of Northwestern University in Illinois, where he studied speech and drama, and trained in acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York under the legendary acting coach Sanford Meisner and with the dancer Martha Graham. He later received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Pace University in 2002.
- #009
Tony Randall was a passionate collector of modern art, opera recordings and antiques.
- #010
Randall, the son of art dealer Moescha Rosenberg and Julia Rosenberg (née Finston), had a sister named Edna, who was named after the daughter of Felix Unger, Randall's best-known character in The Odd Couple (1970).
- #011
Randall reportedly loved playing Yahtzee, but his quirk was that he played it for every scoring opportunity in order on the scorecard (starting with "Aces" at the top of the left column, then down the right column, ending with "Yahtzee" or "random").
- #012
While Mister Peepers (1952) was on the air, Randall appeared in three Broadway shows and worked on the series through Sunday television broadcasts (Broadway shows were dark on Sundays at the time). At one point he worked for 365 days without a single day off.
- #013
Randall was nominated for the Tony Award five times: in 1958 as Best Actor (Musical) for "Oh, Captain!" and later as co-producer with the National Actors Theatre of four nominated plays: Best Revival for "St. Joan" in 1993 and Best Revival (Play) for "Timon of Athens" in 1994; for "Inherit the Wind" in 1996 and for "The Gin Game" in 1997.
- #014
A member of the Metropolitan Opera Association from 1972, Randall was also the national chairman of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation, which addresses the incurable neuromuscular disease.
- #015
Randall appeared in different roles in the 1954 stage version of Edward Chodorov's "Oh, Men! Oh, Women!" and in its 1957 screen adaptation.
- #016
On August 26, 2021, Randall was honored with a day of his filmography on Turner Classic Movies as part of its Summer Under the Stars programming.
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