Farewell, Felix–Memories Of Tony Randall
As you’ll no doubt have heard by now, Tony Randall died in his sleep Monday due to complication from a long illness.
In Odd Couple producer Gary Marshall’s autobiography, “Wake We When It’s Funny,” we learn that television executives of the day feared audiences would think Felix and Oscar were homosexual. So just to play with them, they used to include extra scenes in the versions of the episodes sent to the network, in which Randall and Jack Klugman camped it up to beat the band.
I also remember renting one of the Doris Day-Rock Hudson comedies in which Randall played a supporting role–Send Me No Flowers (1964)–many years ago and thinking Randall had the funniest line. I can’t remember what the line was, but it was the funniest, as was his voiceover role as a genetically enhanced, super-intelligent gremlin in Gremlins 2. “Check it out, one time, won’t you?” And of course 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964) is the kind of fantasy flick you love as a child and only grows in your acclaim as you mature.
I remember his appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and liking the TV movie–and to a lesser extent the show–of Love, Sydney.
Also from Marshall’s book, I remember that he wooed opera fan Randall to his series by bringing along, when he first met with the actor to discuss it, an ex-girlfriend who was also an opera buff and could discuss it with him.
On David Letterman’s “Late Show,” Randall’s most memorable appearance–at least to me–came shortly after Bill Clinton was elected. Through the early part of the show, Letterman kept billboarding that the president-elect would be making an appearance on the program. When he was finally introduced, you heard the announcer intone, “Tonight, the part of Bill Clinton will be played by Tony Randall.” Whereupon the actor marched out, and with near-military dignity announced, “As your duly elected representative, I promise to lower the national debt, raise the GNP, and ‘turn up the heat’ in the oval office…if you know what I mean.”
His collection of anecdotes–not an autobiography, as one obit reported–“Which Reminds Me,” contains some good stories about the many aspects of show business in which Randall worked, from TV to movies to radio and the stage.
It’s sad that he left two small children, but when you don’t begin a family ‘till you’re in your late ’70s…let’s just say it can’t have come as that much of a surprise.
