Current:Home > StocksJoyce Randolph, 'Honeymooners' actress in beloved comedy, dies at 99-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Joyce Randolph, 'Honeymooners' actress in beloved comedy, dies at 99
View Date:2024-12-23 16:39:08
NEW YORK — “Honeymooners” actress Joyce Randolph, who played Ed Norton’s sarcastic wife Trixie, has died. She was 99.
Randolph died of natural causes Saturday night at her home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, her son Randolph Charles told The Associated Press Sunday.
She was the last surviving main character of the beloved comedy from television’s golden age of the 1950s.
“The Honeymooners” was an affectionate look at Brooklyn tenement life, based in part on star Jackie Gleason’s childhood. Gleason played the blustering bus driver Ralph Kramden. Audrey Meadows was his wisecracking, strong-willed wife Alice, and Art Carney the cheerful sewer worker Ed Norton. Alice and Trixie often found themselves commiserating over their husbands’ various follies and mishaps, whether unknowingly marketing dogfood as a popular snack or trying in vain to resist a rent hike, or freezing in the winter as their heat is shut off.
Randolph would later cite a handful of favorite episodes, including one in which Ed is sleepwalking.
“And Carney calls out, ‘Thelma?!’ He never knew his wife’s real name,” she later told the Television Academy Foundation.
Originating in 1950 as a recurring skit on Gleason’s variety show, “Cavalcade of Stars,” “The Honeymooners” still ranks among the all-time favorites of television comedy. The show grew in popularity after Gleason switched networks with “The Jackie Gleason Show.” Later, for one season in 1955-56, it became a full-fledged series.
Those 39 episodes became a staple of syndicated programming aired all over the country and beyond.
In an interview with The New York Times in January 2007, Randolph said she received no compensation in residuals for those 39 episodes. She said she finally began getting royalties with the discovery of “lost” episodes from the variety hours.
Elaine Stritch was the first actress to portray Trixie in a sketch on "Cavalcade of Stars," which was a much grittier version of Randolph's version.
"That first Trixie certainly did not resemble my much more wholesome version of her," Randolph previously told Forbes. "The pacing was frantic when we did 'The Honeymooners.' The script was delivered to my apartment in Manhattan and a few days later we went and did the show live. Jackie was against doing rehearsals. He wanted everything to be spontaneous, which for me was no issue. I never had that many lines, after all."
'My dear sweet friend':Halle Berry pays tribute to 'X-Men' co-star Adan Canto
Before her time on "Honeymooners," Randolph got her start on Broadway's "Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath" in 1950. She also took smaller roles on television.
"She joked that often she'd play the part of the young woman who ended up as the corpse in the murder mystery. So they used to call her the ‘most murdered girl’ on television," her son told Fox News on Sunday.
He added: "In addition to being a wonderful actress, she was a wonderful mom and loving wife."
Contributing: Naledi Ushe, USA TODAY
Tisa Farrow,1970s actress who became a nurse, dies at 72, sister Mia Farrow says
veryGood! (66485)
Related
- Bodyless head washes ashore on a South Florida beach
- Florida quietly removes LGBTQ+ travel info from state website
- Orson Merrick: A Journey Through Financial Expertise and Resilience
- American Airlines extends suspension of flights to Israel through late March amid war in Gaza
- Pistons' Tim Hardaway Jr. leaves in wheelchair after banging head on court
- Chris Pratt's Stunt Double Tony McFarr's Cause of Death Revealed
- Canada lynx confirmed in Vermont for 1st time since 2018
- US government report says fluoride at twice the recommended limit is linked to lower IQ in kids
- Gerry Faust, the former head football coach at Notre Dame, has died at 89
- Sicily Yacht Sinking: 4 Bodies Recovered From the Wreckage By Divers
Ranking
- Stock market today: Asian shares meander, tracking Wall Street’s mixed finish as dollar surges
- NYC parks worker charged with murder as a hate crime in killing of migrant
- Columbus Crew and LAFC will meet in Leagues Cup final after dominant semifinal wins
- Young adults are major targets for back-to-school scams. Here's how to protect yourself.
- Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow's Son Moses Martin Reveals His Singing Talents at Concert
- Chipotle brings back IQ test giving away more than $1 million in free burritos, BOGO deals
- Richard Simmons' Cause of Death Revealed
- Paris Hilton looks through remnants from trailer fire in new video: 'Burned to a crisp'
Recommendation
-
Bluesky has added 1 million users since the US election as people seek alternatives to X
-
‘The fever is breaking': DeSantis-backed school board candidates fall short in Florida
-
Why Lane Kiffin, Jeff Lebby, Chris Beard have longer contracts than Mississippi law allows
-
Taylor Swift reveals Eras Tour secrets in 'I Can Do It With a Broken Heart' music video
-
Today’s Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker and More React to Craig Melvin Replacing Hoda Kotb as Co-Anchor
-
Orlando Bloom and Son Flynn, 13, Bond in Rare Photo Together
-
Harris’ family members are popping up around Chicago this week during the DNC. Here’s who’s who
-
Man wanted on murder and armed robbery charges is in standoff with police at Chicago restaurant