# Tony Randall dead at 84
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 18, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761 "2004-05-18T14:24:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/1 "2004-05-18T14:24:00Z")
I hope this link to Talking Broadway works. It was just announced and I couldn’t find anything on the news websites ☹ [http://www.talkinbroadway.com/allthatchat/display\_message.php?id=15353](http://www.talkinbroadway.com/allthatchat/display_message.php?id=15353)
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/2 "2004-05-18T14:28:16Z")
Damn!
Wasn’t expecting that one.
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### Author:  [@Kiki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiki)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/3 "2004-05-18T14:37:20Z")
Yahoo has a short blurb [here](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040518/ap_on_en_tv/obit_randall_4).
I knew he’d beein in the hospital for awhile. What a loss. He was a great actor.
RIP Tony.
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### Author:  [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/4 "2004-05-18T14:40:29Z")
Dang, sorry to hear that because he was an American treasure.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/5 "2004-05-18T14:43:20Z")
Godammit . . . I want to do a bio of Jayne Mansfield, and he’d have been an important interview . . . [/selflish]
Nice guy, I hear, and terrific light comic actor, too.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/6 "2004-05-18T14:54:15Z")
There goes the finest trucker who ever lived.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/7 "2004-05-18T14:54:36Z")
NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
I met him a few years ago (and his wife, who had just learned she was pregnant) and he was a super-nice individual (which was a surprise- I’d always assumed he’d be pompous). I feel terrible for his children, but at least he left a huge video legacy and had some major quality time with them that they should remember. (Plus, his wife can always marry David Hyde Pierce and it’ll be like having a younger version of Tony around.)
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/8 "2004-05-18T14:56:23Z")
> [@Eve](#):
>
> Godammit . . . I want to do a bio of Jayne Mansfield, and he’d have been an important interview . . . [/selflish]
Mickey Hargitay is still alive and selling flowers, and [Ann Wedgeworth](http://imdb.com/name/nm0917190/) if she’s sober can still give major info on her younger days.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/9 "2004-05-18T14:57:05Z")
I am very sad. He was good on stage, in movies, and on TV. A triple threat.
David Hyde Pierce would be great in a movie on Randall’s life.
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/10 "2004-05-18T15:06:57Z")
Come back, Dr. Lao!
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### Author:  [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/11 "2004-05-18T15:13:30Z")
I’m sad too. He always seemed so youthful, I thought we (and his kids) would have him well into his 90s.
Well, at least at 5 and 7 his children should be just old enough to keep a few firsthand memories of him.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/12 "2004-05-18T15:44:14Z")
So was Tony the first person to play a sympathetic gay lead in a TV show? (IIRC, _Sidney Shorr_ was definitely gay in the TV movie, then ambiguously gay in the show, but it was still a major notch above _Three’s Company_ in addressing the gay issue in primetime.)
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/13 "2004-05-18T15:46:51Z")
Actually, answering my own question, I guess Billy Crystal in _Soap_ would be first (and all gay men really wanna be women, don’tcha know, but whatever- I have to admit I thought most of the other plotlines on _Soap_ were hysterical).
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### Author:  [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/14 "2004-05-18T15:57:01Z")
RIP. I loved The Odd Couple.
> [@Fiver](#):
>
> Well, at least at 5 and 7 his children should be just old enough to keep a few firsthand memories of him.
Well, soon their memories of his dodderage will fade, and they’ll know him more by his movies and TV.
(further comments deleted for fear of being called a thread farter.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/15 "2004-05-18T16:25:56Z")
About This Message Board: Where Should the Tony Randall Threads Go?
General Questions: What Did Tony Randall Die From?
Great Debates: Should Tony Randall Have Fathered Children at His Age?
MPSIMS: My Dad Looks Like Tony Randall . . .
IMHO: How many Tony Randall Films Have You Seen? List!
Cafe Society: Tony Randall Dead at 84
Cafe Society: Tony Randall Dead at 84
Cafe Society: Tony Randall Dead at 84
BBQ Pit: Enough With the Goddam Tony Randall Threads!!
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/16 "2004-05-18T16:33:43Z")
> [@Eve](#):
>
> About This Message Board: Where Should the Tony Randall Threads Go?
>
> General Questions: What Did Tony Randall Die From?
>
> Great Debates: Should Tony Randall Have Fathered Children at His Age?
>
> MPSIMS: My Dad Looks Like Tony Randall . . .
>
> IMHO: How many Tony Randall Films Have You Seen? List!
>
> Cafe Society: Tony Randall Dead at 84
>
> Cafe Society: Tony Randall Dead at 84
>
> Cafe Society: Tony Randall Dead at 84
>
> BBQ Pit: Enough With the Goddam Tony Randall Threads!!
You left out
Great Debates: Should Felix & Oscar have been allowed to marry?
Great Debates: Tony Randall Dead at 84- WMDs still not found
Great Debates: WHY shouldn’t Felix & Oscar have been allowed to marry?
BBQ Pit: F\*ck You Milum for Saying Felix & Oscar are in Hell!
---
### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/17 "2004-05-18T16:38:45Z")
> [@Eve](#):
>
> About This Message Board: Where Should the Tony Randall Threads Go?
> General Questions: What Did Tony Randall Die From?
> Great Debates: Should Tony Randall Have Fathered Children at His Age?
> MPSIMS: My Dad Looks Like Tony Randall . . .
> IMHO: How many Tony Randall Films Have You Seen? List!
> Cafe Society: Tony Randall Dead at 84
> Cafe Society: Tony Randall Dead at 84
> Cafe Society: Tony Randall Dead at 84
> BBQ Pit: Enough With the Goddam Tony Randall Threads!!
You forgot one…
Great Debate: Did Randall Rob The Cradle \?
IIRC, he did…or am I confused with Woody Alan? …or both did?
- Jinx
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### Author:  [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/18 "2004-05-18T16:39:22Z")
Ironically enough, he was found in total squalor.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/19 "2004-05-18T16:40:11Z")
Yes, I saw Jack Lemmon’s performance, but dammit, no one except Tony Randall can ever be Felix Unger.
It’s sad to realize that when Jack Klugman was facing severe health problems a few years ago, it was Tony Randall who helped him out.
And Eve, one more obligatory post:
General Questions to be moved to IMHO to be moved to MPSIMS to be moved to CS finally to be locked: Tony Randall has kids in his 70s - is that possible?
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/20 "2004-05-18T16:47:16Z")
Great Debates: Tony Randall Dead- NOW will you admit the war in Iraq is justified?
Great Debates: Tony Randall Dead but Lefties still going on about Abu Ghraib
IMHO: Rabid Non-Smoker & Fitness Freak Randall Dead/Former 5 pack-a-day smoker Jack Klugman Still Alive, Well & Working- Can Smoking Really be THAT bad for you?
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