# 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:** 2
### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/21 "2004-05-18T16:50:24Z")
On his tombstone, they should put the poem that Felix wrote for Spot Moskowitz.
Things that come to mind suddenly:
“I don’t like PITS… PITS… PITS, in my JUICE… JUICE… JUICE…”
“A waffle iron?”
“No gain… but a lesson for us all.”
---
### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/22 "2004-05-18T16:55:09Z")
> [@astorian](#):
>
> On his tombstone, they should put the poem that Felix wrote for Spot Moskowitz.
> Things that come to mind suddenly:
>
> “I don’t like PITS… PITS… PITS, in my JUICE… JUICE… JUICE…”
>
> “A waffle iron?”
>
> “No gain… but a lesson for us all.”
“It’s a very well known fact that Abraham Lincoln _loved_ mayonaisse!”
One of my favorite _Odd Couple_ moments was Felix’s snobbery towards Oscar’s fiddle playin’ rodeo-clown friend Willie until Willie plays a classical duet with him on piano. (Willie, like Roy Clark, was a musical virtuoso.) I also loved the revelation that Felix was the only American soldier ever decorated by the Nazis (for keeping an immaculate P.O.W. barracks- “I _threw_ that medal right back in their faces!”) or that his wife received the only divorce ever granted in NYC for “pestiness”.
---
### Author:  [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/23 "2004-05-18T17:06:18Z")
NO!!!
I loved Randall. This is really depressing. I never saw this coming. I loved him in so many things, but especially as Dr. Lao.
☹
---
### Author:  [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/24 "2004-05-18T17:06:49Z")
What a shame.
---
### Author:  [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/25 "2004-05-18T18:13:31Z")
Damn. ☹
I was just watching him the other day on Nick at Night in The Odd Couple. He was fantastic.
---
### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/26 "2004-05-18T18:16:10Z")
MPSIMS: Who had Tony Randall in the Celebrity Deathpool?
MPSIMS: How many points was Tony Randall worth in the Celebrity Deathpool?
Cafe Society: I was the FIRST to post that Tony Randall had died.
IMHO: If you had been the FIRST to post that Tony Randall had died, what title would you have given the Thread?
---
### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/27 "2004-05-18T18:34:08Z")
I just remembered I had a Tony Randall sighting: about 15 years ago I worked at the Museum of Natural History (no, _not_ as an exhibit!), and walked to work up Central Park West. I would nod and smile to the doormen as I passed the big apartments—I noded and smiled to one man leaning against an apartment-house door, and he nodded and smiled back.
A block and a half later, I realized, “Oh, that wasn’t a doorman, it was Tony Randall!”
---
### Author:  [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/28 "2004-05-18T19:12:21Z")
I’m too young to have really seen much of his work, but I loved the times on Letterman when he and Mandy Patinkin would just drop by to rehearse…
---
### Author:  [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/29 "2004-05-18T19:39:07Z")
I was watching FoxNews when the story broke today.
They talked with Pat Cooper and Phyllis Diller.
I’ve always enjoyed his acting and his Carson appearances.
But its not like it should be a shock, we knew he was 84.
He was mentioned in a James Randi book; Randi saw him on tv and when the host asked him what sign he was, he refused to reply, saying it would insult the inteeligence of the viewers.
---
### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/30 "2004-05-18T21:42:30Z")
I have no Tony Randall sighting, but he just strikes me as a class act.
RIP Tony.
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/31 "2004-05-18T22:09:39Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#):
>
> I’m too young to have really seen much of his work, but I loved the times on Letterman when he and Mandy Patinkin would just drop by to rehearse…
A class act not above playing the fool for Letterman.
---
### Author:  [@JRootabega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRootabega)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/32 "2004-05-18T22:32:27Z")
Hey, Tony Randall died! Holy cow!
---
### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/33 "2004-05-18T22:38:25Z")
I remember seeing him on the _Tonight Show With Johnny Carson_, Randall was there to perform a tune from his new album of children songs. When he was chatting with Carson, he stated that he didn’t have any children, Carson seemed stunned by this. He always appeared to be a kind and gentle person, let’s hope that his passing was as peaceful as he was. (Yes, I know he died in his sleep, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have suffered.)
---
### Author:  [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/34 "2004-05-18T23:07:27Z")
Despite his age, the last I saw Tony Randall he seemed so very vibrant that this was unexpected. My last sighting, btw, was on Park Avenue last fall; he was walking with his wife and his young son. The boy was bouncing all over the place and asking a million questions, “Daddy, what is…? Daddy can we…?” and Randall seemed so happy and full of energy engaging his son that he could’ve lived forever.
My sympathies are with his family.
The lights on Broadway will dim at 8 p.m. tonight in Randall’s honor. Seems very fitting, indeed. RIP, gentleman.
---
### Author:  [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/35 "2004-05-19T00:36:26Z")
Damn.
Tony Randall not only made me laugh, he also taught me that all-important lesson: that one should never _assume_.
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/36 "2004-05-19T01:56:50Z")
> [@nitroglycerine](#):
>
> Damn.
> Tony Randall not only made me laugh, he also taught me that all-important lesson: that one should never _assume_.
I agree. It certainly made an ass of me.
---
### Author:  [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/37 "2004-05-19T02:29:10Z")
My favorite Tony Randall moment, I learned about from these boards. He’s on $10,000 Pyramid, or some such show, trying to communicate “William Shakespeare” to his partner. He says, “Greatest playwright in the history of the English language.” Partner says “Neil Simon.”
Tony lays face down on the floor, and refuses to move. 😃
Thank you, to whichever Doper originally posted that anecdote. It’s stayed with me. Wish I had seen that show.
---
### Author:  [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/38 "2004-05-19T02:56:13Z")
Tony Randall is (well, _was_ now) on my list of famous people I’d like to spend an evening with, just sitting around chatting. Irrespective of my admiration for him as an actor, he just always struck me as an interesting person. I did meet him once, in passing, at a booksellers’ convention years ago, but wasn’t able to exchange more than a few words.
One performance of his I’d like to find a copy of; many years ago he was on a variety show and did a reading of “Have Some Madeira, M’Dear.”
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2004, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/39 "2004-05-19T02:58:27Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#):
>
> One performance of his I’d like to find a copy of; many years ago he was on a variety show and did a reading of “Have Some Madeira, M’Dear.”
Ha! I’m not the only one who remembers this! I’m almost certain he did this on The Carol Burnett Show.
---
### Author:  [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761/40 "2004-05-19T03:11:24Z")
I remember that too!
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761.md?page=1)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-randall-dead-at-84/245761.md?page=3)