Tony Randall, the light comic actor who will forever be remembered as Felix Unger in the much loved sitcom, The Odd Couple, died on May 17 at NYU Medical Center. He had developed pneumonia after undergoing heart bypass surgery in December and was hospitalized until his death. He was 84.

The son of an antiques dealer, Randall was born Leonard Rosenberg on February 26, 1920 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was captivated by show business as a child when roadshows would come through his hometown. He attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois for a year, majoring in speech and drama before heading to New York City in 1939.

He studied acting at New York City's legendary Neighborhood Playhouse under the direction of the celebrated acting coach, Sanford Meisner. By 1941 he made his stage debut in The Circle of Chalk, and was in the process of making his Broadway debut in The Skin of Our Teeth before being drafted by the Army for World War II. After the war, Randall returned to New York and found a niche in radio, performing in such popular series as: I Love a Mystery and Life's True Story.

His radio success took him to television, where he got his first taste of national fame with Mr. Peepers (1952-55). The popular sitcom starred Wally Cox as the shy high school science teacher, Peepers, and Randall played his outspoken best friend. After returning to Broadway where he scored a hit with George Axelrod's witty satire on the advertising game, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, Randall was chosen to star opposite Jayne Mansfield for the film adaptation in 1957. The critics loved him, for when it came to deft comic touch, Randall was supreme. He proved his talents were no fluke on another hit comedy when he played a tax auditor who falls in love with a young farm girl (Debbie Reynolds) in the delightful The Mating Game (1958); and he practically stole every scene he was in against the potent combination of Rock Hudson-Doris Day in the enchanting Pillow Talk (1959).

Pillow Talk, would prove very beneficial to Randall's career, as he personified the urbane and neurotic "professional" American male with a self-deprecating humor that was all his own. It especially made him an ideal counterpart to the beefcake sex appeal of Hudson, and Randall would co-star in two more Hudson-Day charmers: Lover Come Back (1961), and Send Me No Flowers (1964) to great comical effect.

To his credit, Randall did try to stretch his range with some interesting roles. In the fantasy 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), he played six elaborately made up and oddly accented roles; but his take as Hercule Poroit in The Alphabet Murders was hardly definitive; and he just didn't click as a romantic lead in the spy caper Our Man in Marrakech (1966).

It wasn't until Randall turned 50, did he find a role that would make him a much cherished star - the role of Felix Unger, the neat freak photographer opposite Jack Klugman's sloppy, disheveled sportswriter, Oscar Madison, in the Television version of Neil Simon's classic Broadway play The Odd Couple. The chemistry between Klugman and Randall was undeniable, and the skilled writing and supporting cast has made this sitcom a staple on the rerun circuit. To top it all off; Randall's skill as a comic were justly rewarded when he won an Emmy award for best actor in a comedy series after the show's final season in 1975.

After The Odd Couple, Randall had two short-lived sitcoms: The Tony Randall Show (1976-78), in which he played a widowed Philadelphia judge raising two children; and Love, Sidney (1981-83), as a gay, middle-aged man helping an actress raise her young daughter. Despite the critical acclaim for both shows, Randall's stint in both these sitcoms were short-lived.

For many years, Randall's lifelong dream was to bring back theatrical classics to Broadway. In 1991, with a $1 million of his own money and other private donations, his dream finally came to fruition when The National Actors Theatre kicked off its first season with a production of Arthur Miller's Tony Award winning play about the Salem witch trials, The Crucible. Other acclaimed productions over the years included the Broadway staples The Gin Game and The Sunshine Boys, where Randall was reunited with Jack Klugman.

Although he dedicated his remaining years to his National Actors Theatre, Randall made one glowing, final appearance on film in the frothy comedy Down with Love (2003), playing a hurried executive that gently mocked the characters he had played in the `60s with Day and Hudson.

Randall was married to his college sweetheart, Florence, for 50 years until she died of cancer in 1992. He remarried in 1995 to Heather Harlan, a young intern at his Actors Theatre, who was 50 years his junior. Randall is survived by Heather, who made him a father for the first time at age 77, and their two children; daughter, Julia; and son, Jefferson.

by Michael T. Toole