The importance of being Felix: Tony Randall's widow recalls star's Worcester years

Roughly 30 years before comedic actor Tony Randall played fussy neatnik Felix Unger opposite Jack Klugman’s messy, loud slob Oscar Madison for five seasons on ABC's "The Odd Couple," he briefly lived in Worcester and worked as a radio announcer on WTAG.

In 1941, Randall, then 21, had just graduated from the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York, and his widow, Heather Randall, explains what brought him from Broadway to Worcester.

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“Tony didn’t get a job as an actor right away and he was really very worried. And he was a married man already,” his second wife, Heather Randall, said recently from her New York City home, “and so he took that (WTAG) job because he was scared of supporting him and his (first) wife.”

An auspicious meeting

Heather Randall was a middle-class girl from suburban Florida who had never met a celebrity until she became a student at New York University, and subsequently, an intern at National Actors Theatre, which Tony Randall founded in 1991. Although she didn't meet Tony Randall until well after his time at WTAG, she was aware of the city's relevance in the actor's life, although in hindsight, she doesn't seem sure it was a detour he needed to have taken, since his first wife, Florence (Gibbs) Randall, was making good money as a model.

“It wasn’t like you had to be Gisele Bündchen back then," said Heather Randall. "A pretty girl with a lovely figure could get work in these fashion houses. The wealthy women would go to these stores, probably by appointment, and then the lovely girls would come out and model the dresses for the rich ladies,” she said. “But Tony was a man from The Greatest Generation, And they believed you shouldn’t have your wife supporting you while you were out of work. So he took that job in Worcester.”

The road from Broadway to Worcester

During his year at WTAG, Randall would serve as master of ceremonies for “From New England to You,” as well as narrating radio plays.

Even when he wasn’t on the air, Randall was a team player on the WTAG softball team. He even participated in the radio station’s championship golf tournament on July 26, 1941, at the Juniper Hill Golf Club in Northborough.

“I’m afraid my newscasts were not always as good and clear-cut as they should been,” Randall was quoted as saying in an April 21, 1957, article in the Worcester Telegram. “My ambition was always acting. Much as I appreciated that permanent job in Worcester, thoughts of the stage probably interfered with complete devotion to the radio and I’m still grateful for the help and tolerance I met.”

In Worcester, Randall and his wife had an apartment on 48 William St., near West Street.

“My (first) wife and I enjoyed our year in Worcester,” Randall said in the 1957 article. “We both were fortunate to make many friends. A number of mine worked at the Worcester Telegram and The Evening Gazette (the city had two papers back then, both being published at 20 Franklin St., the same building that used to house the WTAG radio station for many years on the fourth floor) and I surely hope to meet them again.”

Before coming to Worcester, the Tulsa, Oklahoma, native had parts in several New York plays, including “Circle of Chalk,” “The Corn is Green” and “Candida.”

Landmarks and 'a fleabag'

Although Randall was always interested in acting, he didn’t perform in any plays in his short time living in Central Massachusetts.

Despite being gone from the area for more than 50 years, Randall — in a May 19, 1994, story written by Frank Magiera and published in the Telegram & Gazette — still recalled many details about his sole year living in Worcester.

"Is the Hotel Coronado still there?" Randall asked. (The Franklin Street hotel was already long gone in 1994.) "What a fleabag. I lived there, when I first got the job. Then I lived at the corner of William and West streets. I went through there a few years ago, and it looked nicer than it did when we were there."

In a comedic situation that was ripe for his “Odd Couple” sitcom, Randall recalled that as the junior member of the radio station staff, he was assigned to open the station every day at 5 a.m.

"I took a nap one afternoon, woke up at 5:30 and thought it was 5:30 in the morning,” Randall said in the 1994 article. “I leaped down the stairs and ran through the streets in utter panic. And then I realized that the streets were full of people. Slowly, it dawned on me."

Returning to New York after a year living in Worcester, Randall was all set to remain on Broadway in “The Skin of Our Teeth” for Elia Kazan, when he was called to serve his country.

"I had to come back to Worcester because I registered for the draft in Worcester, Randall told Magiera. “So I entered the Army at Fort Devens.”

Randall served for five years with the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II, for which he emerged as a lieutenant, then resumed his acting profession.

Rising career

His first postwar Broadway appearance was with Katherine Cornell in “The Barrells of Wimpole Street.” He also played in “Antony and Cleopatra” with Cornell.

Other roles came soon after. In the early ‘50s, Randall was best known as Mr. Weskit on television’s “Mr. Peepers,” In the mid ‘50s, Randall played 17 months on Broadway (1955-57) with Paul Muni in “Inherit the Wind,” as well as turning up regularly on “What’s My Line?” which aired on Sunday nights, and soon after movies such as 1959’s “Pillow Talk,” 1961’s “Lover Come Back” and 1964’s “Send Me No Flowers,” all with Rock Hudson and Doris Day, and "7 Faces of Dr. Lao,” in which he played seven roles.

“Tony was very proud of ‘7 Faces of Dr. Lao,’” Heather Randall said. “He spent hours and hours in the makeup chair. I think he wished it had been a bigger deal because he thought it was one of his best acting jobs…They created the Oscar for best makeup because of that movie.”

Despite all these memorable performances on stage, screen, radio and television, his most memorable and beloved role was still a few years away. You guessed it, Felix Unger in “The Odd Couple,” which made its debut on Sept. 24, 1970, and still fondly quoted and remembered 50-plus years later.

Eight months before the show first aired on ABC, Randall shrugged about the lasting impact on pop culture that the show could and eventually have.

“I’m not really that concerned about whether the television series will be a success. Either it will be, or it won’t be,” Randall told newspaper columnist Margaret McManus in a Jan. 11, 1970, article published in the Worcester Telegram. “I’ll give it my best. I think I do good work. I always try to bring a high degree of craftsmanship to my work, but one way or the other, the series won’t have that much effect on my life.”

Boy, was he wrong.

The role of a lifetime

Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” premiered on Broadway in 1965. Directed by Mike Nichols, the original Broadway cast starred Walter Matthau as Oscar Madison and Art Carney as Felix Unger. Matthau was replaced onstage with Jack Klugman four months later.

In 1968, “The Odd Couple was made into a hit film starring Jack Lemmon as Felix and Matthau reprising his role as Oscar.

“Personally, I don’t think the movie is funny,” Heather Randall said. “I don’t think Mattheu and Lemmon touch Randall and Klugman. I just think Randall and Klugman are forever best in those roles.”

Heather Randall said her husband had a little bit of a friendly rivalry with Lemmon, but whether Lemmon knew about this rivalry is anybody’s guess.

“You know what’s funny? This is, obviously, towards the end of his life,” Heather Randall said. “People come up to Tony and say, ‘I love you so much. My favorite movie you ever did is ‘Grumpy Old Men.’”

Ouch.

Also, in 1968, Randall was playing Felix, opposite Mickey Rooney as Oscar, in an abbreviated stage version of “The Odd Couple” in Las Vegas.

“Tony said Mickey Rooney was great in the part,” Heather Randall said. “Of course, no one will ever touch Jack.”

When asked what characteristics, traits or quirks did Tony share with his television counterpart and which ones did he not share, Tony’s widow laughed and said, “First of all, I’m glad Tony’s not alive for you to ask that question because it was his least favorite question.

“It didn’t bother me and it didn't bother Jack,” Heather Randall said. “I remember we were backstage somewhere and Jack was there. And this young junior reporter from People magazine was interviewing them, young lady, probably 22 years old, and she said, "'So are you like Felix? So are you like Oscar?' And Tony ripped into her. Oh my God. He yelled, ‘Oh, that’s such an original question. Thank you for thinking of that. I bet that you think that you’re real clever.’ And he continued yelling at her. And this poor girl was shrinking and shrinking. And finally Jack goes, 'Tony, knock it off.’”

Heather Randall says that, "He was neat but he wasn’t neurotic or fussy. He did have allergies. He didn’t actually do that honking noise that people love. But he did have allergies. He hated going to the country for that reason. We were always in New York City. We'd occasionally rent a house out on the beach, which he could handle. But, the country, forget it.”

One characteristic that Tony and Felix shared was their love for opera, Heather Randall said.

For the love of opera and art

On Feb. 28, 1974, Randall came back to Worcester for the first time since he left the city in 1942 to boost one of his favorite subjects, opera, but to nobody’s surprise, also wound up talking about what he calls his “first love,” art.

“The reason I’m doing ‘The Odd Couple’ is because I bought a Braque. That’s the truth. And I couldn’t pay for it,” Randall told reporter Richard D. Carreno in a March 1, 1974, article of the Telegram.

“The story behind that is he wanted to buy this painting and then called his business manager and said, 'I want to buy this,'” Heather Randall said. “And his business manager said, 'What high-paying job are you going to take to buy that painting?' So Tony took a job doing ‘The Odd Couple’ out in Vegas.”

In Vegas, Randall made “great money” so he could buy that painting he was eyeballing. Unbeknownst to Randall, Marshall was developing “The Odd Couple” into a TV series and he was having trouble finding his Felix.

“People told Garry go to Vegas and see Tony. So he went and he said, ‘This is my Felix’ and offered Tony the job,” Heather Randall said. “Now Tony, at the time, was a movie star. In the late ‘60s, probably until fairly recently, going from movie star to TV star was a step down. So he kept saying ‘No.’”

But Marshall knew he had comedic gold with Randall and would accept no as an answer.

“They kept throwing him more and more ownership of ‘The Odd Couple.’ Tony ended up owning about 23 percent of the show. And Jack Klugman was a Broadway star who had done television. So he had much less ownership because he came in at a very different leverage place. But, Jack got three Emmys and Tony got one,” Heather Randall said. “So Tony kept saying no and then he finally said, 'yes.' And, of course, it was the best thing that ever happened to him in so many ways. Besides from worldwide stardom and being a beloved figure, he made really good money for it, not today’s money but good for the time.”

While he was well known as the tidy half of the ABC television series, Randall was not so well known as being a fine arts collector.

“I have four Picassos in my kitchen — a small apartment in New York. They are in the breakfast nook,” Randall told the Telegram in 1974. “Every morning I look at them and I get the same pleasure. I always see something different.”

As Randall toured the Worcester Art Museum in a private showing in 1974, his knowledge of the great works and the masters who created them seemed endless, Carreno said.

“The museum is indeed a gem,” the actor gushed in a clear, well-modulated voice. “I even forgot how big this place was.”

No stranger to such places, Randall was comfortable and relaxed as he strolled the corridors of the art museum.

“Look at this room,” Randall exclaimed at one point, in obvious rapture at encountering a Picasso. “My God! Picasso and Matisse!”

“Look at that … Is that gorgeous. You could just eat it, couldn’t you?” Randall went on, his object of affection now a water scene by Claude Monet.

Later, upon viewing “St. Tropez” by Pierre Bonnard, he commented, “You put Matisse and Monet together and you get Bonnard.”

At 6:05 p.m., the 30-minute tour of the museum was finished, and it was time for Randall to turn his attention to opera, the reason he was invited to Worcester in the first place.

About 150 patrons, members and friends of Opera Worcester Inc., waited for the star to join them in the Salisbury Room. The group asked Randall to help encourage local opera.

A fateful meeting

Heather Randall had been working at the National Actors Theatre for a few days in 1991, but hadn’t met Tony yet.

“I was reading about what Tony was doing and I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is exactly what I want to do. I want to do classical theatre,” she said. “How exciting!”

“Martin Sheen came in. He was so nice and polite. Michael York came in. He was so nice and polite … And across the lobby I see Tony Randall and that’s the one I’m excited about because I grew up watching him on Carson,” Heather Randall recalled. “Whenever he was on Carson, he was always my favorite and he would talk about his in New York and it sounded so fabulous. I thought, ‘Oh, I want to move to New York and work on Broadway and have a life like Tony Randall.’”

On this day, Heather Randall had the task of corralling all the actors for a script read-through in one of rehearsal room. Seeing a security guard talking up a storm with Tony, she was reluctant to approach and interrupt. Realizing Tony Randall wasn’t getting younger, she mustered up the confidence to introduce herself and her intentions.

“I finally said, ‘Excuse me. Excuse me. I’m working at the theatre. Come this way,’ And, Tony barked at me. He said, ‘So why were you just standing there?’” Heather Randall recalled. “I went, ‘Oh, sorry. You know, it’s right here.’ Now, at my age now, I feel like, ‘Well, screw you!’”

Heather Randall said she was always very playful and flirtatious in her younger years. And she tried her flirty ways to smooth things over with Tony but “The Odd Couple” actor wasn’t having any part of it.

“Somehow, I ended up sitting next to Tony (for the read-through). I think I had sat down and he sat next to me,” she said. “And he pulled out a sandwich and I thought I was being cute. And I said, ‘Ooh, can I have a bite?’ And Tony just looked at me and said, ‘No! But you can get me a cup of coffee.”

“You know what? I was out of line,” Heather Randall said. “I was a young blond. I could get away with those things. But, Tony wasn’t having it.”

Distraught, Heather Randall called her dad back in Florida that night to tell him, “Dad, Tony Randall’s not very nice.”

“My dad said, ‘Well, you know, you have to learn to deal with people who aren’t very pleasant in life and get used to it,’” she recalled. “And, then, the next day I came in, Tony was just as kind as he could be and, in a short time, everybody said, ‘You know, he really fancies you.’”

At the time, Florence, Tony’s first wife was still alive but very ill. Tony’s present and future wives only met once at the theatre. Florence died on April 18, 1992. Tony and Heather started dating a year after that. On Nov. 17, 1995, Tony, at the age of 75, and Heather, 25, got married.   Rudy Giuliani officiated the wedding ceremony.

‘Thank you for all the laughter'

In his later life, Randall would often pop up unannounced on “The Late Show with David Letterman.”

“The David Letterman Show could always count on him,” Heather Randall said. “If somebody canceled, he could fill in. Or if they had an idea for a sketch, they’d call him.”

Heather Randall fondly remembers when Tony met Eddie Murphy backstage at Letterman.

“Oh my gosh, Eddie Murphy came up to Tony and I thought he was going to be a jerk. He was going to have a big entourage,” Heather Randall recalled. “He did have a big entourage but he came up to Tony with the brightest eyes. He said, ‘Mr. Randall, I’m such a fan. I watched you all the time growing up.’ And he treated Tony like a god. And, for me, Eddie Murphy can do no wrong for the rest of his life.”

Currently, Heather Randall is working on a documentary on her late husband. She has been going through her late husband’s extensive archives, which includes pictures from his days in Worcester, for the past six months.

“There were three things people would say to Tony on the street,” Heather Randall recalled. “The most touching thing they would say to him was ‘Thank you for all the laughter you have given me through the years,’ which I always thought was very kind and Tony responded very well to that. But the other two things that people would say all the time and he loved it. They would go ‘Aristophanes!’ and ‘It’s a well-known fact that Lincoln liked mayonnaise.’"