Tony Randall remembered for TV, film and stage work

NEW YORK -- Tony Randall, who served as a fussy foil for Rock Hudson and Doris Day, David Letterman and Johnny Carson and, most famously, Jack Klugman on "The Odd Couple," has died at 84 after a long illness.

Randall, who'd been hospitalized since December when he developed pneumonia after heart bypass surgery, died in his sleep Monday night at NYU Medical Center. His wife, Heather Harlan Randall -- who had made him a father for the first time at age 77 -- was by his side.

The dedicated theater advocate entered the hospital after starring in a revival of Luigi Pirandello's play "Right You Are," the 20th production of the National Actors Theatre, which Randall founded.

Day remembered him Tuesday as being "so brilliant, funny, sweet and dear, that it was as if God had given him everything." Randall played the fussbudget pal in Hudson-Day movies such as 1959's "Pillow Talk."

He was best-known, though, for playing fastidious photographer Felix Unger opposite Klugman's Oscar Madison on "The Odd Couple," the sitcom based on Neil Simon's play and movie.

Last year, Randall told AP Radio that, thanks to reruns, it was no surprise most people knew him as Felix Unger.

"It's on all the time," he said. "People on the street say, 'Hello, Felix' to me, except for those who say, 'Hello, Oscar."'

"The Odd Couple" ran from 1970 to 1975, but Randall won an Emmy only after it had been canceled. At the awards ceremony he quipped: "I'm so happy I won. Now if I only had a job."

The show's charm sprang from Felix's chemistry and conflict with Oscar, the sloppy sportswriter he's forced to share an apartment with after both men get divorced.

Randall's other famous television persona was as a fixture on late-night talk shows, appearing on Letterman's "Late Night" and "Late Show" more than 100 times.

"I was lucky enough to know Tony as an actor and friend," Letterman said Tuesday. "Whenever we needed a big laugh, we would bring in Tony."

After "The Odd Couple," Randall had two short-lived sitcoms, "The Tony Randall Show" from 1976 to 1978 and "Love, Sidney" from 1981 to 1983.

His "Love, Sidney" co-star Swoosie Kurtz recalled Randall's sense of humor as being "outrageous. He told the dirtiest jokes, the filthiest jokes, which you would not expect from Felix."

Randall was married to his college sweetheart, Florence, for 54 years until she died in 1992.

In 1995, he married Heather Harlan, who was 50 years his junior. The couple had two children.