Joyce Randolph obit

Joyce Randolph, Trixie on ‘The Honeymooners,’ Dies at 99

 

She was not on the list.

Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton on the classic sitcom “The Honeymooners,” and was the last surviving member of the cast, died Saturday in New York City. She was 99.

Randolph was in hospice care at the time of her death and died of natural causes, her son, Randy, told TMZ.

Randolph’s character was married to Art Carney’s Ed Norton on “The Honeymooners.” They were the neighbors of Ralph and Alice Kramden, played by Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows.

Born Joyce Sirola to a Finnish American family in Detroit, she got her start in show business when she joined a touring production of “Stage Door” while working at a department store, then moved to New York where she acted in theater and on television in shows such as “Buck Rogers.”

Gleason noticed her in a commercial and cast her in “The Honeymooners” in 1951. It first appeared as a sketch on “Cavalcade of Stars” and “The Jackie Gleason Show,” then ran as a standalone sitcom in 1955 and 1956 on CBS. Though the show produced just 39 episodes, its popularity has endured and it influenced generations of sitcoms with its portrayal of squabbling working class families.

In 1951, she was seen in a Clorets commercial by Jackie Gleason and was asked to appear in a skit on Cavalcade of Stars, Gleason's variety show on the DuMont Television Network. Soon after, she was cast as Trixie in The Honeymooners.

Randolph originally portrayed Trixie in skits on The Jackie Gleason Show and The Honeymooners, which included Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden, Art Carney as Ed Norton, Audrey Meadows as Alice Kramden, and Randolph as Thelma "Trixie" Norton. In a September 2015 interview, Randolph said that she did not portray Trixie Norton in Honeymooners revivals due to personal and geographic reasons; in addition, Randolph stated that Gleason considered her to be "the quintessential Trixie.

Though she didn’t appear in later revivals of the series, Randolph became so identified with the role of Trixie that she found it difficult to get other roles after the series ended. She made an appearance on the meta sitcom “Hi Honey I’m Home” in 1991, which featured numerous former TV stars, and appeared in one episode of the earlier TV drama “The Doctors and the Nurses.”

Randolph was never sure why she was referred to as “the Garbo of Detroit” in early press reports. “Why Garbo? Well, she was Scandinavian — and so was I,” she told the New York Times.

The fondly-written 2007 profile also said that despite the show’s wide influence, Randolph didn’t receive any residuals from the original 39 episodes, though she later received some from the “lost episodes” that were part of the variety hours.

She is survived by a son, Randolph Richard Charles, from her marriage to Richard Lincoln Charles, who died in 1997.

 

Actress

Everything's Jake (2000)

Everything's Jake

5.9

Dog Walker

2000

 

Julie Benz, Peter Hans Benson, Charlotte Booker, Stephen C. Bradbury, Susan Cella, Danny Gura, and Eric Kushnick in Hi Honey, I'm Home (1991)

Hi Honey, I'm Home

6.9

TV Series

Trixie Norton

1991

1 episode

 

Jackie Gleason and Art Carney in Honeybloopers (1989)

Honeybloopers

Video

Trixie Norton

1989

 

Zina Bethune and Shirl Conway in The Doctors and the Nurses (1962)

The Doctors and the Nurses

7.4

TV Series

Alice Loring

1964

1 episode

 

Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows in The Jackie Gleason Show (1952)

The Jackie Gleason Show

8.5

TV Series

Trixie Norton

Joyce Randolph

Sketch Actress ...

1952–1957

79 episodes

 

The Honeymooners (1955)

The Honeymooners

8.6

TV Series

Trixie Norton

1955–1956

39 episodes

 

Modern Romances

TV Series

1955

1 episode

 

The Mail Story

TV Series

1954

1 episode

 

Jack Benny in The Jack Benny Program (1950)

The Jack Benny Program

8.6

TV Series

Judy (uncredited)

1954

1 episode

 

The Plainclothesman

6.1

TV Series

1953–1954

5 episodes

 

Short Short Dramas

7.7

TV Series

Gloria

1953

1 episode

 

Ed Sullivan in The Ed Sullivan Show (1948)

The Ed Sullivan Show

7.9

TV Series

Trixie Norton (Honeymooners Sketch)

1952

1 episode

 

I Cover Times Square

TV Series

1950

1 episode

 

Mady Christians in The Clock (1949)

The Clock

6.9

TV Series

1950

1 episode

 

Famous Jury Trials

TV Series

1950

1 episode

 

Buck Rogers (1950)

Buck Rogers

6.7

TV Series

1950

 

Roscoe Karns in Rocky King, Detective (1950)

Rocky King, Detective

7.6

TV Series

1950

1 episode

 

Gander Sauce

TV Movie

(as Joyce Sirola)

1944