Why Late ‘Honeymooners’ Star Joyce Randolph Left Acting: Took Care of Her ‘Wonderful Child’

From the time she was a little girl growing up in Detroit, Joyce Randolph “always wanted to be an actress. My heart was set on it,” she told Closer exclusively in 2023. And the star, who passed away on January 13 at age 99, achieved her dream with roles on Broadway and television — most notably the legendary 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners.

As Ed Norton’s wife, Trixie, Joyce didn’t have as big a role as the show’s other stars, but she found ways to get noticed. At times, “Jackie [Gleason] would go off script. He’d forget something and he would just keep talking, and we’d all have to keep talking, you know, just to keep going,” she recalled. “Any episode in which I had more than four or five lines, I liked it.”

After the show ended in 1956, Joyce turned her attention to family life and raising her son. “I didn’t go after things. Maybe I should have,” she said. “But taking care of someone ... it’s wonderful if you have a good child. Wonderful.”