'Honeymooners' Actress Joyce Randolph Dead at 99
Joyce Randolph
Joyce Randolph, who brought the character Trixie in The Honeymooners to life in the '50s, has died. She was 99.
Her son, Randolph Richard Charles, reportedly confirmed the news to TMZ, sharing that Randolph died in her sleep at home in New York City on Saturday, Jan. 13. She was in hospice care at the time and had trouble walking, also experiencing other health issues due to old age.
The actress was the last surviving main cast member of the iconic Honeymooners series. Art Carney, who played Randolph's character's husband, Ed Norton, was the most recent of the other three main actors to pass away, dying in 2003 at age 85.
In The Honeymooners, Randolph and Carney starred alongside Jackie Gleason, who portrayed city bus driver Ralph Kramden, and Audrey Meadows, who played Ralph's wife Alice. Randolph's character, Trixi,e was best friends with Alice, and the wives often got pulled into whatever trouble their husbands were causing on the day-to-day. The popular cartoon show The Flintstones is said to be based on The Honeymooners and its characters.
While talking about her experience on The Honeymooners with the Television Academy Foundation in 1999, Randolph praised her co-star Carney for his kindness and skill in comedy, saying, "Art's a genius. Art Carney is wonderful...He's so fantastic. He can do anything." She noted that the cast didn't rehearse a lot for the show, with Gleason reportedly preferring it that way.
Before The Honeymooners, Randolph originated the character of Trixie on Gleason's sketch comedy series, Cavalcade of Stars, which soon became The Jackie Gleason Show. She played the character in short sketches before the full-length classic sitcom launched in 1955.
After The Honeymooners ended, Randolph didn't do much acting. She married her husband, Richard Lincoln Charles, in 1955, and they were together until his death in 1997. They welcomed their son Randolph in 1960.
