Celebrity News January 14, 2024
Joyce Randolph, Trixie on 'The Honeymooners,' Dies at 99
Joyce Randolph, known to generations for her performance as Trixie Norton on the TV classic "The Honeymooners," died Saturday at her New York home, TMZ reports.
She was 99, and — for two decades — had been the show's last surviving main cast member.
Randolph first played Trixie after being recruited by creator Jackie Gleason to replace Elaine Stritch in the part for sketches on his "Cavalcade of Stars" (1951-1952).
The sketches expanded into a 39-episode series in 1955-1956. The show, about temperamental bus driver Ralph Kramden (Gleason), his wise-cracking wife Alice Kramden (Audrey Meadows), his goofy best friend Ed Norton (Art Carney), and Ed's wife Trixie (Randolph), was canceled, but went on to be considered one of the most beloved in TV history.
Though she had been an in-demand TV actress at the dawn of the medium before Trixie (she was dubbed "the most murdered girl on television" for her work in live thrillers), Randolph struggled to find work after the show ended, chalking it up to typecasting.
Post-Trixie, she made just a few more TV appearances, including reprising her most famous role on an episode of "Hi Honey, I'm Home" in 1991, and made a rare movie role in 2000's "Everything's Jake."
Randolph wed ad exec Richard Lincoln Charles in 1955. She was preceded in death by him in 1997, and is survived by their son, Randolph Richard Charles.