By StephanieLee Elliott

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Joyce Randolph (née Sirola; October 21, 1924 – January 13, 2024) was an American actress, best known for playing Trixie Norton on the television sitcom The Honeymooners.

Joyce Randolph died in her sleep on January 13, 2024, at the age of 99. She had been a long time resident of New York City and was in hospice care suffering the effects of old age. Randolph was the last surviving cast member of The Honeymooners.

Early life and career

Randolph was born in Detroit, Michigan, on October 21, 1924, and she is of Finnish descent. As a teenager, she acted with the Wayne University Workshop. After she finished high school, she began working in retail sales for a Saks Fifth Avenue store in Detroit. When a touring company of Stage Door played in Detroit, she auditioned, got a part, and performed for the rest of the tour. She moved to New York City in 1943 to pursue an acting career. She took roles on Broadway and landed various television roles.

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. Several New York columnists referred to her as the “Garbo of Detroit”. “That’s still a mystery … I was a nobody in Detroit. Why Garbo? Well, she was Scandinavian — and so was I”, responded Randolph.

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.”

As claimed by Randolph, asking Gleason to give her more lines was out of the question. “You don’t even talk to Jackie, let alone ask for anything,” Randolph said. “He didn’t talk much and he didn’t like to rehearse much.” Randolph talked about a hectic workload for filming the show, with getting all 39 episodes shot within a calendar year. Though she stated there was not much conversation between cast members, everyone showed up on Saturdays to film the show in front of a live studio audience.