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

Joyce Randolph, who played , the wife of Art Carney’s goofy sewer worker Ed Norton, on the classic sitcom , has died. She was 99. Randolph, the last surviving member of the famous foursome that also included the stars Jackie Gleason (as Brooklyn bus driver Ralph ) and Audrey Meadows (as Ralph’s level headed wife, Alice), died Saturday at her home in New York, her son, Randy, TMZ.

Gleason spotted Randolph doing a commercial for Clorets and hired her to play on his network variety show , which premiered in 1951 and featured the and the — neighbors in a rundown apartment building — in a recurring skit. Randolph continued on CBS’ and then on when it was spun off in 1955 56 as a half hour sitcom recorded in front of a live audience.

That season is known for the “classic 39” episodes seen most often in syndication. She and Meadows had worked together in a summer stock production of the year before Randolph landed the role. (Meadows replaced Pert , the original Alice, for .) Gleason famously chose not to rehearse, making for some nervous performers.

“We just played ourselves,” Randolph, who made $500 an episode for the 39 classic installments, told in 2012. “Nobody told us to characterize in any way. It was learn those lines and go on.” Of the four main characters, Randolph had the least to do. Asked by Larry King in 2002 if she had a favorite episode, she replied: “Oh, I love them all, but I love the sleepwalking one [when Norton wanders downstairs while snoozing].

And oh, any show in which I had more than six or seven lines I really loved.” A native of Detroit, Randolph performed in local theater before moving to New York to pursue her career. She appeared on Broadway in 1950 in the comedy and did some early television for the General Electric Co. before joining Gleason’s troupe.

Though continued in various forms for years, Randolph never played for Gleason after the last of the classic 39 episodes. She did portray the character on the quirky 1991 92 ABC sitcom , which also brought back Meadows as Alice. In October 2017, Randolph was on the red carpet for the premiere of at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey.

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