The Odd Couple’s Two Stars Were Closer Than Felix and Oscar

TLDR: Tony Randall and Jack Klugman spent five seasons playing two men who could barely stand living together. Off screen, they were the kind of friends who show up in the hospital room, and one of them refused to let cancer end the other’s career.

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The Odd Couple premiered on ABC on September 24, 1970, developed by Garry Marshall from Neil Simon’s hit play and film, itself already twice adapted before the show ever aired.

It followed neurotic neat freak Felix Unger and sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison, two divorced men sharing a Manhattan apartment, running for five seasons and three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series.

Tony Randall wanted Mickey Rooney for the role of Oscar, but Garry Marshall lobbied hard for Jack Klugman instead, casting him partly on the strength of a Broadway memory: Klugman had once taken a mouthful of Ethel Merman’s spit during a performance of Gypsy without flinching. That instinct for casting turned out to define the rest of both men’s careers.

Their Real Friendship Started Slowly, Then Never Stopped

Klugman later wrote in his memoir Tony and Me that the two weren’t immediate best friends, just two working actors with a mutual respect for each other’s talent and comic timing.

That changed permanently in 1989, when Klugman was diagnosed with throat cancer during preparation for a stage revival of 12 Angry Men, and lost most of his right vocal cord in the surgery that followed.

Randall was the first person to visit him in the hospital. “I was so vulnerable, and he treated me so well,” Klugman later said. “He was the first one to visit me in the hospital. I couldn’t talk at all.”

Randall Talked Him Back Onto a Stage He Thought He’d Lost Forever

By 1991, two years after losing his voice, Klugman got a call from Randall asking him to join a benefit performance of The Odd Couple for Randall’s newly founded National Actors Theatre. “When he called me I said, what are you smoking?” Klugman recalled. “I can’t even talk to you on the telephone.”

Klugman spent six months relearning to speak with a voice teacher before finally saying yes. “I did it. I went on,” he said simply.

He and Randall went on to perform together repeatedly after that, including a 1993 Odd Couple television reunion movie, a Broadway revival of Three Men on a Horse, and a 1998 Broadway production of Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys.

One of Them Became a Father for the First Time at 77

Randall married his second wife, actress Heather Harlan, decades younger than him, and became a father for the first time at age 77.

He remained a passionate advocate for theater until the very end, entering the hospital in December 2003 after developing pneumonia following heart bypass surgery, shortly after starring in the National Actors Theatre’s 20th production, a revival of Luigi Pirandello’s Right You Are.

Randall died in his sleep at NYU Medical Center on May 17, 2004, at age 84, with Heather at his side. Broadway dimmed its marquee lights in his honor the following night.

Klugman Gave the Eulogy, Then Wrote a Book So He Wouldn’t Forget

Klugman delivered Randall’s eulogy and later told CNN, “A world without Tony Randall is a world that I cannot recognize.” The following year he published Tony and Me: A Story of Friendship, saying writing it helped him process the grief of losing his closest collaborator.

Klugman kept working steadily despite his damaged voice, training himself to speak again well enough to continue acting for another two decades.

He died on December 24, 2012, at age 90, with his wife Peggy Crosby by his side, according to Variety, having spent his final years still closely associated with the role that made him famous.

The Rest of the Cast Kept the Apartment Running Too

Penny Marshall, Garry Marshall’s sister, appeared in a small role on the show as secretary Myrna Turner, a part that led directly to her meeting and marrying actor-director Rob Reiner.

Randall’s own path to Oscar Madison and Klugman’s path to Felix Unger both ran through the same Manhattan apartment set that, decades later, still gets referenced as the gold standard for television’s odd-couple comedy format.

The Odd Couple, Frequently Asked Questions