Joyce Randolph has died aged 99.
The actress, best known for playing Trixie Norton on 1950s TV show ‘The Honeymooners’, passed away in her sleep in New York City on Saturday. (13.01.24)
News of her death was shared by her son Randy with TMZ on Sunday. (14.01.24)
The outlet reported: “We’re told she died in her sleep. She had been suffering from the effects of old age unable to walk.
“She was in hospice care at the time of her death.”
Born in 1924 in Detroit, Michigan, Joyce got her acting break in the play ‘Stage Door’ in the early 1940s before she moved to New York City in 1943 where more theatre and TV advertising work followed.
Jackie Gleason, who starred in ‘The Honeymooners’ as Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden, spotted Joyce doing a commercial for Clorets and hired her to play Trixie on his DuMont network variety show ‘Cavalcade of Stars’, which premiered in 1951 and featured the Kramdens and the Nortons – neighbours in a rundown apartment building – in a recurring sketch.
She found it tough working with Jackie on ‘The Honeymooners’ due to his infamous lack of rehearsals, and once said: “You don’t even talk to Jackie, let alone ask for anything.
“He didn’t talk much and he didn’t like to rehearse much.”
Joyce struggled to get work after ‘The Honeymooners’, and said: “For years after that role, directors would say, ‘No, we can’t use her. She’s too well known as Trixie.’”
Joyce was married to marketing executive Richard Charles from 1955 until his death in 1997 aged 74.
Her and Richard’s son Randolph Richard Charles was born in 1960 and is a marketing executive.