Farewell, Felix

Scripps Howard: Felix Unger -- aka actor Tony Randall -- is dead at 84.
Randall was a serious actor who made a career of light comedic roles in film but especially on TV. When a long run of sitcom parts came to an end, he founded the National Actors Theatre in 1991, putting in $1 million of his own money in a laudable but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to bring serious drama back to Broadway.
Randall wasn't totally untrue to the stiff, priggish characters he so often played -- he was a relentless campaigner against smoking -- his amiable, lighthearted side came through in his many appearances on the David Letterman show.
After his first love, Florence, his wife of 54 years, died in 1992, he remarried in 1995 and finally landed a role that had until then eluded him. In his late 70s, he fathered a daughter and a son, who survive him as does their mother, Heather Harlan Randall.
Inspired casting
Thanks to reruns, Randall will be forever remembered as Felix Unger, the fastidious counterpart to his slovenly roommate, Oscar Madison, played by Jack Klugman, in TV's "The Odd Couple," which ran from 1970-75. It was inspired casting.
Randall had many accomplishments in his long career but to his fans will always be that one character. It was a memorable creation, and for an actor that is no small epitaph.