Joyce Randolph^†

A Clorets breath mint commercial was all it took. Jackie Gleason spotted her in the ad in 1951 and invited her to audition for Cavalcade of Stars on DuMont, no agent required. She came in already known as 'the most murdered actress on television' for her half-hour whodunit work, which did nothing to suggest she'd end up playing a domestic comedy sidekick. Gleason called her the quintessential Trixie Norton. She earned $500 a week while Art Carney took home $3,500, and she reportedly received no residuals from the Classic 39 episodes.

The part that made her famous also made her almost unemployable. After The Honeymooners ended, directors told her for years she was too well known as Trixie to cast in anything else. When Gleason moved his operation to Miami in the mid-1960s, she didn't follow, which meant she missed the 1966-1970 revival and watched the role get recast. The typecasting eventually pushed her out of acting entirely. What she kept was the audience: she lived in the same Upper West Side apartment for 55 years and said strangers still came up to hug and kiss her, which is a better metric than residuals she never received.

Born Joyce Sirola in Detroit to Finnish parents, she was selling clothes at Saks Fifth Avenue before a touring production of Stage Door redirected her toward New York. Gleason cast her in The Honeymooners without an agent, and she had no representation when he called. On October 2, 1955, the day after The Honeymooners premiered on CBS, she married Richard Charles, a wealthy entrepreneur she met through the show's costume designer. The show that defined her life premiered before her own marriage, which is one way to order your priorities.

At the time of her death, she was the last surviving cast member of the Classic 39 episodes. Gleason died in 1987, Audrey Meadows in 1996, Art Carney in 2003. Seth MacFarlane posted a tribute calling her 'the last of a legendary foursome.' The family requested donations to the Entertainment Community Fund in lieu of flowers. She was honored in the 'In Memoriam' segment at the 76th Emmy Awards in September 2024.