The Last Living Cast Member of ‘The Honeymooners’ Turned 98 in October
Joyce Randolph, the last living cast member of the TV series The Honeymooners, just celebrated a big birthday. Randolph turned 98 years old on Oct. 21, 2022. The famed actor portrayed Trixie Norton, the wife of Ed Norton, for all 39 episodes of The Honeymooners. She also appeared in the same role in The Jackie Gleason Show. While Randolph was the youngest member of the main cast, she is now officially the oldest, outliving all of her co-stars by 19 years or more.
Where is Joyce Randolph now?
Randolph has been out of the spotlight for many years. Her last acting credit came in 2000. Still, like her iconic character, Trixie Norton, she’s a tried and true New Yorker. In 2021, The Daily News caught up with the nonagenarian to discuss the Honeymooners-inspired web series, The Honeyzoomers.
Randolph, who was delighted to learn that the series she worked on in the 1950s was still inspiring creatives, revealed that she is still living in New York City. She spent most of her days watching television at home during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic but was hoping to make it back out to the theater eventually. Randolph, born in Detroit, Michigan, moved to New York to work as an actor in the 1940s.
What happened to the other cast members of ‘The Honeymooners’?
Joyce Randolph is the last living cast member of The Honeymooners, and she has been for some time. Her on-screen husband, Art Carney, died in 2003 of natural causes. Carney, who grew up in New York City’s affluent suburbs, was a heavy drinker during his career on The Honeymooners but never missed a filming day. Of Carney, Randolph told The Daily News, “He kept a hotel room here in the city where he could go and drink. He was a big drinker, but not on Saturdays.” Carney stopped drinking in the 1970s.
Audrey Meadows, who portrayed Alice Kramden, was two years older than Randolph. Born in 1922, the star was initially believed to be “too young” and “too pretty” to play Ralph Kramden’s wife. She proved she could be “unglamorous” and won the part. Meadows died in 1996 from lung cancer.
Jackie Gleason, the star of the show, had a long and documented history of health issues following his starring role as Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners. He worked regardless. In the 1970s, his cast mates urged him to leave rehearsals for a stage production after he suffered chest pains. According to a news article from the time, Gleason underwent bypass surgery. His health issues followed him. In 1987, he died of colon cancer at his home in Florida. The 1986 flick Nothing in Common was his final film project.
