Randolph\u2019s character was married to Art Carney\u2019s Ed Norton on \u201cThe Honeymooners.\u201d They were the neighbors of Ralph and Alice Kramden, played by Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joyce Randolph<\/a>, who played Trixie Norton on the classic sitcom \u201cThe Honeymooners<\/a>,\u201d and was the last surviving member of the cast, died Saturday in New York City. She was 99.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Randolph was in hospice care at the time of her death and died of natural causes, her son, Randy, told TMZ<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Randolph\u2019s character was married to Art Carney\u2019s Ed Norton on \u201cThe Honeymooners.\u201d They were the neighbors of Ralph and Alice Kramden, played by Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Born Joyce Sirola to a Finnish American family in Detroit, she got her start in show business when she joined a touring production of \u201cStage Door\u201d while working at a department store, then moved to New York where she acted in theater and on television in shows such as \u201cBuck Rogers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gleason noticed her in a commercial and cast her in \u201cThe Honeymooners\u201d in 1951. It first appeared as a sketch on \u201cCavalcade of Stars\u201d and \u201cThe Jackie Gleason Show,\u201d then ran as a standalone sitcom in 1955 and 1956 on CBS. Though the show produced just 39 episodes, its popularity has endured and it influenced generations of sitcoms with its portrayal of squabbling working class families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though she didn\u2019t appear in later revivals of the series, Randolph became so identified with the role of Trixie that she found it difficult to get other roles after the series ended. She made an appearance on the meta sitcom \u201cHi Honey I\u2019m Home\u201d in 1991, which featured numerous former TV stars, and appeared in one episode of the earlier TV drama \u201cThe Doctors and the Nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Randolph was never sure why she was referred to as \u201cthe Garbo of Detroit\u201d in early press reports. \u201cWhy Garbo? Well, she was Scandinavian \u2014 and so was I,\u201d she told the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fondly-written 2007 profile also said that despite the show\u2019s wide influence, Randolph didn\u2019t receive any residuals from the original 39 episodes, though she later received some from the \u201clost episodes\u201d that were part of the variety hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She is survived by a son, Randolph Richard Charles, from her marriage to Richard Lincoln Charles, who died in 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n