John Randolph (actor)

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John Randolph

John Randolph (June 1, 1914 - February 24, 2004) was a prolific Tony Award-winning actor.

He was born Emanuel Hirsch Cohen in New York City to Jewish parents Dorothy and Louis Cohen. In the 1930s he was active in politics as well as acting. He made his Broadway debut in 1938 in Coriolanus. Randolph joined the United States Army Air Force in World War II. He wound up blacklisted by the Hollywood studio bosses in 1955 after he refused to answer questions and claimed the Fifth Amendment before the HUAC relating to the Cold War Communist scare.

He was the last blacklisted actor to regain employment in Hollywood films when director John Frankenheimer cast him in the lead role in Seconds in 1966. Randolph was in the original New York stage productions of The Sound of Music, Paint Your Wagon, and The Visit. He won the 1987 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for his performance in the Neil Simon play, Broadway Bound. He made his last Broadway appearance in 1991 in Prelude to a Kiss.

He starred in the emotionally-powerful drama A Foreign Field (1993) as a World War II veteran. One of his last movie roles was in 1998 as Tom Hanks's crass businessman of a grandfather in You've Got Mail, but perhaps he is best known for playing the father of main character Charlie Partana (played by Jack Nicholson) in Prizzi's Honor or as Clark W. Griswold, Sr. in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (with Chevy Chase).

With numerous screen and television appearances in secondary roles, among which he played Donna Pescow's father in-law on the television series, Angie, his was a familiar face. He was often stopped on the street by people who asked if they knew him. He would reply "Yes, I've been in your living room many times."

Randolph appeared in Roseanne as the title character's father, but left the series. As he only appeared in the first and second seasons, the character was only referred to over the course of the series (his character's extramarital affairs were introduced late in the series as a way of explaining Roseanne's parents' estrangement and his departure from the scene).

[edit] Trivia

During the 58th Academy Awards, Randolph's wife, actress Sarah Cunningham, suffered an asthma attack in the lobby and died.
He appeared in The Handicap Spot an early episode of the TV sitcom Seinfeld as Frank Costanza, George Costanza's father. He was later replaced by Jerry Stiller. In 1995, the scenes where Randolph appeared were re-shot with Stiller. The re-shot version is shown in syndication in the United States. The original version, with Randolph, can be seen outside of the U.S. and on DVD.