Junior Rasmussen
Several actresses played Trixie Norton, the wife of New York City sewer worker Ed Norton, on the 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners. Elaine Stritch first played the role in a Honeymooners sketch, but the character was soon recast with Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie as a wholesome housewife. Joyce Randolph was the last surviving member of the principal cast. Jane Kean played Trixie in a series of hour-long Honeymooners episodes in color on The Jackie Gleason Show from 1966 to 1970. Sheila MacRae took on the role of Trixie in 1966 when Gleason moved to Miami Beach for another version of The Jackie Gleason Show.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of actresses who played Trixie | 3 |
| Name of actresses who played Trixie | Elaine Stritch, Joyce Randolph, Jane Kean |
| Year played | 1955-1956, 1966-1970 |
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What You'll Learn
- Elaine Stritch played Trixie Norton in one episode
- Joyce Randolph was the first Trixie, playing the character as a wholesome housewife
- Jane Kean played Trixie in colour episodes from 1966 to 1970
- Sheila MacRae played Trixie in The Jackie Gleason Show in 1966
- Joyce Randolph was the last surviving cast member of The Honeymooners
Elaine Stritch played Trixie Norton in one episode
Elaine Stritch was the first actress to play Trixie Norton in the Honeymooners sketch "The New Television". She starred alongside Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, and Pert Kelton. However, her character, an abrasive ex-burlesque dancer, was rewritten and recast after just one episode.
Stritch's character was replaced by Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie as a wholesome housewife. Randolph's portrayal of Trixie was so iconic that she became typecast, and directors would say, "we can't use her. She's too well known as Trixie."
Elaine Stritch was an American actress, singer, and comedienne, known for her work on Broadway and television. She made her professional stage debut in 1944 and appeared in numerous stage plays, musicals, feature films, and television series. She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1995.
Stritch's earliest television appearances were in "The Growing Paynes" in 1949 and the Goodyear Television Playhouse from 1953 to 1955. She also appeared on episodes of The Ed Sullivan Show in 1954. In the 1960 television season, she played writer Ruth Sherwood in the CBS sitcom "My Sister Eileen."
The Honeymooners is an American television sitcom that originally aired from 1955 to 1956. The show follows the lives of New York City bus driver Ralph Kramden and his wife, Alice, as well as Ralph's best friend, Ed Norton, and Ed's wife, Trixie. Trixie is a foil to Ed, just as Alice is to Ralph, but she often appears offscreen.
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Joyce Randolph was the first Trixie, playing the character as a wholesome housewife
Joyce Randolph was the first Trixie on "The Honeymooners", playing the character as a wholesome housewife. Randolph was cast in the role after Jackie Gleason spotted her in a commercial for Clorets gum in 1951 and asked her to appear in a skit on the "Cavalcade of Stars".
Randolph's Trixie was the sensible, dressed-down, and beleaguered wife of sewer worker Ed Norton (played by Art Carney) and best friend to Alice Kramden (Audrey Meadows). Trixie was a foil to Ed, just as Alice was to Ralph. Trixie was also the voice of reason in dealing with Norton. After Norton loses his job, a sympathetic Trixie tells Alice, "You can take the man out of the sewer, but you can't take the sewer out of the man."
Randolph's portrayal of Trixie was so iconic that she became typecast and struggled to find other acting roles after leaving "The Honeymooners". She was referred to by several New York columnists as the "Garbo of Detroit". In a September 2015 interview, Randolph said that she did not portray Trixie Norton in Honeymooners revivals due to personal and geographic reasons. She was the last surviving cast member of "The Honeymooners".
Randolph passed away at home in Manhattan at the age of 99.
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Jane Kean played Trixie in colour episodes from 1966 to 1970
Jane Kean, an American actress and singer, played Trixie Norton in The Honeymooners from 1966 to 1970. She took on the role in a series of hour-long colour episodes of the show, which also featured music. The Honeymooners was a revival of the classic black-and-white sitcom, which initially aired from 1955 to 1956.
Kean succeeded Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie in the original Honeymooners sitcom and earlier sketches. Randolph's portrayal of Trixie led to her being typecast, and she struggled to land serious roles after leaving the show. Trixie was the wife of Ed Norton, played by Art Carney, and the best friend of Alice Kramden.
Kean's career spanned seven decades and included roles in nightclubs, recordings, radio, television, Broadway, and films. She was also a comedian, forming a comedy duo with her sister, Betty Kean, in the 1940s and 1950s. Kean passed away in 2013 at the age of 90.
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Sheila MacRae played Trixie in The Jackie Gleason Show in 1966
Several actresses played Trixie in The Honeymooners, including Elaine Stritch, Joyce Randolph, and Jane Kean. However, in 1966, Sheila MacRae joined the cast of The Jackie Gleason Show as Alice Kramden, taking over the role from Audrey Meadows. The Honeymooners was a sketch within The Jackie Gleason Show, and in 1966, it was brought back in colour for the first time.
Sheila Margaret MacRae was an English-born American actress, singer, and dancer. She was born in London in 1921 but was evacuated with her parents to Long Island, New York, in 1939, shortly before World War II broke out. MacRae became a naturalized US citizen in 1959 in California. She was married to actor and singer Gordon MacRae, and they often appeared together on stage and television, including in musicals such as "Bells Are Ringing" and "Guys and Dolls." They were married for 26 years and had four children: two daughters, Heather and Meredith, and two sons, William Gordon and Robert Bruce.
MacRae's role in The Jackie Gleason Show was her first continuing role on television, and she appeared in 52 episodes from 1966 to 1970. She played Alice Kramden, the long-suffering but tough-talking wife of Ralph Kramden, a blustery Brooklyn bus driver played by Jackie Gleason. The Honeymooners sketches on The Jackie Gleason Show often featured musical numbers and were syndicated for local stations as "The Honeymooners Go to Europe."
MacRae passed away in 2014 at the age of 92 from natural causes, although she had been suffering from dementia. She was the last survivor from the '60s edition of The Jackie Gleason Show.
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Joyce Randolph was the last surviving cast member of The Honeymooners
Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton in the classic 1950s sitcom "The Honeymooners," was the show's last surviving cast member. She died on January 13, 2024, at the age of 99.
Randolph was born in Detroit on October 21, 1924, and was of Finnish descent. She began her career in acting as a teenager with the Wayne University Workshop. After moving to New York City in 1943, she took on roles on Broadway and later in television. In 1951, she was cast in a skit on Cavalcade of Stars, a variety show on the DuMont Television Network, after being noticed by Jackie Gleason in a Clorets commercial.
Soon after, Randolph was cast as Trixie in "The Honeymooners." Trixie was the wife of New York City sewer worker Ed Norton, played by Art Carney. Trixie was a foil to Ed, just as Alice Kramden was to Ralph Kramden. Trixie's character was often offscreen, and she did not appear in every episode, but Randolph's portrayal of her was revered by aficionados as the last living link to the show's inspired lunacy. In a September 2015 interview, Randolph stated that Gleason considered her to be "the quintessential Trixie."
Randolph was typecast after leaving "The Honeymooners" and struggled to land more serious roles due to her association with the character of Trixie. She went on to perform in summer stock musicals, make commercials, and had guest appearances on television shows, including a reprisal of Trixie in the 1991 episode "Fur Flies" in "Hi Honey, I'm Home!".
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Frequently asked questions
Three actresses played Trixie Norton on The Honeymooners: Elaine Stritch, Joyce Randolph, and Jane Kean.
Elaine Stritch was the first Trixie Norton, but her character was recast after one episode.
Jane Kean played Trixie for the longest time, from 1966 to 1970.
Trixie was married to Ed Norton, played by Art Carney.
