Theater News

Quick Wit: Heather Randall

Christina D’Angelo talks with Mrs. Randall (now appearing Off-Broadway in Hansen’s Cab) while husband Tony is a heartbeat away.


I recently phoned up actress Heather Randall (wife of Tony Randall) for a chat, and I must say, she’s quite bubbly and personable–and hearing Tony in the background certainly made for an extra bonus. Currently Randall is staring Off-Broadway as Jennifer Talavera in Hansen’s Cab. Previously she was featured on Broadway in the National Actors Theatre’s productions of Inherit the Wind, Three Men on Horse, The Master Builder, and A Little Hotel on the Side. She also produced and acted in the Off-Off Broadway play In Our Past Lives, the Works of Dorothy Parker. Regionally she’s performed in The Man Who Came to Dinner (Kenley Players). Randall has studied at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, the Royal National Theatre Studio in London, and is presently studying with Scott Freeman at The Actor’s Center.

If you were a shade of lipstick, what would you be called?

Hot Mama!

What are your three favorite films?

Fargo, The Godfather, Muriel’s Wedding

What is your favorite book?

A Moveable Feast by Hemingway

What magazines do you read?

Child, New York, and Food & Wine

What irritates you?

Bad acting and bad actors who make it big.

What brings you joy?

My children, my husband, and hot pink clothes.

Who are three of the finest living stage actors?

Judi Dench, Paul Scofield, and my friend, David Suchet

Who is your favorite artist?

Matisse

What do you collect?

Clothes, shoes, and my husband and I collect paintings

If you could change anything about your appearance, what would that be?

Oh God, this could take forever. Mainly I’d have to say my thighs.

In what style is you home decorated?

French Provincial with modern art.

What is the most important object on your night stand?

Ute Hagen’s Respect for Acting

What is your favorite musical?

My favorite musical is Cabaret. I saw it four times.

What is the worst job you’ve ever had?

Magician’s assistant. It ended when he (the magician) told me that I needed to see how an assistant should act, and showed me a video that was a porno featuring a magician and his assistant! It’s funny now, but it wasn’t then!

What possession do you most covet?

I would say my engagement ring that belonged to my husband’s mother

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WORD ASSOCIATION GAME:

Water

Thirsty

Food

Pig

Shelter

Um, “Gimme Shelter”

Fireplace

Santa Clause

Coffee

Hangover

BONUS QUESTIONS:

What is the only country in Africa that was never colonized?

Hmm, Libya?

No, guess again.

Ethiopia?

Yes, that’s corrrect!

What 1980s punk rock group took their name from a German art movement from the 1940s?

Oh, hmm… [she yells to husband Tony Randall] Honey, what’s an art movement from Germany from the Forties? “The Bauhaus! See, I know everything!” he says without hesitation.

And a final bonus question: What animal was Catherine the Great known to have sex with?

Horses!

Featured In This Story

Hansen’s Cab

Closed: May 28, 2000