Marion Burnside Randall (October 8, 1935 – October 26, 1984),[1] who acted under the name Sue Randall, was an American television actress whose entire seventeen-year career (1950 to 1967) was spent in episodes of TV series, and one film (1957). Her best known role was the kindly Miss Alice Landers, Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver's elementary school teacher in the CBS and ABC sitcom Leave It to Beaver.
Early life and education
Born in Philadelphia, Sue Randall was born Marion Burnside Randall, the younger child of Marion Burnside (née Heist) and Roland Rodrock Randall, a prominent real-estate consultant.[2][3] She began acting on stage at the age of 10 in a production of the Alden Park Players.[4]
In 1953, she completed her early education at the Lankenau School for Girls in the Germantown District of Philadelphia and then moved to New York, where she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, graduating with honors.[4][5]
Randall's credited TV debut came in the 1955 episode "Golden Victory" of the series Star Tonight.[citation needed] She was one of the actresses who had the role of Diane Emerson in the television version of Valiant Lady (1953-1957).[6] In 1954, she also portrayed Diane Emerson on the CBS drama Woman with a Past.[6]: 1189
Randall appeared in other television productions before portraying Ruthie Saylor, a reference-desk worker, in the 1957 film Desk Set starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Randall's recurring role as a teacher on Leave It to Beaver spanned the years 1958 to 1962, when the actress was in her twenties. She appeared in 28 episodes of the popular sitcom after replacing Diane Brewster, who played Miss Canfield during the first season and in the 1980s television movies based on the series. Randall's first appearance as Miss Landers was in the Leave It to Beaver episode "Ward's Problem", which originally aired on October 16, 1958.[citation needed]
Primarily, Randall's roles on television were as a featured actor or supporting character, often in Westerns. For example, she was cast as Kathy O'Hara, an aspiring concert pianist, in the episode "The Mysterious Stranger" (February 17, 1959) on the ABC/Warner Brothers series Sugarfoot. She was cast in "Judgment Day" (October 11, 1959) on the ABC series The Rebel as Elaine, the daughter of a man sentenced to hang.[citation needed]
In the late 1950s, producers cast Randall as a co-star with actress Theodora Davitt in a proposed weekly sitcom titled Up on Cloud Nine.[7] A pilot for this comedy was completed, but no potential sponsors opted to buy or underwrite the series about "the daffy misadventures" of two airline stewardesses.[8] In the pilot episode's storyline, described by one later reviewer as "painfully unfunny", Randall and Davitt's characters insult passengers and frighten them while in flight by mistakenly preparing their plane for a crash landing.[9]
Randall appeared also in five episodes of the syndicated western anthology Death Valley Days. Her last performance in that series was in 1966, when she was cast as Carrie Huntington in the episode "The Courtship of Carrie Huntington".
Personal life
Randall was married to Peter Blake Powell, with whom she had two children. She later married James J. McSparron, to whom she was married at the time of her death.[2]
Later years and death
Randall retired from acting in 1967 after performing in the episode "Heaven Help Us" on the televised anthology series Vacation Playhouse.[10] Two years later, she left California and returned to Philadelphia, where she soon began working in administrative roles with various charitable organizations.[2] She participated in telethons and other local events to raise money to support programs and research battling arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and blindness, and providing poor children with a better education.[11]
Randall died of lung and larynx cancer at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia on October 26, 1984, at age 49.[4]
Bessie Riggs Martha Clark Virginia Slade Julie Mary Ann Duncan Carrie Huntington
S8.E2 - ""Gates Ajar" Morgan" S11.E12 - "The Private Mint of Clark, Gruber and Co." S12.E6 - "The Man Who Died Twice" S12.E25 - "See the Elephant and Hear the Owl" S13.E11 - "A Bargain is for Keeping" S14.E18 - "The Courtship of Carrie Huntington"
^"Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940 Population Schedule", digital copy of original April 23, 1940 enumeration page; Marion Randall in household of Roland Randall, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; Enumeration District 51-460, sheet 18B, line 56, family 379, U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. Record in National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) retrieved via FamilySearch, February 7, 2022.
^ abTerrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 1136. ISBN978-0-7864-6477-7.
^A five-minute segment of the pilot episode of Up on Cloud Nine can be viewed on YouTube.
^Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (1999). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present (7th ed.). New York: The Ballentine Publishing Group. p. 1077. ISBN0-345-42923-0.
^"One-Timers Only The Rifleman", Biographical information about Sue Randall contained on website devoted to the television series The Rifleman; retrieved March 7, 2017.
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