A Friend
2013-11-28 18:21:12 UTC
Jane Kean, who played Trixie on 'The Honeymooners,' dies at 90
By Greg Braxton
November 28, 2013, 9:44 a.m.
Jane Kean, best known for her role as Trixie, the long-suffering wife of
Ed Norton on the 1960s TV revival of "The Honeymooners" with Jackie
Gleason and Art Carney, has died. She was 90.
Kean, a resident of Toluca Lake, died Tuesday at Providence St. Joseph
Medical Center in Burbank of complications from a fall. Her niece,
Deidre Wolpert, confirmed her death.
Although she played diverse roles during a career spanning more than
four decades, including performing at London's Palladium before moving
to Broadway, Kean said her role in "The Honeymooners" was the character
that most people remembered.
"There's something about the show -- people relate to it," Kean said in
a 1991 interview with The Times. "People believed the show was real, and
that we really were the characters we played."
"The Honeymooners," which started as a sketch on "The Jackie Gleason
Show" in the early 1950s, starred Gleason as Ralph Kramden, a struggling
New York bus driver who lived in a cramped apartment with his wife Alice
(Audrey Meadows). Carney played Norton, Kramden's dim-witted neighbor
and best friend who was married to Trixie (originally played by Joyce
Randolph), who was Alice's best friend.
Kean first started working with Gleason in the 1940s, when they were
both on the vaudeville circuit. They also appeared in several stage
productions in the 1950s.
She joined the cast of "The Honeymooners" in 1966 as Trixie when Gleason
moved to Miami Beach for another version of "The Jackie Gleason Show,"
where he revived "The Honeymooners" for new sketches that reunited him
with Carney. Sheila MacRae took on the role of Alice.
Those "Honeymooners" segments expanded to an hour and were crafted as
musical comedies, with several original songs within each installment.
The cast also appeared in 1976 for an ABC special, "The Honeymooners --
The Second Honeymoon."
Born April 10, 1923, in Hartford, Conn., Kean first started working
professionally in the 1940s on stage. She appeared in starring roles on
Broadway in the 1950s in shows such as "The Pajama Game" and "Will
Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" in which she replaced Jayne Mansfield.
During the 1950s, she also teamed up with her sister Betty for a popular
nightclub act that blended singing, dance and comedy. The sisters
performed on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and had a successful run at the
London Palladium.
In the 1980s, Kean performed at colleges, on cruise ships, at dinner
theaters and what she called Florida's "condo circuit." She wrote and
performed in a two-woman musical, "We," at the Forum Theater in Yorba
Linda in 1991. The project, which also starred Barbara Perry, featured
comedy and musical numbers from numerous Broadway shows the two women
had appeared in.
Kean performed a tribute to Gleason during the show titled, "How Sweet
It Was."
Kean¹s first marriage, to Richard Linkroum, ended in divorce. She later
married her manager, Joe Hecht. He died in 2006. Her sister Betty died
in 1986.
Besides Wolpert, Betty Kean's daughter, Jane Kean is survived by
Wolpert's husband and two children, along with a stepson, Joseph Hecht
Jr., and his son.
<http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-jane-kean-
who-played-trixie-on-the-honeymooners-has-died-20131127,0,1122003.story>
<http://goo.gl/VK4Dn2>
By Greg Braxton
November 28, 2013, 9:44 a.m.
Jane Kean, best known for her role as Trixie, the long-suffering wife of
Ed Norton on the 1960s TV revival of "The Honeymooners" with Jackie
Gleason and Art Carney, has died. She was 90.
Kean, a resident of Toluca Lake, died Tuesday at Providence St. Joseph
Medical Center in Burbank of complications from a fall. Her niece,
Deidre Wolpert, confirmed her death.
Although she played diverse roles during a career spanning more than
four decades, including performing at London's Palladium before moving
to Broadway, Kean said her role in "The Honeymooners" was the character
that most people remembered.
"There's something about the show -- people relate to it," Kean said in
a 1991 interview with The Times. "People believed the show was real, and
that we really were the characters we played."
"The Honeymooners," which started as a sketch on "The Jackie Gleason
Show" in the early 1950s, starred Gleason as Ralph Kramden, a struggling
New York bus driver who lived in a cramped apartment with his wife Alice
(Audrey Meadows). Carney played Norton, Kramden's dim-witted neighbor
and best friend who was married to Trixie (originally played by Joyce
Randolph), who was Alice's best friend.
Kean first started working with Gleason in the 1940s, when they were
both on the vaudeville circuit. They also appeared in several stage
productions in the 1950s.
She joined the cast of "The Honeymooners" in 1966 as Trixie when Gleason
moved to Miami Beach for another version of "The Jackie Gleason Show,"
where he revived "The Honeymooners" for new sketches that reunited him
with Carney. Sheila MacRae took on the role of Alice.
Those "Honeymooners" segments expanded to an hour and were crafted as
musical comedies, with several original songs within each installment.
The cast also appeared in 1976 for an ABC special, "The Honeymooners --
The Second Honeymoon."
Born April 10, 1923, in Hartford, Conn., Kean first started working
professionally in the 1940s on stage. She appeared in starring roles on
Broadway in the 1950s in shows such as "The Pajama Game" and "Will
Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" in which she replaced Jayne Mansfield.
During the 1950s, she also teamed up with her sister Betty for a popular
nightclub act that blended singing, dance and comedy. The sisters
performed on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and had a successful run at the
London Palladium.
In the 1980s, Kean performed at colleges, on cruise ships, at dinner
theaters and what she called Florida's "condo circuit." She wrote and
performed in a two-woman musical, "We," at the Forum Theater in Yorba
Linda in 1991. The project, which also starred Barbara Perry, featured
comedy and musical numbers from numerous Broadway shows the two women
had appeared in.
Kean performed a tribute to Gleason during the show titled, "How Sweet
It Was."
Kean¹s first marriage, to Richard Linkroum, ended in divorce. She later
married her manager, Joe Hecht. He died in 2006. Her sister Betty died
in 1986.
Besides Wolpert, Betty Kean's daughter, Jane Kean is survived by
Wolpert's husband and two children, along with a stepson, Joseph Hecht
Jr., and his son.
<http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-jane-kean-
who-played-trixie-on-the-honeymooners-has-died-20131127,0,1122003.story>
<http://goo.gl/VK4Dn2>