Amanda Randolph

{{short description|American actress and singer (1896–1967)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Use American English|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Amanda Randolph | image = Amanda Randolph 1953.JPG | image_size = | alt = | caption = Randolph in 1953 | birth_name = Amanda E. Randolph | birth_date = {{birth date|1896|9|2|}} | birth_place = Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1967|08|24|1896|09|02|mf=yes}} | death_place = Duarte, California, U.S. | resting_place = Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills | other_names = Mandy Randolph | occupation = Actress, singer, pianist | years_active = 1919–1967 | known_for = | spouse = Arthur Sherman (m.1918–?)<br />Harry Hansberry (m.?–1961) | children = 2 | relatives = Lillian Randolph (sister)<br>Barbara Randolph (niece) }} '''Amanda E. Randolph''' (September 2, 1896 – August 24, 1967) was an American actress and singer. She was the first African-American performer to star in a regularly scheduled network television show, appearing in DuMont's ''The Laytons''.

==Early life== Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Randolph was the daughter of a Methodist minister and a teacher.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bB0mAAAAIBAJ&pg=657,4986844&dq=lillian+randolph+cleveland&hl=en|title=Does Radio Give Our Performers a Square Deal?|author=Rea, E. B.|date=January 10, 1948|publisher=The Afro American|access-date=October 17, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Queen">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SfwLAAAAIBAJ&pg=5116,97589&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Madame Queen Joins Cosby|author=Witbeck, Charles|date=September 1, 1969|newspaper=The Evening Independent|access-date=October 19, 2010}}</ref> She had a younger sister, Lillian who also became an actress.{{efn|Steve Gibson, with his Rhythm and Blues group, The Five Red Caps, was said to be a brother. However, this cannot be substantiated.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.singers.com/jazz/vintage/fiveredcaps.html|title=The Five Red Caps|publisher=Singers.com|access-date=October 10, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=New York Beat|date=December 31, 1953|publisher=Jet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4L8DAAAAMBAJ&q=lillian+randolph+intitle%3Ajet&pg=PA64|access-date=October 10, 2010}}</ref>}}

==Career==

===Music=== The Randolph family moved frequently. At the age of 14, Randolph began earning extra money playing the piano and organ in Cleveland, Ohio.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jKknAAAAIBAJ&pg=5668,4486338&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Stage Gossip-Cincinnati Ohio|date=March 27, 1915|publisher=The Freeman|access-date=January 17, 2011}}</ref> Around 1919, she moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where she recorded several piano rolls of hot jazz and blues music for the Vocalstyle company of Cincinnati while working as a musician in Ohio's Lyric Theatre.<ref name="Amanda">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WR0mAAAAIBAJ&pg=3562,6479633&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Amanda Randolph Clinches Radio Role|author=Dier, Richard|date=July 17, 1945|publisher=The Afro American|access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref> These are the only known rolls recorded by a black female pianist. Randolph did her work for the company under the name Mandy Randolph. She is shown as the performer of "The Yellow Dog Blues", by W. C. Handy in 1919, Vocalstyle roll # 11562.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pianola.co.nz/rollscans/rollscan_search_results.asp |title=Search for "Randolph" at website's Piano Roll Artists Database |publisher=pianola.co.nz |access-date=October 17, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629133102/http://www.pianola.co.nz/rollscans/rollscan_search_results.asp |archive-date=June 29, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pianola.co.nz/rollscans/midi/TheYellowDogBlues(1919)_Vocalstyle-11562_MandyRandolph.mid |title=MIDI file of Mandy Randolph-'Yellow Dog Blues' |publisher=pianola.co.nz |access-date=October 17, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629133117/http://www.pianola.co.nz/rollscans/midi/TheYellowDogBlues%281919%29_Vocalstyle-11562_MandyRandolph.mid |archive-date=June 29, 2011 }} (RealPlayer)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.musicweb-international.com/jazz/2010/Histoire_du_Piano_Jazz_574180125.htm|title="Cryin' Blues" - Mandy Randolph|publisher=MusicWeb International|access-date=October 17, 2010}}</ref> Randolph also wrote music she recorded for the Vocalstyle company; she is shown as both the performer and composer of "I'm Gonna Jazz My Way Right Straight Thru Paradise", and as the co-author of "Cryin' Blues" with H. C. Washington.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.musicweb-international.com/jazz/2004/Jan04/History_piano.htm|title=The History of Piano Jazz, CD 1|publisher=MusicWeb International|access-date=October 17, 2010}}</ref>

Randolph also cut audio recordings, accompanied by Sammie Lewis. A record album was produced in 1996 by Document Records called, ''Blues & Jazz Obscurities (1923–1931)'', containing the six duets the pair produced.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Blues-Jazz-Obscurities-1923-1931/dp/B000UWSLJK|title=Blues & Jazz Obscurities (1923–1931)|website=Amazon|access-date=October 17, 2010}}</ref> Still working under the name Mandy Randolph, she recorded "Cootie Crawl" (G11425) on April 30, 1923,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://78discography.com/GNT5000.htm|title=Gennett 5000-5500 Numerical Listings|publisher=Online Discographical Project|access-date=November 22, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101123052510/http://78discography.com/GNT5000.htm| archive-date= November 23, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> and "I Got Another Lovin' Daddy" for Gennett Records.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt700026k4;query=randolph;style=oac4;view=dsc;dsc.position=1#hitNum1|title=Finding Aid for the Gennett Collection|publisher=Online Archive of California|access-date=October 19, 2010}}</ref>

She was invited to join the Sissle and Blake musical, ''Shuffle Along'', in New York in 1924 and went on to do ''Lucky Sambo'' as one of the Three Dixie Songbirds (sharing the bill with its star, Tim Moore, whom she later appeared with on ''The Amos 'n' Andy Show'' from 1951 to 1953).<ref>{{cite book|title=The African American Theatre Directory, 1816-1960: A Comprehensive Guide to Early Black Theatre Organizations, Companies, Theatres, and Performing Groups|editor-last=Peterson|editor-first=Bernard L.|year=1997|publisher=Greenwood Press|pages=336|isbn=0-313-29537-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g4lAenLSxGQC&q=tim+moore&pg=PA90|access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jB8mAAAAIBAJ&pg=6098,1383263&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Royal|date=June 18, 1927|publisher=The Afro American|access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref> in 1925, she was part of Sissle and Blake's ''The Chocolate Dandies''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-kBFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3815,2694187&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Musical Comedy Coming to Grand|date=February 4, 1925|publisher=The Telegraph-Herald|access-date=January 17, 2011}}</ref> Randolph then worked in musicals at New York's Alhambra Theater until 1930,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7349AAAAIBAJ&pg=2557,14267381&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=This Week In The Theatres|date=July 14, 1928|publisher=The Afro American|access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref> following that with work in Europe and England for a year.<ref name="Amanda"/><ref name="Bio">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kLVNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2714,1875609&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Amanda Randolph|date=October 8, 1953|publisher=The Sherbrooke Telegram|access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jaA9AAAAIBAJ&pg=3073,155191&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Amanda is Toast Of Ship|date=April 26, 1930|publisher=The Afro American|access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=A Century of Musicals in Black and White: An Encyclopedia of Musical Stage Works By, About, or Involving African Americans|editor-last=Peterson|editor-first=Bernard L.|year=1993|publisher=Greenwood Press|pages=560|isbn=0-313-26657-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yAnjPO1E5ewC&q=dixie+songbirds+randolph&pg=PA235|access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref>

Randolph worked on the vaudeville and burlesque circuits as a comedian<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=diYmAAAAIBAJ&pg=4453,3104012&dq=lillian+randolph&hl=en|title=Billy Mitchell Now On The Air|date=August 22, 1931|publisher=The Afro American|access-date=October 22, 2010}}</ref> and as a singer, noting that Abbott and Costello also got their start the same way.<ref name="Amanda"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8ZchAAAAIBAJ&pg=4126,3850674&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Amusements-Vaudeville At Park|date=September 26, 1932|newspaper=Reading Eagle|access-date=September 20, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FIsjAAAAIBAJ&pg=4247,1480029&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title='Love Thieves' Not Musical Comedy|date=December 9, 1930|newspaper=The Montreal Gazette|access-date=September 20, 2010}}</ref> Randolph took a four-year hiatus from show business in 1932; she married and helped her husband run their restaurant in New York called The Clam House, which was a favorite of those in the entertainment industry.<ref name="Bio"/><ref name="Clam">{{cite web|url=http://nfo.net/usa/harlem.html|title=My Harlem Reverie|author=Pfeffer, Murray L.|publisher=nfo.net|access-date=October 22, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101127132238/http://nfo.net/usa/harlem.html| archive-date= November 27, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> She then returned to performing, playing piano at a Greenwich Village club called The Black Cat.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AksqAAAAIBAJ&pg=1389,3483909&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Broadway|author=Ross, George|date=July 19, 1938|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press|access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0pslAAAAIBAJ&pg=4270,2251957&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Night Clubs To Broadway In 26 Years|author=Mason, Ralph|date=April 21, 1959|publisher=Baltimore Afro-American|access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref> She continued recording for Bluebird Records, a label created in 1932 and owned by RCA Victor Records. She did the vocals with her own band, billed as Amanda Randolph and her Orchestra.<ref name="Internet Archive">{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/AmandaRandolphAndHerOrchestraVamandaRandolph-SomethingInMyEye| title=Something In My Eye-Amanda Randolph Orchestra|publisher=Internet Archive|access-date=November 22, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Hit of the Week-Extra">{{cite web |url=http://www.dismuke.org/how/prev5-04.html |title=Hit of the Week-Extra |date=May 27, 2004 |publisher=Dismuke Radio |access-date=August 15, 2023 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101121163615/http://dismuke.org/how/prev5-04.html |archive-date=November 21, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> The records were made in New York City on October 8, 1936. On that date, Amanda cut: "Please Don't Talk About My Man" (Bluebird 6615), "Doin' The Suzie-Q" (Bluebird 6615), "Honey, Please Don't Turn Your Back On Me" (Bluebird 6616), "For Sentimental Reasons" (Bluebird 6617), "He May Be Your Man But" (Bluebird 6617), and "I've Got Something In My Eye", (Bluebird 6619-B).<ref name="Internet Archive"/><ref name="Hit of the Week-Extra"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.78discography.com/BB6500.htm|title=Bluebird numerical listings 6500-7000|publisher=Online Discographical Project|access-date=November 22, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101123043806/http://78discography.com/BB6500.htm| archive-date=November 23, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> She also recorded "After Hours"; some of these songs can be heard on radio station KBRD which also broadcasts on the internet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kbrd.org/titlesbyartist.html |title=Titles By Artist |publisher=KBRD Radio |access-date=November 22, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417155330/http://www.kbrd.org/titlesbyartist.html |archive-date=April 17, 2010 }}</ref>

===Films, radio and television=== [[File:Amanda randolph ernest whitman beulah 1953 1954edited.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Amanda Randolph as "Beulah" with Ernest Whitman, who played her boyfriend "Bill" on the radio show ]]

Randolph's film career began in 1936 with ''Black Network''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wdImAAAAIBAJ&pg=2491,1954100&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title='Black Network' Shows on Screen at the Harlem|date=April 18, 1936|publisher=The Afro American|access-date=October 21, 2010}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weirdwildrealm.com/f-blacknetwork.html|title=The Black Network|publisher=Weird Wild Realm|access-date=November 10, 2010}}</ref> She went on to do several Oscar Micheaux films, among them: ''Swing'', ''Lying Lips'' and ''The Notorious Elinor Lee''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/randolph-amanda-1896-1967 |title=Amanda Randolph |date=December 31, 2008 |publisher=BlackPast.org |access-date=October 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101011215951/http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah%2Frandolph-amanda-1896-1967 |archive-date=October 11, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Actresses">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of African American Actresses in Film and Television|editor-last=McCann|editor-first=Bob|pages=461|year=2009|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-3790-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X7ZYsnTPIhwC&q=randolph&pg=PA60|access-date=October 19, 2010}}</ref> Broadway roles in ''The Male Animal'' and ''Harlem Cavalcade'' soon followed.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GKw7AAAAIBAJ&pg=3075,12165996&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Famous Players In New Sepia Arts Picture|date=April 13, 1940|publisher=The Afro American|access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HZ4lAAAAIBAJ&pg=2260,2039559&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Cavalcade Scores On Broadway|author=Wilson, Cleon|date=May 5, 1942|publisher=The Afro American|access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref> Around the same time, Randolph broke into radio, helped by people she met at The Clam House, who got her a CBS audition. She began working on various radio shows: ''Young Dr. Malone'', ''Romance of Helen Trent'' and '' Big Sister''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/aj-bigsister.jpg|title=Copy of promotional material for 'Big Sister'|publisher=museumoffamily history.com|access-date=October 22, 2010}}</ref>

She went on to become a regular cast member on ''Abie's Irish Rose'', ''Kitty Foyle'', and ''Miss Hattie'' with Ethel Barrymore, where she had the role of Venus.<ref name="Amanda"/><ref name="Bio"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://jjonz.us/RadioLogs/pagesnfiles/logs_files_RH/1940s_RH/40-44/1944/44rh_12Dec/44-12-10-(Sun)_%5BWSJ%5D.pdf|title=Radio Log-December 10, 1944|publisher=JJonz|access-date=October 21, 2010}} (PDF)</ref> Randolph also appeared on Rudy Vallée's radio show and on ''Grand Central Station''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jfredmacdonald.com/blacks.htm|title=Don't Touch That Dial! radio programming in American life, 1920-1960|author=MacDonald, J. Fred|publisher=fredmacdonald.com|access-date=October 21, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101102204954/http://jfredmacdonald.com/blacks.htm| archive-date=November 2, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IgkeAAAAIBAJ&pg=2858,363844&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Morton Downey Sings Tunes of 'Ould Sod'|author=Steinhauser, Si|date=March 17, 1944|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press|access-date=January 17, 2011}}</ref>

She continued working in films until the 1960s, and was one of the first African-American women to become a comedy favorite on television. Randolph and the trio The Three Barons appeared over CBS-TV in 1944, and she was the first African-American performer to star in a regularly scheduled network television show, appearing in DuMont's ''The Laytons''.<ref name="BM">Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (2007). ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows'' (9th ed.). New York: Ballantine. {{ISBN|0-345-31864-1}}.</ref><ref name="Viewers">{{cite book|title=African American Viewers and the Black Situation Comedy: Situating Racial Humor (Studies in African American History and Culture)|editor-last=Coleman|editor-first=Robin R. Means|year=1998|pages=384|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-8153-3125-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eu_3jQcKpAoC&q=amos+n+andy&pg=PA313|access-date= October 10, 2010}}</ref> This short-lived program was on the air two months in 1948.<ref name="Dictionary"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lLdOAAAAIBAJ&pg=3991,2916614&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=The fight for TV With Color|author=Handelman, Jay|date=February 8, 2000|newspaper=Star-News|access-date=January 16, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/bogle-blues.html|title=Primetime Blues|year=2001|newspaper=New York Times|access-date=March 8, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=What Women Watched Daytime Television in the 1950s|url=https://archive.org/details/whatwomenwatched00cass|url-access=limited|last=Cassidy|first=Marsha F.|year=2005|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-70626-2|via=Project MUSE|page=[https://archive.org/details/whatwomenwatched00cass/page/n47 35]}}</ref>

Although sometimes uncredited, Randolph was the voice of Petunia in Famous Studios' popular ''Little Audrey''. The following is a list of cartoons in which Randolph voiced Petunia:

* ''Butterscotch and Soda'' (1948) * ''The Lost Dream'' (1949) * ''Song of the Birds'' (1949) * ''Hold the Lion, Please'' (1951) * ''Audrey the Rainmaker'' (1951)

During the 1948-49 television season, Randolph starred for about a year in her own daytime musical TV program for DuMont, ''Amanda'', which aired Mon-Fridays from 12noon to 12:15pm ET, making her the first African-American woman with her own show on daytime television.<ref name=Daytime>{{cite book |last1=Hyatt |first1=Wesley |title=The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television |date=1997 |publisher=Watson-Guptill Publications |isbn=978-0823083152 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofda00hyat/page/20/mode/2up|access-date=March 22, 2020|pages=20–21}}</ref><ref name=Lives>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E_vRLcgEdGoC&q=eddie+anderson&pg=PA8|title=Harlem Renaissance Lives|editor-last=Gates|editor-first=Henry Louis Jr.|editor2-last=Higgenbotham|editor2-first=Evelyn Brooks|year=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=608|isbn=978-0-19-538795-7|access-date=July 23, 2011}}</ref> Randolph did not settle in California until 1949, when she earned a role in Sidney Poitier's ''No Way Out''. Even though she was working in New York and her younger sister, Lillian, had been working in Hollywood for some time, newspapers often got the two sisters mixed up, doing a story on Amanda but with a photo of Lillian and vice versa.<ref name="Amanda"/><ref name="Bio"/><ref name="Actresses"/> She then became a regular on the early TV series, ''The Amos 'n' Andy Show'', as Sapphire's mother, Ramona Smith, from 1951 to 1953; she also played the same role for the show's radio version from 1951 to 1954.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Radio 3-Volume Set|editor-last=Sterling|editor-first=Christopher H.|publisher=Routledge|year=2003|pages=1696|isbn=1-57958-249-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4XJQD4O_TkC&q=ernestine+wade&pg=PA130|access-date=October 12, 2010}}</ref>

[[File:Amanda randolph beulah radio 1953 1954edited.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Randolph in the title role of ''The Beulah Show'' on radio]] Randolph then began working with her sister, Lillian, who played Madame Queen on the radio and television shows. She was the star and titular character in ''The Beulah Show'' from 1953 to 1954, assuming the role from Lillian.<ref name="Viewers"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yotaAAAAIBAJ&pg=3450,5418162&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Stars shine tonight to salute Community Chest|date=September 27, 1953|author=Ford, Del|newspaper=St. Petersburg Times|access-date=January 16, 2011}}</ref> Randolph also did some work for ''CBS Radio Workshop'' in 1956, playing the role of the folk heroine Annie Christmas in ''The Legend of Annie Christmas''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-CBS-Radio-Workshop.html |title=CBS Radio Workshop-Program #38 |publisher=DigitalDeliToo |access-date=December 2, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115221408/http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-CBS-Radio-Workshop.html |archive-date=January 15, 2015 }}</ref>

Randolph had a recurring role as Louise the Maid on CBS's ''The Danny Thomas Show'' and appeared in the show's 1967 reunion program, which aired shortly after her death.<ref name="Dictionary">{{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of African-American Television (Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts)|editor-last=Fearn-Burns|editor-first=Kathleen|pages=584|publisher=The Scarecrow Press|year=2005|isbn=0-8108-5335-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zVFgqEAMcngC&dq=amos+n+andy&pg=PA20|accessdate=October 10, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xPQjAAAAIBAJ&pg=7154,2760515&dq=amanda+randolph&hl=en|title=Old Pals Rejoin Danny|author=Crosby, Joan|date=November 6, 1967|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press|access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref> She guest-starred on the NBC anthology series, ''The Barbara Stanwyck Show''. In 1955, Amanda opened a restaurant in Los Angeles called "Mama's Place", where she did the cooking.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=67EDAAAAMBAJ&q=amanda+randolph+intitle%3Ajet&pg=PA63|title=New York Beat|date=May 19, 1955|publisher=Jet|access-date=October 10, 2010}}</ref>

Despite all her film and television work, Randolph found herself slightly short of the requirements for a much-needed Screen Actors Guild pension at the age of 70 (both sisters had struggled for roles in the late 1930s). A role was written for her to gain eligibility.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D7oDAAAAMBAJ&q=amanda+randolph+intitle%3Ajet&pg=PA42|title=People Are|date=July 28, 1966|publisher=Jet|access-date=October 10, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7oDAAAAMBAJ&q=amanda+randolph+intitle%3Ajet&pg=PA64|title=New York Beat|date=August 28, 1966|publisher=Jet|access-date=October 10, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Bogle|editor-first=Donald|title=Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood|year=2006|pages=432|publisher=One World/Ballantine|isbn=0-345-45419-7|access-date=October 17, 2010|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BI-lsA0gWRYC&q=lillian+randolph&pg=PT236}}</ref>

==Personal life== She married Harry Hansberry sometime after 1940. Hansberry was the owner of the "Hansberry's Clam House" (aka "Edith's Clam House") at 146 West 133rd Street, New York City's most famous gay speakeasy in Harlem,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/blues/garber.html|title=A Spectacle in Color: The Lesbian and Gay Subculture of Jazz Age Harlem|author=Garber, Eric|publisher=University of Virginia|access-date=November 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110417002354/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/blues/garber.html|archive-date=April 17, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> The couple had two children before separating, and they remained estranged until Hansberry died of a heart attack in 1961.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=brQDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22&pg=PA63 New York Beat: Amanda Randolph], ''Jet'', October 12, 1961, Vol. 20, Issue 25, p. 63</ref>

==Death== Randolph died of a stroke in Duarte, California, on August 24, 1967, aged 70. She is survived by a son, Joseph, and a daughter, Evelyn. She is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills beside her sister, Lillian.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bkDAAAAMBAJ&q=amanda+randolph+intitle%3Ajet&pg=PA56|title=Veteran Actress Amanda Randolph Dies After Stroke|date=September 7, 1967|publisher=Jet|access-date=October 10, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&q=jo+stafford&pg=PA229|title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. (2 volume set)|last1=Wilson|first1=Scott|publisher=McFarland|year=2016|page=613|isbn=978-1-4766-2599-7|access-date=January 25, 2017}}</ref>

==Filmography== *''Comes Midnight'' (1940)

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Amanda Randolph}}

*{{IMDb name|id=0709869}} *{{IBDB name}} *{{Find a Grave|4187}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20121103041957/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/58743/Amanda-Randolph Amanda Randolph Movies & TV New York Times]

===Watch=== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20150906142455/http://www.hulu.com/watch/48119 ''Amos 'n' Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy'' Video by Hulu] *[https://archive.org/details/lying_lips_ipod "Lying Lips (1939)" at Archive.org]

===Listen=== *[https://archive.org/details/TheBeulahShow ''The Beulah Show''] at Internet Archive-1954.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Randolph, Amanda}} Category:1896 births Category:1967 deaths Category:20th-century African-American actresses Category:20th-century African-American women singers Category:20th-century American actresses Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American women singers Category:Actresses from Louisville, Kentucky Category:African-American women singer-songwriters Category:American blues singers Category:American burlesque performers Category:American film actresses Category:American radio actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:American television actresses Category:American vaudeville performers Category:American women jazz musicians Category:American women singer-songwriters Category:Blues musicians from Kentucky Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Category:Gennett Records artists Category:Jazz musicians from Kentucky Category:Radio personalities from Louisville, Kentucky Category:Singer-songwriters from Kentucky Category:Singers from Louisville, Kentucky Category:Women musicians from Kentucky