Born in Philadelphia, Sue Randall was the younger of two children 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,
