Doris Roberts is an American character actress of film, stage, and television.
She has received five Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild award during her acting career,
which began in 1952.
She is perhaps best known for her role as Raymond Barone's mother, Marie Barone on the
sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.
Early life Doris May Green was born in St. Louis, Missouri
in 1925.
Her mother, Ann Meltzer, who was of Russian Jewish descent, raised her daughter in the
New York City borough of The Bronx with the assistance of her own parents, after her husband
Larry deserted the family.
Doris' stepfather, whose surname she took as her own, was Chester H. Roberts, whose
name is included with Ann and Doris Green in the 1940 census as "lodger".
Chester and Ann Roberts operated the Z.L.
Rosenfield Agency, a stenographic service catering to playwrights and actors.
Television and film career Roberts' acting career began in 1952 with
a role on the TV series Studio One.
She appeared in episodes of The Naked City, Way Out, Ben Casey, and The Defenders.
In 1961, she made her film debut in Something Wild.
She appeared in such 1960s and 1970s cult films as A Lovely Way to Die, No Way to Treat
a Lady, The Honeymoon Killers, Such Good Friends, Little Murders, A New Leaf, The Taking of
Pelham One Two Three and Hester Street.
In 1978, she appeared in a film about John F. Kennedy's assassination, Ruby and Oswald,
in which she played Jack Ruby's sister.
She also appeared very briefly in The Rose, as the mother of the title character.
In an interview with the Archive of American Television, Rue McClanahan confirmed that
in 1972 she was approached by Norman Lear during the taping of an All In The Family
episode to be a late replacement for Roberts, who was originally intended for the role of
Vivian in Maude.
She has usually been cast as a mother or mother-in-law on television, i.e. as Theresa Falco on Angie.
She later appeared as Mildred Krebs on Remington Steele.
After that show ended, she starred in the TV movie remake of If It's Tuesday, It Still
Must Be Belgium and the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
She appeared on Alice, playing the mother of the title character, on Barney Miller as
the wife of a man who secretly went to a sex surrogate, and on Full House as Danny Tanner's
mother.
She played the unhinged "Flo Flotsky" on four episodes of Soap, Dorelda Doremus, a faith
healer, on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; and lonely Aunt Edna on Step by Step.
Roberts achieved her widest fame for her role as Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond.
She was reportedly one of 100 actresses considered for the role.
For her work on the series, she was nominated for seven Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting
Actress in a Comedy Series.
She previously won an Emmy for a guest appearance on St. Elsewhere, playing a homeless woman,
and she was also nominated once for her role on Remington Steele.
She was nominated for appearances on Perfect Strangers and a PBS special called The Sunset
Gang.
In 2003, she made a guest appearance as Gordo's grandmother in Lizzie McGuire.
The same year, Roberts received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 2006, she starred in Our House where she portrayed a wealthy woman who took homeless
people in her house, and in the Adam Sandler-produced comedy Grandma's Boy.
In 2007, she made a guest appearance on Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
In 2008, Roberts appeared in the romantic comedy Play the Game alongside Andy Griffith,
who plays a lonely, widowed grandfather re-entering the dating world after a 60-year hiatus.
She appeared in the 2009 film Aliens in the Attic, which was filmed in Auckland, New Zealand.
She played George Needleman's mother in Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection.
On September 23, 2010, she played Ms. Rinsky, Brick Heck's schoolteacher in the second season
premiere episode of The Middle.
This appearance reunited her with Patricia Heaton, her co-star from Everybody Loves Raymond;
the character disliked Frankie.
Roberts returned in two other episodes that season, "The Math Class" and the finale, "Back
to Summer".
Stage career Roberts' stage career began in the 1950s on
Broadway.
She has appeared in numerous Broadway shows including The Desk Set, Neil Simon's The Last
of the Red Hot Lovers and Terrence McNally's Bad Habits.
She starred in McNally's Unusual Acts of Devotion at the LaJolla Playhouse in June 2009.
Personal life
Roberts' first husband was Michael Cannata; they divorced in 1962.
Their son, Michael Cannata, Jr. is her only child.
He serves as her manager.
She has three grandchildren: Kelsey, Andrew, and Devon.
Her second husband was writer William Goyen.
She was married to Goyen from 1963 until his death from leukemia on August 30, 1983.
On September 4, 2002, she testified before a U.S. Congressional panel that age discrimination
is prevalent in Hollywood, advocating that such discrimination be treated on par with
biases against race and gender.
An avid cook, she wrote Are You Hungry, Dear?
Life, Laughs, and Lasagna, co-written with Danelle Morton and published by St. Martin's
Press.
In May 2005, she received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the University of South
Carolina.
An animal rights advocate, she has worked with the group Puppies Behind Bars which works
with inmates in training guide dogs and assistance dogs for the physically disabled and elderly,
as well as dogs trained in explosives detection to be used by the ATF and other law enforcement
agencies.
She is active with the Children with AIDS Foundation, of which she has served as the
chairwoman.
She currently lives in the Greater Los Angeles Area in a house once owned by iconic film
actor James Dean.
Roberts was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor on May 7, 2011.
Emmy Awards 1983 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in
a Drama Series — St. Elsewhere 2001 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in
a Comedy Series — Everybody Loves Raymond 2002 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in
a Comedy Series — Everybody Loves Raymond 2003 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in
a Comedy Series — Everybody Loves Raymond 2005 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in
a Comedy Series — Everybody Loves Raymond Emmy Award nominations
1985 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series — Remington Steele
1989 — Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series — Perfect Strangers
1991 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Special — The Sunset Gang
1999 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series — Everybody Loves Raymond
2000 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series — Everybody Loves Raymond
2004 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series — Everybody Loves Raymond
Outer Critics Circle 1974 — Outstanding Actress in a Play — Ravenswood
Selected filmography
Barefoot in the Park No Way to Treat a Lady
The Honeymoon Killers Little Murders
A New Leaf Such Good Friends
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Hester Street All in the Family
Viva Valdez Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Rabbit Test Soap
Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff The Rose
The Diary of Anne Frank Angie
Cagney & Lacey Remington Steele
California Girls Number One with a Bullet
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Blind Faith
A Mom for Christmas Full House
Used People Murder, She Wrote
The Grass Harp Everybody Loves Raymond
A Fish in the Bathtub All Over the Guy
Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star A Time to Remember
Raising Waylon Grandma's Boy
Our House Keeping Up with the Steins
Play the Game Aliens in the Attic
Another Harvest Moon The Middle
Grey's Anatomy Hot In Cleveland
Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension Counter Culture
Desperate Housewives Madea's Witness Protection
Victorious Melissa & Joey
References
Footnotes
External links Doris Roberts at the Internet Movie Database
Doris Roberts at the Internet Broadway Database Doris Roberts at the Internet Off-Broadway
Database Doris Roberts at the University of Wisconsin's
Actors Studio audio collection National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations
website