Doris Roberts Made People Laugh for Decades

(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Doris Roberts sticks out in most people’s minds as the humorous grandmother, Marie Barone, from the ’90s sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond. Her acting career lasted for over half a century, though, from TV shows to Hollywood movies.

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Early Life

Doris Roberts was born Doris May Green in November 1925. She moved to The Bronx, New York, from St. Louis, Missouri, at a young age, when her father left their family. Roberts adopted the last name Roberts when her mother remarried. New York is where Doris Roberts got her start.

Along with her mother and stepfather, Doris ran the Rosenfield Agency, at first, offering stenograph services for playwrights and actors. Her first moment of acting, however, came when she was much younger. At age 4, she was in a kindergarten production. Her big line was ‘I am Patrick Potato, and this is my cousin, Mrs. Tomato.’ Hearing the audience’s following laughter hooked her forever.

Hollywood Career

In her early twenties, Doris Roberts started appearing on television on Studio One in Hollywood, Defenders, Starlight Theatre, in the early ’50s and ’60s. She dabbled in Broadway, naturally, being in New York. She was in productions of The Time of Your Life and The Desk Set. Something Wild, was her first film, a few years later in 1961 and The National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation was one of the movies to launch her to national, year-round fame.

As the 1960s and ’70s came and went, her work grew and grew. She appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and All in the Family, and Angie in the 80s. Other films included The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, No Way to Treat a Lady, and The Rose. More Broadway performances in Bad Habits, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, and The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild boosted her cred as a performer.

Roberts was just one of many who were considered for the role of Marie Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond, following her role in Remington Steele. Her portrayal of the matriarch in the show brought her and the show much success. The actress received seven Emmy Award nominations; four of which she won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She would letter get laughs from stoners everywhere appearing in the Adam Sandler-produced slacker comedy Grandma’s Boy as the titular grandma.

Doris in Love

Doris married twice. Her first husband was Michael Cannata, wom she divorced because he wasn’t supportive of her dreams, and she wanted more for her life. They did have a son, Michael Cannata, Jr. Her second husband from 1963, till she was widowed in 1983, was to writer William Goyen. She remained unmarried until her death at 90, of a stroke.

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