Doris Roberts

Doris Roberts
Doris Roberts in 2009
Born	November 4, 1930 (1930-11-04) (age 79) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1952–present
Spouse(s)	Michael Cannata (div.1962) William Goyen (1963-1983)

Doris Roberts (born November 4, 1930)^[1] is an American actress, perhaps best known for playing Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond.

Life and career

Early life

Doris May Meltzer was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Larry and Ann Meltzer.^[1] Her father deserted the family when Roberts was a child, and her mother raised Doris with the help of her Russian Jewish parents in The Bronx, New York.^[2] Her stepfather was Chester H. Roberts.^[3]

TV and film career

Roberts's acting career began in 1952 with a role on the TV series Studio One. She also appeared on such programs as The Naked City (1958-63), Way Out (1961), Ben Casey (1963), and The Defenders (1962-63). In 1961, she made her film debut in Something Wild (1961) starring Carroll Baker. In 1968, she appeared in A Lovely Way to Die and No Way to Treat a Lady. She also appeared in the 1970 cult film The Honeymoon Killers starring Shirley Stoler and Tony Lo Bianco. In 1971, Roberts appeared in three films, Otto Preminger's Such Good Friends, Alan Arkin's Little Murders, and Elaine May's A New Leaf. She acted in a Walter Matthau vehicle again in 1974's The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. 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 (played by Bette Midler).

Since then, she has usually been cast as a mother or mother-in-law. An example of this was when she played newsstand owner, Theresa Falco, mother of Donna Pescow on Angie. After Angie was cancelled, she appeared as Mildred Krebs on Remington Steele, which starred Pierce Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist. After that show's cancellation, she starred in the TV movie remake of If It's Tuesday, It Still Must Be Belgium (1987) and the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) with Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo. She also appeared on Alice, playing the mother of the title character (played by former Broadway co-star Linda Lavin), the wife of a man who secretly went to a sex surrogate on Barney Miller, as well as Danny Tanner's mother on Full House. She played mother Flo Flotsky on four episodes of Soap, and she was lonely Aunt Edna on the ABC sitcom Step by Step.

Roberts is best-known and achieved national fame for her role as Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond. She reportedly beat 100 other actresses for the role.^[4] For her work on the series, she has been nominated for seven Emmy Awards (and won four times) for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She also won an Emmy for a guest role on St. Elsewhere as a homeless woman, and she was nominated once for her role on Remington Steele. She was also 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 the Disney series, Lizzie McGuire. The same year, Roberts received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2006, Roberts starred in the Adam Sandler-produced comedy Grandma's Boy alongside such other veteran actresses as Shirley Jones and Shirley Knight. 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.

Stage career

Roberts' stage career began in the 1950s on Broadway. Roberts has appeared in numerous Broadway shows including the original productions of The Desk Set with Shirley Booth, Neil Simon's The Last of the Red Hot Lovers with James Coco and Linda Lavin as well as Terrence McNally's Bad Habits. She will next be seen in "Unusual Acts of Devotion" at the La Jolla Playhouse in June 2009.

Personal life

Roberts' first husband was Michael Cannata; they divorced in 1962. Their son, Michael Cannata, Jr. (born 1957) is Roberts' manager, and is the father of her 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.^[5]

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.^{[citation needed]} An avid cook, she wrote a book in 2005 titled Are You Hungry, Dear? Life, Laughs, and Lasagna, written with Danelle Morton and published by St. Martin's Press. She says of her book, "It's about sharing things I’ve learned that have changed my life". In May 2005, she received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the University of South Carolina.

An animal lover and 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 also is active with the Children with AIDS Foundation, of which she has served as the chairwoman. She currently lives in Los Angeles in a house once owned by screen legend James Dean.^[6]

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

Filmography

• Aliens in the Attic (2009)
• Play the Game (2008)
• Keeping Up With the Steins (2006)
• Our House (2006, TV)
• Grandma's Boy (2006)
• Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003)
• All Over the Guy (2001)
• The Grass Harp (1995)
• Used People (1992)
• A Mom for Christmas (1990)
• Blind Faith (1990)
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
• Simple Justice (1989)
• Number One with a Bullet (1987)
• Love in the Present Tense (1986)
• Ordinary Heroes (1986)
• Angie (1979-1980)
• The Diary of Anne Frank (1980)
• Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (1979)
• It Happened One Christmas (1977)
• Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976-1978)
• Hester Street (1975)
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1975)
• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
• Such Good Friends (1971)
• A New Leaf (1971)
• The Honeymoon Killers (1970)
• No Way to Treat a Lady (1968)
• Barefoot in the Park (1967)

References

External links

• Doris Roberts at the Internet Movie Database
• Doris Roberts at the Internet Broadway Database
• Doris Roberts at the Internet off-Broadway Database