Doris Roberts
 | This article is currently being heavily edited because its subject has recently died. Information about their death and related events may change significantly and initial news reports may be unreliable. The most recent updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. |
Doris Roberts Jr Boiiiii | |
|---|---|
 Roberts in December 2010 | |
| Born | Doris May Green November 4, 1925 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | April 17, 2016 (aged 90) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1951–2016 |
| Spouse(s) |
Michael E. Cannata
(m. 1956; div. 1962) |
| Children | 1 |
Doris Roberts (born Doris May Green; November 4, 1925 – April 17, 2016)[N 1][1] was an American actress. She received five Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild award during her acting career, which began in 1951. She was perhaps best known for her role as Raymond Barone's mother, Marie Barone, on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–2005).
Early life
Roberts was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother, Ann Meltzer,[2] raised Roberts in the The Bronx, New York with the assistance of her own parents, after her husband Larry deserted the family.[1][3] Roberts' stepfather, whose surname she took as her own, was Chester H. Roberts. Chester and Roberts' mother operated the Z.L. Rosenfield Agency, a stenographic service catering to playwrights and actors.[4] Roberts was Jewish (her family was from Russia).[5]
Career
 | This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (July 2015) |
Film and television
Roberts' acting career began in 1952 with a role on the TV series Studio One. She appeared in episodes of 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).
She appeared in such 1960s and 1970s films as A Lovely Way to Die, No Way to Treat a Lady, The Honeymoon Killers, Such Good Friends, Little Murders, and 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).
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.[6] (Roberts later guest starred in a 1976 All in the Family episode, "Edith's Night Out".) 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 (1987) and the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989). She appeared on Alice, playing the mother of the title character (played by her former Broadway co-star Linda Lavin), 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, Claire. 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.[7] For her work on the series, she was nominated for seven Emmy Awards (and won four times) 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 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 (2012). 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
Roberts' stage career began in the 1950s on Broadway. She appeared in numerous Broadway shows including The Desk Set (with Shirley Booth), Neil Simon's The Last of the Red Hot Lovers (with James Coco and Linda Lavin) and Terrence McNally's Bad Habits. She starred in McNally's Unusual Acts of Devotion at the LaJolla Playhouse in June 2009.[8]
Other interests
An avid cook, Roberts wrote Are You Hungry, Dear? Life, Laughs, and Lasagna in 2005, co-written with Danelle Morton and published by St. Martin's Press.
Honors
In May 2005, Roberts received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the University of South Carolina. She was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor on May 7, 2011.[citation needed]
Charity work
An animal rights advocate, Roberts 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 law enforcement agencies. She was also active with the Children with AIDS Foundation, where she served as chairwoman.
Personal life
Roberts married Michael Cannata; they divorced in 1962. Their son, Michael Cannata, Jr. (born 1957) is her only child. She had three grandchildren: Kelsey, Andrew, and Devon. Her second husband was writer William Goyen. They were married from 1963 until his death from leukemia [9]
On September 4, 2002, Roberts 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] She was a registered Democrat.[10]
Death
Doris Roberts died on April 17, 2016 in Los Angeles, California, aged 90.[11]
Awards and nominations
Emmy Award wins
- 1983 — Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series — St. Elsewhere: Cora and Arnie
- 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: Maid to Order
- 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 wins
- 1974 — Outstanding Actress in a Play — Ravenswood
References
- ^ a b
Name: Doris M Green
Mother: Ann Green
Birth: abt 1925 – Missouri
Residence: New York, New York, New York
- ^ "Doris Roberts profile at Film Reference.com". Filmreference.com. Retrieved July 6, 2010.
- ^ Kelly Wilson (November 6, 2008). "Doris Roberts in the News". Members.aol.com. Retrieved July 6, 2010.
- ^ "New York Times article, "Mrs. Chester Roberts"". Select.nytimes.com. June 19, 1974. Retrieved July 6, 2010.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Rue McClanahan Interview, part 2 of 5". Retrieved June 3, 2010.
- ^ Larry King Live transcript, interview with Everybody Loves Raymond Cast, transcripts.cnn.com, March 8, 2002.
- ^ Mandell Weiss Theatre (June 28, 2009). "Unusual Acts of Devotion". Lajollaplayhouse.com. Retrieved July 6, 2010.
- ^ "Doris Roberts profile at". Biography.com. Retrieved July 6, 2010.
- ^ Profile, hollywoodreporter.com; accessed April 5, 20
- ^ TMZ Staff (April 18, 2016). "Doris Roberts Dead at 90". TMZ. TMZ. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
Footnotes
- ^ Year of birth was 1925 per U.S. census of April 1940 at ancestry.com (Year: 1940; Census Place: New York, New York, New York; Roll: T627_2638; Page: 61B; Enumeration District: 31-646), which, aside from Doris M Green, aged 14, lists Ann Green, aged 46, as "Head" and Chester Roberts, Doris's future stepfather, aged 48, as "lodger"
External links
- Doris Roberts at IMDb
- Doris Roberts at the Internet Broadway Database
- Please use a more specific IOBDB template. See the template documentation for available templates.
- Doris Roberts at the University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection
- National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations website
- Recent deaths
- 1925 births
- 2016 deaths
- Actresses from New York City
- Actors Studio members
- American film actresses
- American people of Russian-Jewish descent
- American stage actresses
- American television actresses
- Emmy Award winners
- Jewish American actresses
- Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners
- Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Primetime Emmy Award winners
- People from the Bronx
- California Democrats
- New York Democrats