ALL THE HEADLINES
Copyright 2003 Nationwide News Pty Limited Ê Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia)
BY DARREN DEVLYN
COMEDY
Everybody Loves Raymond
Sunday, 7.30pm
Sitcom
Duration: 30 minutes
December 10, 2003 Wednesday, HOME ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE; Pg. H03
Money disputes have been solved in the Barone households, writes Darren Devlyn
IT WAS a battle that rocked one of TV history's biggest sitcoms to its foundations.
But Doris Roberts, who has won three Emmy Awards for her portrayal of meddling mum Marie Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond, disputes talk that the pay row sparked by the show's supporting cast was motivated by greed.
"It was about not being taken for granted," Roberts says.
The trouble started mid-year, when star Ray Romano scored a massive salary deal with the CBS network -- $2.7 million an episode -- to keep producing and starring in the hit sitcom. The agreement ensured Romano would become the highest-paid actor in TV, earning an extraordinary $77 million to do an eighth and ninth season of the show.
The champagne might have been flowing in the Romano household, but co-stars Roberts, Patricia Heaton (Debra), Peter Boyle (Frank) and Brad Garrett (Robert) were in a less than celebratory mood.
Adamant they'd played a significant part in making the show a huge international success, the actors rallied for pay hikes, claiming their salaries (ranging from $300,000 to $620,000 an episode) were not commensurate with their efforts.
Much to the relief of Roberts, CBS has quelled the financial disquiet.
Asked if she had felt the network had not fully acknowledged her contribution to the show, Roberts says: "It would be fair to say that. This is what we fought for.
"We were told there would be an eighth and ninth year (the cast have been shooting the seventh season) and that there would be extra money, but then we were told there would be no ninth year of the show. It became very confusing."
In the middle of the salary battle, CBS suggested it was losing faith in the show's rating potential. Roberts feels this was a ploy to rob the cast of negotiating power.
"The show's not waning at all. What were they (CBS) talking about," she says.
"The main issue now is that everybody is back at work and enjoying it and that (unrest) is behind us now.
"It would be terrible if issues like that came between cast . . . caused division. I'm happy and want to go to a 10th season.
"I love working on a show where everybody gets on because, believe me, I've worked in places where relationships have been very difficult. On Remington Steele, for instance, it was awful. Pierce (Brosnan) and Stephanie (Zimbalist) just didn't speak to each other." Raymond premiered in 1996 and was anything but an instant hit.
A CBS executive aggressively championed the series in lean times, sending critics signed messages and review tapes of coming episodes.
While Romano's importance to the show cannot be overestimated, there's also a strong belief Raymond couldn't endure without Roberts.
Roberts, 72, says she's constantly being mobbed by fans.
"I didn't know whether to take it as a compliment or not, but the other day a woman came running up to me on the street to tell me she was a huge fan. She said she loved me that much that she even dresses up as me for Halloween!"
Audiences will soon see Roberts in a radical departure from her Raymond role. In a production break from the sitcom, she co-starred with Louise Fletcher in the movie, A Time to Remember.
Roberts, a widow since the death of her second husband in 1983, hopes fans will be moved by her portrayal of a woman battling Alzheimer's disease.
Back to Doris: In the News
The Associated Press
Doris Roberts takes a break from 'Raymond' to star in a TV drama
By FRAZIER MOORE, AP Television Writer
November 20, 2003, Thursday, Entertainment News
Doris Roberts is so good on "Everybody Loves Raymond," and the sitcom is so good at mining laughs from the quarrelsome Barones (whose queen bee, of course, is played by Roberts) that viewers might forget she can play anyone else.
"A Time To Remember" is a vivid reminder.
Airing 8 p.m. EST Sunday on the Hallmark Channel, this dramatic film finds Roberts as a different kind of matriarch from comic meddler Marie Barone. Here, playing Maggie Calhoun, she is cool and imperious - and at an early stage of Alzheimer's.
However frightening for Maggie, as well as for her daughter Valetta (Megan Gallagher) and her longtime caretaker (Louis Fletcher), the onset of this disease is just their latest family problem to avoid dealing with.
Then Britt (Dana Delany), the headstrong daughter who had moved far away, makes a reluctant return home for Thanksgiving and discovers the truth. There's no avoiding their problems anymore.
"This is not a disease-of-the-week film," Roberts says. "It's all about family, and how we hold onto silly and stupid resentments and anger and all that nonsense." Especially Maggie.
"She's not necessarily a very nice woman," says Roberts. "She's very uptight, very WASPy, and I played it that way. People won't necessarily like my character, but I think they'll be moved by her."
To prepare for this role, Roberts says she studied up on the disease. And she allows that, despite her being vigorous and razor-sharp at 73, it's a threat she doesn't take lightly. "I have a friend whose husband is in the late stages now, but early on, I remember sitting with him at dinner and he'd have this troubled stare and he'd say, 'I'm not here.' It would break your heart."
The role gives Roberts some stirring moments, such as a scene when Maggie, in her bathroom, is struck clueless: She doesn't know what her toothpaste and toothbrush are for.
"No one thinks I can do dramatic work anymore," says Roberts with a rueful chuckle. "I did 20 years on Broadway before I ever went out to California! I won an Emmy for playing a bag lady on 'St. Elsewhere'! But once you get into a comedy bag, they pigeonhole you. So when this kind of opportunity comes along, I grab it."
Not that Roberts - with a half-century's worth of credits in theater, films and television (including her four-season run on "Remington Steele") - draws much of a distinction between going for laughs and going for tears.
"You don't use different muscles playing comedy and playing drama," she explains. "You just make different choices.
"When I play Marie, I don't use this voice," she says, displaying her naturally deep timbre. Instead, she endows Marie with a hopped-up, nasally lilt: "I say things like, 'Ah yuh hungry, dee-uh?' I talk way up hee-uh. Because if I used my own voice for Marie, you wouldn't laugh at her. You'd find her quite unpleasant."
Thanks to Roberts' choices, Marie Barone isn't unpleasant. Just impossible. And, like "Raymond" (airing Mondays at 9 p.m. on CBS), still hugely popular with viewers in this, Season 8.
"I pride myself that the choices that I make for Marie are really based on love," says Roberts, who has scored a pair of Emmys in the role. "It comes out differently, but that's what it's based on."
As Marie, she adheres to another guiding principle: Parents are never satisfied. At least, not by approval-seeking offspring.
"I don't think my mother ever wore anything I ever bought for her," Roberts recalls. "She'd just put it in the drawer with the tissue paper it came wrapped in."
On the other hand, this mother can't say enough about her son, Michael Cannata, a former TV producer who has been her manager for three years.
"You never know how smart your kids are!" Roberts beams. "I took care of him for so many years, and now he takes care of me. And he's tough. He is TOUGH!"
Like mother, like son.
"There's nothing about me that feels old, acts old, thinks old - I've fought them all," crows Roberts, who has plenty to say against ageism (and said it last year, testifying before the Senate Special Committee on Aging).
"I have the same passion for my work today that I did when I was 18 years old," she declares, adding that she's sure not ready to see "Raymond" fold its tent.
"Ray and Phil say, 'No, this is our last year,"' she reports, speaking of the show's star, Ray Romano, and executive producer Philip Rosenthal. "But I can't imagine that CBS can allow this to be the last year."
Coming from Roberts, that isn't a prediction, it's a word to the wise: Keep "Raymond" going. After all, Mother knows best.
---
On the Net:
www.hallmarkchannel.com
www.cbs.com
Official Web Site: http://dorisroberts.tv-website.com
Back to Doris: In the News
From The Jerusalem Post
CHOOSE ME, EMMY!
By Aryeh Dean Cohen
September 19, 2003, Friday; ARTS; Pg. 16
Now that everyone's favorite maidele Sharon has chosen her true love, we can get on to the really important things in life, like who wins the annual Sopranos vs. West Wing showdown at the LA Corral Sunday night? Yes, it's Emmy time again, with everyone hoping to go home with one of those little trophies that years from now will no doubt end up being dragged to some pawnbroker's office or end up on Ebay to pay for another stint at the Betty Ford Clinic or facelift.
But for now, there's tension in the air in Hollywood, along with quite a bit of sadness following this week's passing of John Ritter, the gifted comedian who may have been the only person in the world who could outdo his onetime costar Don Knotts at physical comedy.
Ritter, whose Three's Company was a big hit here when it first aired and is now in reruns all over the world, was a class act who was finally hitting it big again with his latest series, 8 Simple Rules...For Dating My Teenage Daughter.. He'll be sorely missed, and we can certainly expect a tribute to him Sunday night at the awards show.
To boost ratings and confuse matters, this year's ceremony is due to have five celebrity hosts, meaning there's a one in five chance someone will be funny. As for the competition itself, there's a new kid on the block ready to take home some metal: 24, coincidentally returning to Channel 10 for its second season this week.
While James Gandolfini and Martin Sheen, and their respective costars, may think they're the frontrunners again, we expect Kiefer Sutherland and 24 to do what Michael Chiklis of The Shield pulled last year: an upset. Not only did 24 completely wow everyone who saw it - yes, Harry, I'll get that DVD back to you - it taught viewers around the world an important skill: how to tell time, if unfortunately only digitally. So here's hoping Jack Bauer has the best hour or five of his life come Sunday night.
Our other hopes are for Jennifer Garner to take home some gold for Alias, or at least to wear something slinky from one of those great recent episodes. She's up against Allison Janney (West Wing) and Edie Falco (The Sopranos), though, and maybe even CSI's Marge Helgenberger has a shot.
Naturally, there are the usual Friends nominees, this time Matt LeBlanc and Jennifer Aniston, respectively, to which we say: phuey. At the risk of angering our teenage daughter, been there, done that. Let's see if Seinfeld co- creator Larry David can win one for his new HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, but don't be surprised if Ray Romano wins again for Everybody Loves Raymond.
Sara Jessica Parker (Sex and the City) is up for best actress in a comedy, and co-stars Cynthia Nixon and Kim Catrall for supporting actress. They'll probably win now that the show is about to go off the air. But our vote is for Malcolm in the Middle's Jane Kaczmarek, who makes us go to our room just by looking at us. And we like Doris Roberts for supporting actress just because of her early days as Mildred Krebs in Remington Steele.
Bradley Whitford, aka Mr. Kaczmarek, and John Spencer of West Wing are up again, and Michael Imperiole and Joe Pantoliano of The Sopranos are, too. Mrs. Bartlett (Stockard Channing) is a nominee, and we hope she gets one, and how 'bout one for Kaczmarek's opposite number Bryan Cranston for supporting actor in a comedy role, instead of giving it to John Mahoney and David Hyde Pierce of Frasier? As for best comedy, once again it's the usual suspects, Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, Sex and The City, and Will and Grace, along with newcomer Curb Your Enthusiasm. Let's hope Hollywood thinks out of the box and chooses David over the other comedy Goliaths.
So do you set the video, stay up and watch it live (that's 3 a.m. for the ceremonies, 2 a.m. for the "Who did your gown" stuff on the red carpet outside), or go for the edited version airing on Channel 3 Monday night? Ahh, stay up. You can always go to selichot before and use that as an excuse to explain those red, red eyes.
Back to Doris: In the News
From On Wall Street Copyright 2003 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Doris Roberts Asks, Don't Fax Me, Dear'
September 1, 2003
With her popular new book, "Are You Hungry, Dear?" and two Emmy's for her role as Marie Barone in the CBS hit, "Everybody Loves Raymond" (and a nomination for another at this month's ceremony), Doris Roberts may be one of America's favorite mothers. She certainly has the experience. Since making her Broadway debut in 1955, she's played the mother of Billy Crystal in "Rabbit Test," the mother of Donna Pescow in "Angie," and the de facto mother of Pierce Brosnan on "Remington Steele," along with dozens of other motherly comedic and dramatic roles in movies and television. In real life, the 73-year-old actress is the mother of Michael Cannata, her manager, and grandmother of three.
So here's a motherly message to brokers from high-net-worth celebrity Doris Roberts:
"Stop sending faxes."
Roberts says stockbrokers have unearthed her fax number and bombard her with messages at strange hours.
"Of course, I don't reply to them, and I get very angry when I receive a fax from a broker at 2 a.m.," said Roberts, in a tone more businesslike than Marie Barone used when complaining about receiving unsolicited selections from the "Fruit-of-the-Month Club," which Marie called a "cult."
Reaching Roberts more directly with investment ideas would take some doing. Like most big-name entertainers, she uses a business manager to handle her financial affairs. In Roberts' case, her long-time business manager is a Certified Public Accountant who pays all the bills and oversees investments.
"I'm a conservative investor, but he's even more conservative than I am," she says. In the living room of her Spanish-style Hollywood home - where a "Casa de Glade" sign near the front door commemorates the air freshener commercial that paid for the house - Roberts explains how she went against her manager's advice and made money in real estate.
"I was renting an apartment on West End Avenue in New York that was going co-op [the owner was selling the building to a corporation in which residents, so-called insiders, and others could buy cooperative shares], and I wanted to buy it at the insider price. I was out here at the time and I had no money, no job and was flat on my back with a herniated disc hitting my sciatic nerve. My husband was dying from leukemia in the other room. I told my manager I wanted to buy the apartment and he said I was crazy. He said I had no cash and no prospects for a job. I told him I was going to take a second mortgage on this house. He said I couldn't do that because if I lost the house, I'd lose everything.
"I knew it was a good deal, so I went to New York on crutches and bought that apartment for $128,000. I had a tenant whose rent paid my second mortgage, and I sold the apartment a year later for $400,000. It was a good deal," she said, "and I later bought another apartment in New York and other homes."
Through her business manager, Roberts now owns stakes in a variety of commercial properties. As far as non-real estate assets are concerned, she says she is a conservative, long-term investor.
"I buy quality stocks and bonds," she says. "My business manager is very knowledgeable about those things and has done very well. He makes the choices and I approve them. He uses a few stockbrokers, whom I talk to occasionally. I buy blue chips for the long run, except for two times when did something a little different. One of the investments worked and the other didn't. The one that worked was Krispy Kreme. The bad investment, which I made about a dozen years ago, was a penis implant company that went bankrupt. I thought it would be fabulous."
Roberts says she tends to watch over the investments she makes for her grandchildren more than anything else. "And, of course, they got killed in the recent stock market decline."
But, good grandmother that she is, Roberts is hard at work to replenish their college accounts. There's at least this current season of "Everybody Loves Raymond," of course, and a Hallmark Hall of Fame dramatic special in November in which Roberts plays a wealthy woman in the early stages of Alzheimer's. Other money-making possibilities include capitalizing on her association with the character of Marie Barone by licensing a line of women's clothing and selling frozen meatballs.
Having grown up poor in the Bronx and struggling during her early days as an actress, Roberts enjoys her wealth and fame - and still won't turn down a good job offer. "I've never lived beyond my means, ever. I haven't changed much in my style of life - except the stress is gone. And that's very nice."
Back to Doris: In the News
BPI Entertainment News Wire
All in the timing
By JENELLE RILEY, Back Stage West
August 13, 2003, Wednesday; Entertainment News
If "Seinfeld" was a show that made history for being about nothing, "Everybody Loves Raymond" is its kinder, gentler cousin -- a program that has won fans and accolades for making a big deal out of every little thing. Whether it's a battle of the wills between spouses over who will be first to move a suitcase, or a brother's laziness in planning his sibling's bachelor party, the cast of "Raymond" manages to find laughs in some of the most universal and unlikely of places. But unlike "Seinfeld," Raymond is also a show with a heart, filled with characters that genuinely care for one another and occasionally allow it to show. It's also apparent that "Raymond," unlike "Seinfeld," will never get the chance to get old. Star Ray Romano and creator/ executive producer Philip Rosenthal have claimed that next year will be the last for "Raymond."
"Raymond" also features one of the best ensembles on television, a group of actors whose work has become so fluid and reliable that four of the five cast members have already won Emmys for their roles, and the show received this year's Screen Actor's Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. When this year's Emmy nominees were announced recently, "Raymond" was the only sitcom whose entire cast received nominations. Two of the performers, Patricia Heaton and Doris Roberts, have won the award twice in their respective Lead and Supporting Actress categories.
Prior to "Raymond," Heaton was probably most recognized for her dramatic work on such programs as "thirtysomething" and "Party of Five," roles that never hinted at the life and originality she would bring to frustrated housewife Debra Barone. And as her nosy mother-in-law, Marie, Doris Roberts has found a whole new legion of viewers who remember her work on such programs as "Remington Steele" and "St. Elsewhere" (for which she won her first Emmy, in 1983). Both performers have taken roles that could have easily veered into familiar territory and instead created two of the most indelible and true women on television today.
Back Stage West: You've each won two Emmys for playing these roles. Are the Emmys starting to feel like old hat now?
Doris Roberts: Never. Not only that, if we win, we will be triple-crown winners.
Patricia Heaton: I'll be really happy if the show wins, because I think we deserve it, and we're an ensemble cast. And this is our last year, so it would be great.
BSW: Before "Raymond," neither of you was particularly known for comedy. What prepared you to do a sitcom?
Doris: I wasn't trained in comedy, but I think it's one of my talents. And what's good about that is it gets you work, but you have people who think you can't do anything other than comedy, and I fooled them this year, I think. I did a Hallmark movie ["Turning Homeward" ]where's there's not one laugh. I'm a woman who's very right and uptight but in the early stages of Alzheimer's. It's more like the kind of work I did on "St. Elsewhere." So I'm proud of that.
Patricia: I studied with a guy named William Esper; he teaches Meisner Technique at Rutgers University in New York and a private studio in Manhattan. And Meisner is a lot of improv. But even when the improv was about something serious, I tended to find humor in it; people would always end up laughing. So I think that was sort of my bent.
Ithink comedy is a little more of a craft; it's very musical. It has a lot to do with timing, you have to be able to hear the way something should be said. It really is like a musical score: There's only a few interpretations that really work. Whereas drama, I think, is more open and free to interpretation. You're more likely to have actors changing the words in a drama, and it doesn't make that much difference. If you change an if, an and, or a but in comedy, it can kill the joke.
Doris: It's a rhythm. If you break the rhythm, you're in trouble. We both have now worked for Neil Simon: I did "Last of the Red Hot Lovers" onstage, and Patty just did "The Goodbye Girl" for TV, and if you change the rhythm of it, you won't get the joke. It's very specific. And all those people I've worked for who have written comedy -- Terrence McNally, for instance -- same thing. I don't think rhythm can be taught. I saw a woman this morning in a coffee shop who was bopping around to the music, and she was so out of time I could not believe she could be that bad. She never hit one beat. And I thought that was hysterically funny.
BSW: Did you have to fight to get your part on "Raymond"? Doris: Over a hundred women read for it. I guess that's a fight. And it's interesting, I was actually directing a play, and I had no time. And my agent said, "You have not been up for anything, and we have an appointment for you Monday afternoon." I said, "I can't," and she said, "Yes, you can, we talked to your producer, and you have Monday off." It's not that I didn't want to do it; I was in over my head with the play I was directing.
BSW: Patricia, I once heard Ray Romano say that the reason you won the role was because you were the only actress who would kiss him at the audition.
Patricia: I'm sure that's true. No, Ray and I really hit it off. We were showing each other pictures of our kids. It's funny, I had a similar situation to Doris in that I had a babysitting problem, and I needed to get in and out of there. And sometimes -- and I think Doris would agree with this -- when you're distracted, you need to get going, you're free. You're not worried about what they think of you. It's like, Let's get down to business, do the work, and go home. And that's very much the way the show is. We work four days a week, so we work very quickly, we have very short lunches, there's not a lot of hanging around. An actor will expand the amount of time he needs to fill the amount of space you give him. If you give him five hours to do something, it will take five hours. If you give him an hour and a half, he can also get it done in an hour and a half. And I prefer that.
Doris: I also think we're all grown-ups. We come prepared, we're not wasting any time, and we all have lives to go back to. And we do our jobs expertly well, then go on and have our own life. And the best thing is, we not only like each other and that's not bull, we trust each other. And that's a very special thing.
BSW: When it came to developing these characters, did you have a lot of input with the writers?
Doris: They gave me freedom. I had no problem. I didn't add lines and I didn't change dialogue, but my contribution is my contribution, and I'm very pleased because I walk a very thin line. But women of that ilk, that age group, were never taught that they should do anything but get married at a very young age, have babies, take care of the family. Then when the kids go off, they feel that they have no purpose in life and are obsolete. So I felt sorry for them, I didn't find them unpleasant people. That's how I treat her. I have great compassion for those women. And, yes, they are intrusive and control freaks, but I've learned not to do that with my own children. She hasn't.
Patricia: We had like one rocky week the first year where, I'm not a writer, so I didn't know how to say, "This is who [Debra ]is," and I wasn't completely sure myself. But she was the one [character ]who I had to make up what her background was. Everybody else came with a family structure, a background, everything. It helped when they had actors come in as my parents, and we decided we were from Connecticut and were sort of opposite to the Barones, a more upscale family. It just really made it clear what her background was and where she was from and what a strange marriage match she had made for herself. I think maybe some people have questioned why someone like Debra may have married someone like Ray.
Doris: For the sex.
Patricia: Right, the sex we never have. But I think Debra has her own stuff she carries around with her. And if there was an opportunity, here or there, to deliver a line differently or something, the writers didn't know me or my character well. So it took a little while for them to hear my voice. We all were just sort of feeling around.
BSW: Can you tell me something that it might surprise people to know about you?
Patricia: Doris goes out four or five nights a week -- she's got her acting class, she goes to the opera, she goes to little theatrical productions, she goes to New York to see every play that's out there. And then she'll have her vacation in India. She has a passion and joie de vivre, and it keeps her young and healthy. And I don't think people know the amount of work she puts in for children affected by AIDS. She's single-handedly organized so many events and appears at these events and gets all of us to appear, which we're happy to do. So on top of all the great acting, she uses it in a smart way to do humanitarian work.
Doris: Patty's an extraordinary woman. She has four boys. Four! A husband, a household, all kinds of involvements in producing and reading plays and pitching and doing all that. How she handles all of that is beyond me.
Patricia: It's the alcohol.
Doris: Yes, she's anaesthetized. But seriously, I don't know how she does it. It's extraordinary. And those children are to eat with a spoon. They are fabulous, every one of them. To juggle that many things and do the work she does on that show, it's amazing.
Patricia: I have found myself attempting to do more things since I've started working with Doris. Yesterday I had my first surfing lesson. Because I see Doris with her grandkids, going to their laser-tag birthday party, and she's in there with the goggles on and the gun, and I thought, Of course, why shouldn't I take a surfing lesson? I've learned so much from her.
Back to Doris: In the News
From the Kansas City Star
Review
by AARON BARNHART
July 21, 2003, Monday METROPOLITAN EDITION
SECTION: FYI; Pg. D8 ;
Biography (7 p.m., 11 p.m. on A&E): As a crusader on behalf of
the vitality of senior citizens, Doris Roberts practices what she
preaches. As the title character's intrusive but well-meaning mother
in "Everybody Loves Raymond," the veteran actress has earned
critical raves and awards. This new episode traces Roberts' career,
which included many years on Broadway before she became a TV staple
in such series as "Angie" and "Remington Steele."
Back to Doris: In the News
From the The Daily News of Los Angeles
EVERYBODY VISITS DORIS;
ACTRESS KEEPS HER COMFORTABLE HOME AS INVITING AS FRESH-BAKED LASAGNA
By Barbara De Witt, Staff Writer
May 10, 2003 Saturday, Valley Edition;SECTION: U; Pg. U12
One step inside the door and the aroma of lasagna greets you like an old friend.
Yes, Doris Roberts really does believe lasagna can cure everything in life and love - and it's a trait she shares with Marie, the overbearing mom she plays on CBS' hit comedy series "Everybody Loves Raymond."
"It's a comfort food that lasts longer than chocolate and champagne, and is almost as good as a massage ... well, I'd get the massage first and then eat the lasagna," Roberts quips. You can read all about it in her new book, "Are You Hungry, Dear?" (St. Martin's Press; $24.95), that even includes her lasagna recipe. "The secret is using good sausage in the meatballs, as well as cheese, peas, mushrooms and hard-boiled eggs," Roberts confides. Lasagna aside, Roberts' lifestyle is completely different from that of the character she's played for seven seasons.
"Marie lives in a house that's got an early-'40s kitchen. Actually it's the original kitchen from 'All in the Family,' and she's got the sofa covered in plastic to protect it because her husband Frank wouldn't give her the money to change it ... and if Marie were to come to my house for coffee - or a glass of wine - she'd probably think my house was grand. She'd like my different rugs but wonder how I keep the sofa clean without the plastic," says Roberts.
In contrast to Marie's modest house, Roberts lives in a 5,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style home on the edge of the Valley in the Hollywood Hills. It was built in 1929 for '40s film-noir producer Hal Wallis and was once the home of James Dean. Now, it's Casa de Glade.
The decorative sign at the front door welcomes guests and serves as a reminder of Roberts' Cleo Award-winning role in a Glade air freshener commercial that earned her enough money to make the down payment on the home of her dreams.
The wise and wise-cracking 73-year-old actress who played on Broadway before hitting it big in TV series such as "Remington Steele" and "Angie" - and before beating out 100 other actors for the role of Marie in "Everybody Loves Raymond" - does not live in a home that looks like a furniture-store display. On the contrary, it's very lived-in, filled with mementos of a loving family and the exciting travels her career has afforded her.
In the living room, Roberts has kept the original dark-wood beams but added elegance with antique Oriental and Persian carpets in shades of mauve and dusty rose that match the velvet sofa and complement the pale yellow silk side chairs embroidered with flowers. "I like softness and light colors that make you feel good," she explains, adding that her love of collecting things made by hand is causing her to run out of room. Tables are laden with family photos, crystal animals and even a display of Buddhas in all shapes and sizes. And the artwork. It's everywhere, with something for every taste: religious icons, classic nudes and quaint farm scenes. Even a street scene painted by her mother hangs near the kitchen.
Also accenting the walls are numerous ornate sconces that were typical of the home's golden era, when hefty crystal chandeliers shone in every room and movie stars bathed in milk and rose petals.
"I don't have a chandelier over the bed, or take baths with rose petals in the water," she says with a chuckle. "However I do have a lilac scarf draped over a lamp in my bedroom." And she's also got a diva-esque chaise lounge and a stash of pricey Bruno Magli shoes. Since Roberts' kitchen doesn't have a table to gather 'round, everybody meets down in the cantina, located in the center of the house. It's something like a Chicago speakeasy, where you walk downstairs to a dark, secret piano bar - and a bit like a trip to Sardi's in New York, where the walls are covered with Broadway posters and celebrity photos.
Outside, as you step onto the terrace, you see a huge pool below and garden trails above. It's designed for family fun that includes pool parties and sleepovers, she says. After finishing her three-week coast-to-coast book tour, Roberts is finally back home, where she relaxes with her visiting son, Michael Cannata, who's also her personal manager. She describes him as loving and responsible like her TV son Raymond (played by Ray Romano), and equally willing to eat her lasagna.
"To be Raymond-esque is not a terrible thing. Just like him, I like to be liked," says Michael, who swears some of the show's story lines play like episodes in his own life. But when it comes to Mom dropping in unexpectedly, he laughs and says, "We live about 45 minutes away and we've got spies to let us know when she's on her way over." Doris Roberts will read from her book "Are You Hungry, Dear?" and sign copies at 2 p.m. May 17 at Barnes & Noble, The Grove, Los Angeles.
Her bio
STARS IN: CBS' Emmy-winning "Everyone Loves Raymond" sitcom as Raymond's mom, Marie Barone. (Season finale is May 19.)
NEWEST PROJECT: A book, "Are You Hungry, Dear?" (St. Martin's Press), an autobiography filled with hugs, humor and recipes.
STATS: Born Nov. 4, 1929, in St. Louis; raised in the Bronx, now lives in the Hollywood Hills.
FAMILY: Widow of novelist William Goyen; she has a son, Michael, and three grandchildren.
OTHER CREDITS: TV's "Remington Steele" and "Angie"; 57 feature films, 47 TV guest appearances and numerous stage productions.
AWARDS: Three Emmys; one Screen Actors Guild Award; one Cleo; one American Comedy Award; two Viewers for Quality Television awards; Outer Critics Award for her role in "Bad Habits" on Broadway.
GRAPHICS:
Photo:At home with Ray's mom. Actress Doris Roberts set up her Casa de Glade with guests in mind. In the brick and terra cotta tile kitchen, Doris Roberts has a chrome toaster and coffemaker engraved with "Everybody Loves Raymond," gifts from the TV show's executive producer, Phil Rosenthal.
Photos (3, color): Doris Roberts' living room, above, has a lived-in elegance with pink and mauve furnishings and an eclectic art collection from world travels. At right, the home opens onto spacious grounds with a pool for friends and family.
Photos (4, color): Roberts and her son, Michael, relax in the cantina, the room where everybody gathers when visiting Casa de Glade.
Photos (7, color): In the brick and terra cotta tile kitchen, above, Roberts has a chrome toaster and a coffeemaker engraved with "Everybody Loves Raymond" - gifts from the TV show's executive producer, Phil Rosenthal. Her other kitchen, inset at right, is where her character Marie holds court with TV son Raymond (Ray Romano) and husband Frank (Peter Boyle). The kitchen set was originally designed for "All in the Family." A table laden with family photos and mementos, left, adds to the loving look of Roberts' Hollywood Hills home.
Photos (8, color): Bienvenidos a la Casa de Glade
Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer
Back to Doris: In the News
From Newsday (New York)
Layering on Lasagna and Laughter
By Peter M. Gianotti. STAFF WRITER
May 7, 2003 Wednesday NASSAU EDITION; FOOD & DINING, Pg. B27
Everybody loves... Doris.
She's Doris Roberts, also known as Marie Barone, mother-of-all- mothers and sweet-tart seasoning in the recipe of TV's "Everybody Loves Raymond."
With her trademark line as its title, Roberts is the author of "Are You Hungry, Dear?" (St. Martin's Press, $24.95), a chatty, upbeat mix of memoir and cookbook, written with Danelle Morton, that's subtitled "Life, Laughs and Lasagna."
She serves the three in equal parts.
"I used to cook a lot," the Bronx-raised Roberts said in an interview. And the 40 recipes in the book are hers, with favorites ranging from lasagna and ricotta-stuffed meat loaf to cornbread and chili; avocado stuffed with spicy lobster salad to creme brulee with raspberry coulis.
Her meddlesome Marie has probably served more food to sitcom son Ray Romano than Julia Child has to all the baby boomers of PBS. To Roberts, "Are you hungry, dear?" is "a female version of asking 'Is there anything I can do for you?'" Both the actress and the character she plays see food as a way of expressing affection and support.
"If things had turned out differently in life, I might have been Marie," she said.
"In my time, all of us were taught to get married and have babies and take care of the family. But when the babies toddle and walk away, it's really saying 'goodbye.' No one told us that.
"When my son went off to school, I mourned him," she said. "You feel obsolete. Most women who don't have a career or job or interests to keep them going begin to settle. When you settle, you're waiting for death and losing out on life."
Her own hard times included the death of her second husband, William Goyen, a writer and an alcoholic who died of leukemia; the absence of her father, a philanderer; and being in a business where "daily, you're rejected." But, Roberts said, "I'm a survivor."
Roberts lives in Los Angeles now. In New York, she enjoys dining at Babbo and Orso; overseas, lots of places. And, sometimes, the main course can be more than food. On a visit to the Champagne region of France, Roberts observed the process of "riddling" bottles. It's a slight turn of the bottle that's a step in removing sediment from sparkling wine.
She saw it as a way of looking at things: changing a little bit at a time - "not telling people what to do. Seeing the goodness of those people" and their efforts. Roberts said, as if in counterpoint to Marie, that her own daughter- in-law "doesn't have to make tomato sauce the way I do."
Roberts is busy at 72 in a profession where 40 is considered aged. "Image-makers in America have airbrushed us out of society," she said, not seeking actors over 40 "unless it's for Depends or Viagra" ads.
She has been a voice against "ageism" and the rush of the young to Botox and tummy tucks. "I have a granddaughter. ... I don't want her to be afraid of getting older, that she might have a line in her face."
There is a "great scarcity of roles" for older performers, she said, noting that "100 actresses tried out for the part" of Marie. "They say, if you're not a hit by 40, you're finished. I didn't begin till I was 40."
Actually, her debut was in kindergarten. Roberts, raised by her Russian-Jewish grandparents and mother, had a single line, "I am Patrick Potato and this is my cousin, Mrs. Tomato." She remembers, "There was laughter," and a boost in self-esteem.
Her mother ran a public stenography business in the theater district, with play and musical scripts a mainstay. Actors regularly visited. "I wanted all of that," she writes.
Roberts eventually won Emmys for her acting as the iconic Marie, and another for her portrayal of a homeless woman on "St. Elsewhere." Her TV career has included appearances on "Naked City" and "The Defenders," and the role of secretary Mildred Krebs on "Remington Steele." Her filmography is as varied as "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" and "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."
Looking beyond Marie Barone, she'd like to perform in the Maria Callas-inspired play "Master Class." As with her other roles, she'll have some familiar and familial advice along the way. Roberts' son, Michael Cannata, is her manager.
Here are three of Doris Roberts' recipes.
My Lasagna
4 Italian sausages
1 pound fresh white button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup frozen peas
Butter
Salt, pepper, to taste
2 packages lasagna noodles
6 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
Meat sauce (recipe follows)
Meatballs
1 large container ricotta cheese
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg
1. In a saute pan, fry sausages until cooked through. When cool, slice and set aside. Saute mushrooms and peas in butter, salt and pepper until soft and mushrooms start to brown. Set aside.
2. Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain, separate, and set aside.
3. In a fairly deep baking dish, ladle a thin layer of sauce on the bottom, enough to keep the first layer of noodles from sticking. Line the dish horizontally with noodles, allowing a generous overhang to wrap the pasta after building the layers.
4. Spoon on more sauce and arrange another layer vertically, as if making a lattice pie crust. Scatter a layer of meatballs onto the noodles. Add sausage, egg and mushroom slices and peas on top of the meatballs. Drop generous dollops of ricotta, followed by a handful of shredded mozzarella and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers until dish is full, 3 substantial layers. Fold the horizontal noodles over the top of the dish. Finish with a layer of sauce and some Parmesan. Beat 1 egg vigorously and pour it over the finished lasagna. Tap dish on countertop to settle layers. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
My Meat Sauce
Olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons basil
1 tablespoon parsley
1 healthy pinch oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound ground beef
2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes with basil
1 can tomato puree
1. Cover the bottom of a pan with good olive oil.
2. When oil is warm enough to be fragrant, add garlic, onion, basil, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper. Saute till onion is golden.
3. Add the meat and cook until brown, breaking it apart with wooden spoon
4. Add the tomatoes, crushing whole tomatoes by hand. Cover and lower the heat, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes. Continue cooking uncovered for another 15 minutes. Makes about 5 cups.
My Stuffed Meat Loaf
2 pounds ground beef
2 eggs
1 medium onion, chopped
A couple of pinches of parsley
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper
8 ounces ricotta cheese
A couple of pinches of dried basil
1 (28-ounce) can of whole peeled tomatoes with basil
Bread crumbs
1. Mix first 6 ingredients, salt and pepper to taste, and mold in standard-size loaf pan.
2. Scoop out the center of the loaf.
3. In a separate bowl, mix cheese and basil, salt and pepper to taste, and fill in the hole with this mixture.
4. Replace scooped-out meat to make a hat covering the cheese mixture.
5. Top with tomatoes. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
6. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the top and bake another 15 minutes. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Back to Doris: In the News
From The Tribune Co. Publishes The Tampa Tribune; Tampa Tribune (Florida)
Roberts Rules
BY WALT BELCHER, wbelcher@tampatrib.com; Reporter Walt Belcher can be reached at (813) 259-7654.
April 28, 2003, Monday, FINAL EDITION; BAYLIFE, Pg. 1
Doris Roberts, whose "Everybody Loves Raymond" role is one of TV's most memorable, needs a list to keep track of all the moms she has played.
TAMPA - Doris Roberts jokes that it took her years of playing mothers before she got the role as "the mother of all mothers."
"Or as they say in "Shaft,' she's one bad mother," notes the actress, who plays Marie Barone on the CBS Monday night hit "Everybody Loves Raymond."
Cast seven years ago as the doting, buttinsky mom of sports columnist Ray Barone (Ray Romano), Roberts has turned Marie into one of television's most memorable characters. "She personifies everything we adore and dread about family," she writes in "Are You Hungry, Dear?" due in bookstores this week (St. Martin's Press, $24.95).
The book is a mix of biography, favorite meals, behind- the-scenes-at-"Raymond" stories and advice on "how to keep kickin' " no matter how old you are.
"I used to think I couldn't write home for money, and look at me now," she jokes in a recent telephone interview from a New York hotel, following a visit with Katie Couric on the "Today" show.
Love, Hunger And Guilt
Roberts says the title of her book comes from the question that Marie asks every man who enters her home.
It's a question that dates back to when Eve asked Adam if he wanted to nibble on an apple, she says.
"Love, hunger, shame and guilt - the four maternal food groups - are all in that apple," she says. "Eve hit on the universal language women use to communicate with men: food." So every chapter in her book ends with a favorite recipe, such as "My Lasagna," which is "best served with passive-aggressive questioning and subtle innuendo."
She says Marie's love is smothering. Her daughter-in-law, Debra (Patricia Heaton), just can't measure up. "I feel for her," Roberts says. "I know a lot about being a meddlesome mom because I've played that role in real life and on the stage and screen."
Roberts says she keeps a list of her mother roles - some on television, some in movies - in her purse.
Her "children" include: Billy Crystal ("Rabbit Test" and "My Giant"); Bette Midler ("The Rose"); Tony Danza ("Mamamia"); Donna Pescow ("Angie"); Robbie Benson ("California Girls"); Marlo Thomas ("It Happened One Christmas"); Charles Grodin ("The Heartbreak Kid"); Linda Lavin ("Alice"); Chevy Chase ("National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"); David Spade ("Dickie Roberts: Former Child Actor"); and she was Valerie Harper's mother-in-law ("Rhoda").
Roberts says "Raymond's" season finale May 19, in which Marie's sad-sack son, Robert (Brad Garrett), gets married, is one of the funniest episodes of the series.
Her real-life son, Michael, is her manager.
"I'm smarter than Marie because I know when to keep my mouth shut," says Roberts, 73.
"I walk a thin line playing Marie, and it's tough because she could be horrific. What she says would be mean, but she means well. She loves her boys, Ray and Robert, and wants only the best for them - but what she thinks is best is not what they want themselves.
"I love Marie because I understand her," Roberts says. "If things had turned out differently, I might have been Marie. Women of my age group were told by society to get married early and have babies. After the kids were grown, their usefulness was fulfilled and that was pretty much what they could expect from life."
Raised By Her Mom
Born in 1929 in St. Louis, Roberts grew up in the Bronx, N.Y., raised by her mother, Anne, and an extended family of aunts, uncles and grandparents. Roberts' father (whose name she will never say) abandoned the family. Her book recounts several episodes from her childhood.
As a young woman, she found work on the New York stage. By 1952, she was working in a new medium, television, in New York-based drama anthologies such as "Studio One." She also had guest roles on "Naked City," "Ben Casey" and "The Defenders." Her first film role was in "Something Wild" in 1961.
Other film roles followed, including "A Lovely Way to Die" and "No Way to Treat a Lady" in 1968; "Such Good Friends," "Little Murders" and "A New Leaf" in 1971; and "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" in 1974.
In 1979, Doris got her first co-starring series role with Pescow in "Angie." But more remember her as receptionist Mildred Krebs on "Remington Steele" (1983-87).
Roberts also appeared in numerous TV commercials. Several were very successful, including one for Glade Air Freshener that earned her enough to buy her house.
Roberts won her first of three Emmys for a guest role as a seriously ill homeless woman on "St. Elsewhere."
"People who only know me for "Raymond' are sometimes surprised that for much of my career, I have been a dramatic actress," she says.
She has appeared on more than 40 TV series and in more than 50 films and dozens of stage plays. But "Raymond" has brought her fame and fortune. She has won two supporting actress Emmys (1999 and 2001) and finally got that star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. "Here I am in my 70s, and I am having the most fun of my life," she says. "My book is full of little stories about how I overcame things and kept going and inspirational things I've learned in life."
She says it's important to be able "to accept loss." The book recounts her devotion to her husband, playwright William Goyen, who died in 1983 of leukemia.
"I tell people "don't give up' and "don't settle for less,' " she says. "Getting older has been a wonderful thing for my courage because you have nothing to lose by standing your ground."
GRAPHICS:
PHOTO (1, color) Debra (Patricia Heaton, right) is on the receiving end of a lot of criticism from her mother-in-law (Doris Roberts) on "Everybody Loves Raymond." The 73-year-old Roberts says she walks a thin line playing Marie.
PHOTO (2, Color): Roberts puts a favorite recipe at the end of each chapter of her new book.
PHOTO (1, b&w, Tribune file photo): Doris Roberts, right, is widely known for her role as Mildred Krebs on "Remington Steele" (1983-1987), starring Pierce Bronson and Stephanie Zimbalist.
Back to Doris: In the News
The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia)
Golden oldies put Thorpie in his place
By JENNY DILLON
April 3, 2003 Thursday; FEATURES-COLUMN- 7 DAYS; Pg. T16
His mouth hangs open so much you feel tempted to bring out the baby's bib in case he starts dribbling. She whines and shrieks so much that there's reasonable cause to bring against her a serious case of noise pollution.
So it must be the two most endearing old farts on television who take even repeats of Everybody Loves Raymond into the Top 10 most watched shows for the week ending Sunday, March 29.
The show even managed to nudge out of the higher reaches of the table most of the 2003 Australian Swimming Championships, which scarily suggested at times that Thorpie was losing his winning streak (as if).
Peter Doyle, who acts out the curmudgeonly Frank Barone as though he were born to it, in fact is more than just one of the most seasoned and professional actors around. He was also John Lennon's great mate, so much so that Lennon was his best man when he got married.
Doris Roberts is just as seasoned, although with perhaps a lot more spice. Her CV goes back to 1948, with her first notable TV performance being in a very old Ben Casey in 1962.
She can still be seen occasionally on daytime television when they pad out a long afternoon with an ancient repeat of Remington Steele.
There she was Mildred Kreps and she managed the office for Pierce Brosnan who, of course, has gone on to perform more stirring turns.
But what of his offsider Stephanie Zimbalist who played the original private eye babe, Laura Holt? Not much really, which is something Patricia Heaton, as Raymond's Debra, should think about.
Back to Doris: In the News
From Copley News Service
Doris Roberts
By Eirik Knutzen, Copley News Service
March 24, 2003 Monday; ENTERTAINMENT; TV CLOSE-UP
Last year, Doris Roberts picked up an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series as the meddlesome Marie Barone on "Everybody Loves Raymond" (Mon., 9-9:30 p.m., EST, CBS) - just like she did on Nov. 4, 2001, on her 71st birthday. The shiny trophies look fantastic on her mantelpiece next to the Emmy Award she earned 15 years ago for a dramatic guest shot as a bag lady on "St. Elsewhere" (1982-88).
By the time one factors in the other gold-plated statuettes - including a TV Guide Award, a Beautiful People Award and an American Comedy Award - displayed around her house, it becomes quite clear that this is not your standard-issue Hollywood actress. But despite the embarrassment of riches, the out-spoken, 72-year-old blonde, already famous as Mildred Krebs on "Remington Steele" (1982-87), can't get enough.
"That's because winning (awards) at my age gives hope to millions of people out there," she says. "They focus attention on me long enough to speak out about the terrible things that happen to people who are victims of ageism in this country. I'm proving that somebody my age can be vital and a strong survivor."
A few months ago, Roberts testified before a room crowded with gray-haired politicians at U.S. Sen. John Breaux's Special Committee on Ageism in Washington, D.C. "Gentlemen," she opened, "if you were in my business, you would be out of a job." She subsequently pointed out that 77 percent of America's finances are controlled by women who in 15 years will constitute the country's oldest population segment in history. And senior females are subjected to additional abuse because magazines fed by Madison Avenue are "airbrushing out of existence women over 45 unless they're selling Depends diapers."
The only way to combat the ugly situation is to make lots and lots of noise, according to Roberts.
"There are laws in this country against racism and sexism, but nothing protects us from ageism," she sputters. "To get around it, I want the word 'old' stricken from our vocabulary. I can accept being an older person, but not an old coot, old codger, old fart, over the hill or a faded person. None of us are.
"We happen to be older people, nothing more, nothing less," she continues defiantly.
"During the past 100 years or so, the average age of a Nobel Prize-winner was 65. Should we have told Picasso that he couldn't paint anymore once past the age of 50? Is it wise to take the tools away from great writers, doctors and plumbers? And that's why we need laws passed forbidding ageism. Why should we be denied the opportunity to use our intelligence, experience and ability?"
Of course, the fact remains that in a business where 90 percent of the union membership is unemployed at any one time, Roberts has never been out of work voluntarily for more that 15 minutes or so - mainly because she happens to be a brilliant comedic actress not afraid to protect her own interests.
"I'm nothing like my character in 'Raymond,' Marie, who is a composite of Ray Romano's mother and (executive producer) Phil Rosenthal's mom.
"But I know lots of women in Marie's age group who are," she continues. "Most of them were taught as teenagers to marry early, have babies, take care of the kids, the husband, the home. They did a great job, but were devastated when the kids grew up and moved away. Now they try to get back into their children's lives by telling them what to do and stuffing them with food. It's a life that really doesn't apply to me because I am a career woman, but I do have my quirks."
One of her many faults is a tendency to tell her son and manager, Michael Cannata, where and how to drive. And there was a time when the adoring grandmother of his three youngsters took out a great deal of frustration on her daughter-in-law, Jane.
"Before I had an attitude adjustment due to maturity and experience, my relationship with Jane wasn't very good because I'm judgmental," she says, with a tinge of regret. "I didn't think she ran the house as well as she should, the pasta sauce wasn't quite right, etc. All kinds of garbage." Only after channeling her life's experiences did Roberts see the whole canvas.
"Now I only see a wonderful woman, who is the mother of my grandchildren and loves my son," she says softly. "I see a warm, bright woman who teaches math and music, and an important contributor to the lives of many beyond her own children. I don't see that she isn't a good housekeeper; it's none of my business if her meat sauce is too dark. If I stick to the kitchen floor, it's her floor."
She tackles more joys and sorrows in her new memoirs, "Are You Hungry, Dear? Life, Laughs and Lasagna" (St. Martin's Press), including the huge void left by a father - later convicted and jailed for embezzlement - who abandoned his family when she was 6 months old.
She dedicated chapter 31 to him, titled "Ode to My Father," that reads: "The man who had the sperm with the tail that made the journey." Roberts met him by chance only one time, at the age of 11, on the corner of New York's 45th Street and Broadway in the company of her mother.
"My father's absence affected my life tremendously - starting with blaming myself for his departure," says Roberts, once widowed and once divorced. "I kept looking for big daddy in men, the one to sweep me off my feet and make everything perfect. It didn't work. I finally learned to be happy in my own skin and love my work. And I'm never retiring - I'm going out on a walker."
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Back to Doris: In the News
Copyright 2002 The Denver Post, All Rights Reserved
Ê
What makes 'Raymond's' mother run? Actress Doris Roberts will tell in autobiography
By David Wallace, Special to The Denver Post
October 27, 2002 Sunday 1ST EDITIOn; A SECTION; Pg. F-01
LOS ANGELES - To most of the world, the image of the successfulÊÊHollywood actor is someone young, thin and probably possessing the IQ of a poodle.
Enter Doris Roberts, who won her second Emmy (of three) last monthÊfor her role as Ray Romano's acerbic mother in the hit CBS sitcom 'Everybody Loves Raymond.' She's 71, shaped more like the potato she played at age 6 in a school play, and is bright as all get out.ÊNevertheless, she admits there is some truth in the common wisdom.
'Gentlemen,' she told Sen. John Breaux and his Special Committee on Ageism a couple of months ago, 'if you were in my business you would be out of a job.'
Many hope her secret for success and survival in Hollywood will be explained in her upcoming autobiography, 'Are You Hungry, Dear?,' to be published by St. Martin's Press next summer. She talked about the book and her life at her Hollywood Hills home - built in 1929 for the director Hal Wallis - that she bought in 1977.
'It's about the experiences I've had in life that have taught me something, that have changed me,' she said of her book that is subtitled 'Life, Laughs and Lasagna.' 'It's not an inspirational book, but one where I share what I've learned from life.'
Chapter titles include 'Stop Waiting for Daddy' and 'It's OK to Look Back, Just Don't Stare,' in which she describes how she coped with the 1983 death of her writer-husband William Goyen.
'You can either lie down and die with someone you've lost,' she said, 'or realize that after a time of mourning, which you must do, you must get on with your life. We had an apartment in New York that I completely changed. If the edges were square, I made them round. If something was blue, I made it red.'
Born in St. Louis but raised in Manhattan, Roberts attended public schools. Her mother owned a stenography firm in Times Square that typed scripts for Broadway plays, and she was able to read many of them and saw plenty of plays with her mom's free tickets. After attending New York University, she joined the Actors Studio, where her peers included Marilyn Monroe, Kim Stanley and Maureen Stapleton.
She debuted on Broadway in 1955 in William Saroyan's 'The Time of Your Life' and subsequently appeared on and off-Broadway in many successful productions, including 'Desk Set' (understudying Shirley Booth), 'The Death of Bessie Smith' and 'The Last of the Red Hot Lovers.'
Roberts first came to Hollywood in 1976 to join the 'Lily Tomlin Comedy Hour.' The show didn't last, but she was soon invited back to audition for the Bea Arthur-starring sitcom 'Maude.'
'We instantly went into this New York routine about a dressmaker we shared,' Roberts recalled, 'and had a great time. While Bea was driving me back to my motel, she told me that I had the job. I was thrilled. Then the producer came over and said, 'We've made a terrible mistake. You're too much like a little Bea Arthur.' So Rue McClanahan got the part.'
For many Hollywood aspirants, that might have been the end, but notÊfor Roberts, who was deluged with scripts. Over subsequent years, television appearances included starring roles on 'Remington Steele' and 'Angie,' and dozens of guest appearances on shows such as 'Rhoda,' 'St. Elsewhere (her first Emmy),' Barney Miller' and 'Murder, She Wrote,' plus appearances in such TV movies as 'The Diary of Anne Frank,' 'A Thousand Men and a Baby' and 'Ordinary Heroes.'
She also appeared in numerous films, including 'Barefoot in the Park,' 'Heartbreak Kid,' 'The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three' and 'The Rose.' According to Roberts, luck never entered into it.
'Over a hundred people read for my role in 'Raymond,'' she said. 'I came in late and tired from doing another show and didn't spend the kind of time I usually do on a script. So I just let my instincts go. My name was on that role. You could hate that character, but I make her funny. I'm blessed to be able to make people laugh.'
Somehow, despite the pressure of co-starring in one of television's top shows for seven seasons, Roberts has managed to find time for many charitable activities including Children Affected by AIDS and Puppies Behind Bars, which creates a sense of responsibility for prison inmates by providing them with pets to train as Seeing Eye dogs or companions in nursing homes.
Besides the Emmys, her talent has been recognized with dozens of other honors, including the 2001 TV Guide Award and the American Comedy Award in 2000. Most of these are housed behind glass in an informal bar tucked under the stairs in her house. Missing as yet, however, is any evidence of the award that means the most to her.
'A number of policemen and firemen who were at ground zero asked if they could take me to the site, so I took my grandchildren with me and we visited last June,' she said. 'They took us down into ground zero and told the children about it and where everything had been. It was very moving to be down there. Then, when we were finished, one of the policemen said 'We'd like to present you withÊsomething.'
'I figured it would be a pin or something like that. But then they gave me a flag that had been flying over ground zero on Sept. 11, and a piece of the first twin tower to fall. I cried and asked, 'Why are you giving this to me?' He said: 'We've been here since Sept. 11, looking for pieces of our friends. Then, we go home at night and turn on our television sets, and you make us laugh. You bring us back into life.''
Choking back her tears, Doris Roberts added quietly, 'Is there any award greater than that?'
David Wallace's latest popular history of Hollywood's golden age, "Hollywoodland," has just been published by St. Martin's Press.
GRAPHIC:
PHOTO: Doris Roberts PHOTO: CBS/ EMMichael Yarish Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts portray Frank and Marie Barone on the Monday night CBS comedy 'Everybody Loves Raymond.'
Back to Doris: In the News
Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony
SENATE SPECIAL AGING COMMITTEE:
IMAGE OF AGING IN MEDIA AND MARKETING
September 4, 2002 Wednesday
Statement of Doris Roberts, Emmy Award Winning Actress, "Everybody Loves Raymond", Los Angeles, California
Senate Special Aging Committee Image of Aging in Media and Marketing September 4, 2002
Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for inviting me to speak with you today about ageism, a subject about which I have strong opinions and believe I'm highly qualified to speak. I'm in my seventies, at the peak of my career, at the height of my earned income and tax contribution. When my grandchildren say I rock, they're not talking about a rocking chair.
Yet society considers me discard-able: my opinions irrelevant, my needs comical and my tastes not worth attention in the marketplace. My peers and I are portrayed as dependent, helpless, unproductive and demanding rather than deserving. In reality the majority of seniors are self-sufficient, middle-class consumers with more assets than most young couples and substantial time and talent to offer society. This is not just a sad situation, Mr. Chairman. This is a crime. I'm here to urge you to address the devastation, cost and loss that we as a nation suffer because of age discrimination.
Age discrimination negates the value of wisdom and experience, robs us of our dignity and denies us the chance to continue to grow and to flourish. We all know that medical advances have changed the length and quality of life for us today. We have not, however, changed our attitudes about aging or addressed the disabling myths that dis-empower us. I would like to have the adjective old as it is currently used deleted from our vocabulary and replaced with the word older. My contemporaries and I are denigrated as old coots, old fogeys, old codgers, geezers, alta kakas, hags and old timers.
In truth, the minute you are born, you are getting older and the later years can be some of life's most productive and creative. The average age of winners of the Nobel Prize is sixty-five. Frank Gehry designed Seattles hip new rock museum at age seventy. Georgia O Keefe was productive well into her eighties. Add to the list Hitchcock, Dickens, Bernstein, Fosse, Wright, Matissse, Picasso, and Einstein, just to mention a few people who produced some of their best work when they would be considered over the hill by current standards.
My profession, the entertainment business, is one of the worst perpetrators of this bigotry, particularly when it comes to women. When I was a young woman some of the most powerful and popular actresses were women past the age of forty. Women such as Joan Crawford, Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck continued to work, getting better and better at their craft as they got older and capable of playing more complex female characters. It cant be that executives are at a loss to find capable actresses. Many of my friends, talented actresses in the forty to sixty-year-old range, are forced to live on unemployment or welfare because of the scarcity of roles for women in that age bracket. A Screen Actors Guild employment survey showed that there are three times as many roles for women under forty as there are for women forty years old and older even though forty- two percent of Americans are older than forty.
When a sixty-year-old actor portrays a married man his wife is likely to be young enough to be his daughter. Think of Michael Douglas paired with Gwenyth Paltrow in the remake of Dial M for Murder or Sean Connery married to Catherine Zeta-Jones. This is why some of my spectacularly talented actress friends in their forties and fifties have been forced into the humiliating position of borrowing money from me to meet their mortgage payments and health insurance or begging me to see if there is even a tiny part for them on Everybody Loves Raymond.
It also explains why younger and younger actresses are visiting the plastic surgeon. Actresses in their twenties are getting Botox injections to prevent wrinkles from forming. Women start getting tummy tucks and facelifts in their thirties to forestall the day when the phone stops ringing. When a woman hits the age of forty Hollywood executives think shes too old.
I've been fortunate to be one of a handful of actresses who has continued to work throughout my career, but it has not been easy. When I was in my forties I heard of a great part on a new series called Remington Steele, but I wasn't considered for it because I was thought to be too old. I got a chance to read for it only because I was friendly with the casting director, and I was very persistent. I know many of my friends who have begged and pleaded for similar favors from producers they've worked with over the years and been turned away with that Hollywood euphemism: Were looking for a different demographic. Even though the part is described as appropriate for a woman in her forties, the casting director really wants someone in her thirties or a bit younger.
The roles for women my age frequently show seniors in insulting and degrading ways, cartoons of the elderly. I recently turned down a movie role where I was supposed to play a horny grandmother who spewed foul language, exposed herself and chased after young boys. Although I turned down the job, I know someone took that part. We actors have let go of our responsibility to see that we are portrayed realistically because we are desperate for any part in any production. There is a coalition to protect the way every other group is depicted in the media from Italians to Arabs to racial groups but no one protects the image of the elderly.
Hollywood clearly is clueless when it comes to understanding today's seniors, blind to the advances in medicine and self-care, and increases in personal income have made us a force to be reckoned with and a market to be exploited. Twenty years ago it was accurate to show a senior coming in for his check-up dragging his oxygen tank. Today it would be more appropriate to depict him carrying his tennis racket. But the youthful gatekeepers of the entertainment industry haven't caught up with these changes partially because they refuse to hire older writers who could craft story lines that reflect the reality of today seniors.
Twenty years ago older, experienced writers past the age of fifty were the most sought after in the industry, getting sixty percent of the jobs. Now that percentage has shrunk to nineteen percent. Just six months ago I developed a project with an Emmy award winning writer/producer I knew from my days on Remington Steele. When it came time to pitch the project to the studio, he refused to come with me. When they see my gray hair, were finished, he said. Why do they think that a man in his fifties doesn't have anything to say about love or youth or relationships? I know he has a lot to say if anyone would listen. I pitched a project to a cable network a few years back and got a very enthusiastic response. The executives wanted to take it directly into development. But once they found out that the director attached to the project was a woman in her fifties, they stopped returning my phone calls.
What these thirty-year-old executives don't realize is how impoverished their world is by focusing only on the limited perspective of youth. Yes there is energy and excitement and enthusiasm in the young, but there isn't any less among those in their senior years unless society is successful in its campaign to rob us of those qualities by diminishing us. We older people control seventy-seven percent of the country disposable income yet the entertainment industry has made age something to be feared, even though we are all going to become seniors if we are lucky. It is small comfort to know that those who have perpetrated ageism will some day face it themselves.
As General Douglas McArthur once wrote: Youth is not a time of life, its a state of mind. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by disserting their ideals. Years wrinkles the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair, these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust. Youre as young as your faith, as old as your doubt, as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear. So long as your heart receives messages of beauty, cheer, courage, grandeur and power from the earth, from man and from the infinite, so long you are young.
Mr. Chairman, I address you today as a person young in spirit, full of life and energy and eager to stay engaged in the world and fight ageism, the last bastion of bigotry. Its no different from sexism, racism or religious discrimination. It is a tyranny that suppresses us all at any stage and serves no one. As my late husband the writer William Goyen said, when we see infirm people, handicapped or older people turn away from them and we take away their light.
Popular culture has taken away our light. I'm here to urge you to bring it back. To quote General McArthur again: Whether seventy or seventeen, there is in every beings heart the love of wonder, the undaunted challenge of events and the childlike appetite for what's next and the joy and the game of life.
Back to Doris: In the News
Excerpt from CNN LARRY KING WEEKEND
Transcript # 072100CN.V42
July 21, 2002 Sunday
KING: Does -- all of you, the veterans here, for a success -- for a show to be successful, does the cast have to like each other? A baseball team could be successful and the shortstop and the second basemen sometimes don't speak.
BOYLE: It didn't have to be like a -- you have to like playing with each other. ROBERTS: This is very unusual.
BOYLE: The playing, and also the way we get along...
KING: It's unusual that everybody gets along?
ROBERTS: Absolutely. Not only gets along, but trusts each other, which is the most important point. Really, really.
KING: So you can be a hit without that?
ROBERTS: Well, I was on a show called "Remington Steele," where the other two didn't speak to each other.
GARRETT: Doris, Doris, we're on television.
ROBERTS: I know. By now, honey, that's a...
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: ... but there's a lot of that, because there's a lot of envy.
KING: So it can still work.
ROBERTS: It can still work, but not the way it does here. That's what's so wonderful about it. I'm dead serious about it. It's fun to go to work.
ROMANO: It's boring, though, because the tabloids...
GARRETT: There's nothing...
(CROSSTALK)
GARRETT: The tabloids don't know what to say. I mean, they say I threw Ray into the audience.
KING: That's the only thing we could find, my crack staff.
GARRETT: Yes.
KING: Find that "The National Enquirer" ran a story that you grabbed Ray for a scene, lifted him up, accidentally smashed his skull into an overhead mike, knocking him out cold.
ROMANO: I think that was one of your dreams.
(CROSSTALK) Back to Doris: In the News
Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)
Ê
July 21, 2002 Sunday; TV FOCUS; Focus Forum; Pg. 3
I saw scenes of places I would never have seen when I viewed "Remington Steele" on Pax. I don't know who originally made these movies, with Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, but they were so clean and entertaining.
Some scenes were shot in England, Ireland, the coast of France, Mexico, etc. I guess you know that Pax canceled the show at the end of June. I and many others are very sorry about this decision. It gave us so many hours of pleasure.
Can you tell me why Pax has made this decision? Also, what is the name of the actor who played Fred, the limo driver, on the show?
My daughter says that Pierce Brosnan would have made an excellent Clark Gable in "Gone with the Wind," the remake.
-- M.S.
"Remington Steele" was a NBC show that first aired on Oct. 1, 1982. It starred Pierce Brosnan as the title character and Stephanie Zimbalist as Laura Holt. The premise of the show went like this: Laura Holt had opened her on investigation agency only to find a woman's name on the door didn't bring in assignments. So she invented an imaginary boss -- Remington Steele -- and clients started calling. Soon clients became antsy to meet Steele. Luckily, a handsome man with a mysterious past came along and Holt recruited him to become Remington Steele. Doris Roberts ("Everybody Loves Raymond") joined the cast as Mildred Krebs in 1983. "Steele" was canceled in 1986, but that summer's big buzz was that Brosnan was to become the next actor to play James Bond in the movies. "Steele" reruns drew curious viewers over the summer, causing the network to bring the characters back in a couple of TV movies for the 1987 season. It was in these movies -- set overseas -- that Steele and Holt finally consummated their relationship. It was also the renewed interest in "Steele" and the resulting extra season that caused Brosnan to lose the James Bond role to Timothy Dalton, who starred in "The Living Daylights" in 1987 and "Licence to Kill" in 1989. But Brosnan bounced back and nabbed the role in 1995 for "GoldenEye," "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997) and "The World is Not Enough" (1999). His latest Bond film, "Die Another Day," is set for release in November. Now, back to your "Steele" questions: Who played Fred, the limo driver in some of the episodes? That was standup comic Blake Clark. Why did Pax cancel you favorite show? Channel 49 spokeswoman Lynn Long says it was a corporate decision -- not a local decision -- to replace the show with "Encounters With the Unexplained." But, don't give up. Pax retains the broadcast rights to the show and it could pop up again, since officially it is only on hiatus.
Back to Doris: In the News
The New York Post
STARR REPORT
BY: Michael Starr
June 22, 2001, Friday; All Editions; Pg. 108
Roberts' cutting 'Remington' remarks
Now it can be told: Life on the set of the'80s hit "Remington Steele" wasn't a bed of roses, according to "Steele" co-star Doris Roberts, who's now found fame on "Everybody Loves Raymond."
"What makes this job hard is when people don't talk to each other," Roberts says in the upcoming (June 30) issue of TV Guide when asked about "Steele," which co-starred Pierce Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist.
"Envy, narcissism and all those egos can poison a show quicker than anything else." Roberts also slams Hollywood for its reluctance to cast older actors in roles.
"We're the only country in the world that doesn't honor its elders," she says. "If you're over 40, you're obsolete." Back to Doris: In the News
Ventura County Star (California- Synicated in papers across the country through Scripps Howard)
Star Doris Roberts explains why 'Raymond' is a hit
By Dave Mason
December 24, 2000, Sunday; Life; Pg. TV04
LOS ANGELES -- Not only does everybody love Raymond; everyone knows his overprotective mom. At one time or another, she could be anyone's parent.
"I think she's probably like most mothers," said Doris Roberts, the Broadway, movie and TV veteran who plays Marie Barone, Raymond Barone's mother. "I don't think she has changed (during the series' run). She's a control freak, but everything she does is from love."
Brilliant acting by Roberts and others, strong writing and the best fighting in a sitcom have conspired to make "Everybody Loves Raymond" hilarious. Raymond and Debra Barone argue with the kind of logic that would drive Mr. Spock crazy.
No offense, Mr. Spock; fans love that logic. In the weekly Nielsen scorecard, the CBS sitcom often is among the five highest-rated series. "Raymond" is right behind shows such as "ER" and "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire."
"Everybody Loves Raymond," now in its fifth season, airs at 9 p.m. Mondays on Channel 2. This week, CBS is repeating two "Raymond" holiday episodes at 8:30 and 9 p.m. Christmas Day.
"I think it's based on reality; it's not false," Roberts said during a brief interview at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. She was there to accept a SHINE (Sexual Health in Entertainment) Award from the Media Project for the sitcom's episode "Sex Talk." "Raymond" treats sex and other subjects responsibly, but fear not, the show doesn't get too serious. "You can laugh at the family," Roberts said. "He (Raymond) is certainly one of us. He is everyone."
That's true. I wasn't a fan of "Everybody Loves Raymond" at first, but I gradually came to like the show because star/standup comedian Ray Romano does a great job of making Raymond Barone all too human. He has received two Emmy nominations for the role. On one hand, Raymond, a Long Island sportswriter, wants to make his wife Debra (Patricia Heaton) and children Ally, Geoffrey and Michael happy.
On the other hand, he'd rather play golf than take out the trash. (FYI: Real-life siblings Madylin, Sullivan and Sawyer Sweeten play the Barone kids.)
Just like Raymond, others and I have faced this little tug-of-war in our heads between doing our chores at home and procrastinating. Someday I'll write more about that.
The other characters also are easy to identify with. Debra is too responsible and works too hard. Raymond is trying to teach her to play and enjoy life; he's setting a good example. Earlier this year, I briefly met Heaton and told her I liked the show. The Broadway, off-Broadway and TV actress responded with a big smile. "You're not the only one," she said a few months before winning a well-deserved Emmy for best actress in a comedy. Before "Raymond," Heaton starred in CBS' "Women of the House" and had a recurring role on ABC's "thirtysomething."
In accepting her Emmy, Heaton praised Romano as a "stand-up comedian that I had never heard of who ended up becoming a wonderful actor who gives me notes on every move Imake."
Raymond's parents are realistic. Raymond's dad, Frank (Peter Boyle of "Young Frankenstein" and "Taxi Driver" fame), gives out advice, but it's not necessarily good advice.
And Marie can't accept the fact her sons have grown up and have their own lives. In some of the best stories, she's way too protective of Raymond's bachelor brother Robert, played brilliantly by Woodland Hills native Brad Garrett.
In a recent Christmas story, Raymond and Debra stopped arguing long enough to get Marie to leave their kitchen; they didn't need a spectator. "I'm just cooking," Marie said, all too innocently.
Hey, she means well.
Roberts, whose more than 20 movies have varied from "My Giant" to "The Rose," does a great job of making Marie memorable but not stereotypical. She has been nominated for an Emmy for "Everbody LovesRaymond"and "Remington Steele," and she won an Emmy for a guest-starring role on "St. Elsewhere." Today, she's still having fun on "Raymond." "Our trip to Italy was wonderful," Roberts said about this season's opening episode. "I fell in love with Italy."
She also enjoyed traveling when she played the secretary who wouldn't stay behind her desk on "Remington Steele." She was part of the action on the 1980s NBC private eye drama.
"I loved acting with Stephanie (Zimbalist) and Pierce (Brosnan)," Roberts said. "We went to Ireland, France and Mexico (for shoots); we had a great time.
"It was a lot of action; it was exhausting. We had 18-hour shoots; this was a one-camera, filmed drama," Roberts said.
Fortunately, the pace on a half-hour, multiple-camera sitcom is a lot easier.
Today, Zimbalist is acting on stage -- the Ventura stage. She starred in the Rubicon Theater Company's recent production of "Rainmaker" at the Laurel Theatre. And Brosnan is the best James Bond since Sean Connery.
Roberts, meanwhile, is happy with the family interaction of "Everybody Loves Raymond." After all, everybody loves his mom.
-- TV Star Editor Dave Mason's e-mail address is mason@insidevc.com.
Back to Doris: In the News
From People Magazine
Red Hot Mama; She acts square on Everybody Loves Raymond, but off-camera, Doris Roberts knows how to rock and roll
By Russell Smith, Alison Singh Gee in Los Angeles
June 5, 2000: TUBE; Pg. 69
As Marie Barone, Ray Romano's meddling mother on the CBS hit sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, Doris Roberts plays "a monster, a control freak, an intrusive person," she says. But behind the scenes the 74-year-old actress is more prankster than predator. In one scene, says Romano, "I come in the kitchen and say, 'Here's the pot you wanted, Ma,' and Doris said, 'Okay, here's yours,' and pulled out this huge bag of dark-green leaves that looked like marijuana."
It was actually oregano, but that didn't keep Romano and the rest of the company from breaking up--something they do a lot on Raymond's Burbank set. "I've never been with a cast that has this much affection for each other," marvels Roberts, who knows a thing or two about casts. Broadway roles in the '50s and '60s and guest appearances on such TV staples as All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore and St. Elsewhere led to a five-year run (1982 to '87) as gabby secretary Mildred Krebs on Remington Steele. Roberts's career is so rich, in fact, that Romano felt nervous about working with her when the show began in 1996. "But Doris has been very nice to me," he says. "She tells me how much I've improved."
She doesn't offer only acting advice. On-camera and off, Roberts (whose son Michael Cannata, 43, is her manager) clucks over her colleagues like a mother hen. "Once I had a bad cough, and she kept pushing these herbs on me," Romano recalls. She also brings cookies to the close-knit cast's Sunday-night movie parties.
But don't mistake Roberts for her nudgy alter ego. "Doris is really a party girl," says Peter Boyle, who plays her crabby onscreen hubby. Indeed, while Marie Barone tiptoes through life, Roberts (a Bruce Springsteen fan who was thrilled to meet the Boss after a recent concert) rarely slows down. "Mom is a bon vivant," says Cannata, recalling a cruise they took when he was a teen. "At one point, Mom, in a nice dress, jewelry and heels, climbed into a dumbwaiter that went down to the galley. When she came back up, she was carrying croissants and champagne. She was the hit of the party!"
Life hasn't always been so bubbly. Roberts's father (whom she declines to name) was also a bit of a bon vivant--at least when it came to women: He married seven times. He and Roberts's mother, Ann Meltzer, divorced soon after Doris was born, in St. Louis in 1925. Mother and daughter moved to New York City, where Roberts, then 11, first saw her dad, walking along Broadway. "Oh, my goodness, this is our little Doris May," he said to Ann and asked to take Doris to lunch. "I wanted to go with all my heart. I wanted him to pick me up in his arms and take me away," Roberts recalls. "But if I'd said yes, my mother would've died. So I told him no. And I never saw him again."
In New York, Roberts's mother married Bob Roberts, an employee at her script-typing business. He "competed with me for my mother's attention," says Roberts, who sought solace in the theater. She made her Broadway debut at 31 as Shirley Booth's understudy in 1956's Desk Set. "I've never been an ingenue," she says with a throaty laugh. "I have this deep voice and fat, chubby hands. I'm a character actress."
Roberts's first husband, attorney Michael Cannata, didn't approve of her career, and they divorced in 1962, when their son was 4 years old. She married novelist William Goyen a year later. "He was my lover, my friend, my mentor," she says. In 1976, as she began getting more TV work, the couple moved to Los Angeles, where they bought a Spanish-style hacienda once lived in by James Dean. Roberts dubbed it the Casa de Glade, for the air freshener ads that paid the mortgage.
Goyen's death in 1982 from leukemia devastated her. But, she says, "either you lie down with him or you go on." These days her life is filled with travel (she has been to China twice), three grandkids and work. She was directing a play at L.A.'s Skylight Theater in 1996, when her nuanced Raymond audition knocked 100 other actresses out of the running. "Doris hit that one out of the ballpark," says Raymond producer Phil Rosenthal. "She was so real and funny."
"I wish I'd known," she says. "I would have asked for more money."
--Russell Smith --Alison Singh Gee in Los Angeles
Back to Doris: In the News
From The Philadelphia Inquirer
VETERAN CHARACTER ACTRESS HAS REASONS TO LOVE 'RAYMOND'
By Doug Nye, KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
AUGUST 13, 1999 Friday SF EDITION: FEATURES MAGAZINE: ENTERTAINMENT; Pg. E14
Doris Roberts reminds you of the era when dozens of talented character actors populated the movie screen. You might not have known all their names, but you recognized their faces right away.
There are too few Doris Robertses around these days. Blame that on the current mentality in Hollywood.
"They seem intent on dismissing anyone over 55," Roberts says.
Roberts, though, is doing just fine as a regular on the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, playing Marie Barone, mother of Ray Barone (series star Ray Romano). She and husband Frank (Peter Boyle) are constantly involved in the lives of Ray, his wife, Debra (Patricia Heaton), and their children.
"I had the feeling we had something special when we did the original pilot," said Roberts. "For one thing, the writing was so smashingly good." The series was slow to build an audience during its first season, but then took off. By its third season, it was a solid top 25 performer, and it now looks forward to a lengthy life. Roberts knows why it took a while for Raymond to attract viewers. "That first season, they put us on Friday at 8:30 p.m.," Roberts said. "That's death row. I don't think CBS has had a hit there since Gomer Pyle.
"Les Moonves [in charge of CBS programming] liked the show and promised he would move us to a better spot as soon as it became available."
Moonves was true to his word. By season two, the show was a part of CBS's Monday night comedy lineup that also includes Cosby and The King of Queens. Of course, such a move would not have mattered if the chemistry wasn't there with the cast members.
"We like each other so much," Roberts said. "We'll often go to someone's house to do an extra rehearsal on the weekend."
Roberts had nothing but praise for former stand-up comedian Romano. "Some stand-up comics can't act, but Raymond can," Roberts said. "All of Raymond's instincts are pure and honest."
The St. Louis-born Roberts became stage-struck at an early age. Her mother owned a public stenographer company that did work for "all the plays." Because of that, Roberts received free tickets to dozens of shows.
Watching the likes of Shirley Booth, Gertrude Lawrence and Walter Huston perform live only fueled her interest in an acting career.
By the 1960s, she was appearing on stage herself. Some of her most memorable moments are the quirky ones, such as what happened while performing in Last of the Red Hot Lovers.
"I was on stage and the people in the first 10 rows began standing up and looking to my right. I thought I must be terrible. Then I looked over and there was a huge rat - and I mean huge - about the size of a dog running around."
Once the rat was disposed of, the play continued, and so did Roberts' career. She went to California at the invitation of Lily Tomlin to be in the pilot for Tomlin's Comedy Hour. The show never made it to television, but Roberts stayed and found plenty of work in features, TV movies and weekly series.
Roberts won an Emmy for her performance on an episode of St. Elsewhere during the 1982-83 TV season. From 1983 to 1987, she played feisty secretary Mildred Krebs on Remington Steele, a role that also earned her an Emmy nomination.
Despite all that experience gained from being an actress for nearly 40 years, Roberts still had to audition for the role of Marie.
"You have to be re-discovered every couple of years or so," she said.
Family hour. Eleven major advertisers who say there aren't enough wholesome television programs are putting their money behind a small effort to change things. The advertisers, including Procter & Gamble Co., General Motors, IBM and Sears, said they would pay to have writers develop family-friendly scripts for consideration by the WB network.
Heading into a season where broadcasters plan to push the envelope with bawdy language and sex references in an attempt to lure young viewers, the advertisers say there are fewer prime-time programs where they feel comfortable selling products.
"We want to encourage responsible entertainment, and the programming available between the hours of 8 and 10 p.m. is not as family-friendly as we would like it to be," said Kaki Hinton, director of advertising services at the drug- and consumer-products maker Warner-Lambert Co.
Ameritech, AT&T, Nationwide Insurance, Pfizer and Wendy's International are also contributing to the scripts.
The advertisers won't say how much money they are committing. But it generally costs between $60,000 and $90,000 to come up with a script, and they have agreed to bankroll at least eight.
The advertisers approached all of the broadcast networks with their concerns, but the WB came up with the most specific idea, said Andrea Alstrup, vice president of advertising at Johnson & Johnson.
The group says it wants a better balance of programming. The WB's highest-rated show is 7th Heaven, about a minister raising a family. But the network's stock in trade is teen-oriented, sex-obsessed dramas such as Dawson's Creek, whose success has encouraged other networks to go after young viewers.
* David Bauder of the Associated Press contributed to this report.
GRAPHIC:
PHOTO:Doris Roberts (right) stars on the CBS hit "Everybody Loves Raymond" with (from left) Peter Boyle, Patricia Heaton and Ray Romano. (MONTY BRINTON)
Back to Doris: In the News
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
Five women worth watching
BY: BOB LONGINO
October 23, 1998, Friday, CONSTITUTION EDITION; FEATURES; Pg. 01E
DORIS ROBERTS Her show: "Everybody Loves Raymond" (9 p.m. Mondays on CBS). Her character: Marie Barone, overbearing --- but infinitely funny --- mom of series star Ray Romano. Why we like her: She's part Ma Seinfeld and part Ma Costanza --- and better than both put together. Credits: Emmy nominee as Mildred Krebs for "Remington Steele."
Emmy winner for guest spot as a homeless woman on "St. Elsewhere." Films include "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation." A fact you might not know: On a trip to India in 1996, she was besieged by crowds, including the maharajah of Jaipur. Why? They recognized her as Mildred from "Remington Steele." On her character: "Sure, Marie is a control freak. Sure, she's a pain in the neck. Sure, she's all the negative things people think about her. But she comes to it all from a point of love."
Back to Doris: In the News
From St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
TV TURNS TO THE OLD PROSE
BY: JANIS D. FROELICH
April 19, 1991, Friday, City Edition: FLORIDIAN; Pg. 1D
ÊIn a new TV series slated for CBS this fall, Rocky Mountain police officers fight crime and corruption in Aspen, America's playground for the wealthy and beautiful. The lead character is a tough and feisty cop with an explosive temper who has no tolerance for the new money in town because it only means new crime.
Standard TV action-adventure material, except for one thing: The lead in Grey Guns is pushing retirement age.
CBS (or any of the networks) probably wouldn't have considered airing Grey Guns a decade ago, especially with the adjective "grey" in the title. But television, finally, is beginning to reflect the aging of America. Older characters and themes reflecting concerns of more mature Americans are becoming more and more pivotal to the plot, as they say in the TV biz.
Television has been criticized rightly for the way it portrays senior citizens. In the past, TV watchers were most likely given characters such as cranky Fred Sanford (Redd Fox) on Sanford and Son (NBC 1972-77). Sanford milked the most from the fact that he had some snow on his roof and couldn't get around as well as he used to. Or TV offered the old coot types, such as Zeb "Grandpa" Walton (Will Geer) on The Waltons (CBS 1972-81) and the grouchy grannies, Daisy Moses (Irene Ryan) on The Beverly Hillbillies (CBS 1962-71).
Today, the grandfather figure firing those Grey Guns is Wilford Brimley, the teddy bear actor who has made eating oatmeal and old age cuddly. Brimley is only 56, but he is usually cast as a retiree, as in the 1985 blockbuster movie Cocoon.
TV is becoming more realistic in its offering of programs with mature themes and actors, not because "it's the right thing to do," as Brimley might say. Instead of acting out of altruism, TV is giving more and more exposure to older persons and issues affecting their lives because of money.
Like the other networks, CBS heavily programs for the 18-49 age group because advertisers have traditionally wanted to reach younger audiences.
But look at the shows skewed toward an older audience that are on the Top 20 ratings list: CBS's 60 Minutes (No. 2), NBC's Empty Nest (tied for 9th place), NBC's Golden Girls (tied for 11th), CBS's Murder, She Wrote (13), NBC's Matlock (17) and NBC's In the Heat of the Night (18). (These are season-to-date ratings.)
The older demographic group has become the core strength of CBS's Sunday prime-time lineup. Thus, for fall 1991, Angela Lansbury returns in the high-rated Murder, She Wrote for all 22 episodes. Grey Guns is being developed to follow with Brimley and co-star Richard Farnsworth (The Grey Fox), and The Human Factor, featuring John Mahoney as a long-time (meaning older) physician, is also in the works for Sundays.
The Bureau of Census numbers about the "graying of America" are difficult to dismiss, even by youth-obsessed Hollywood.
During this decade, the number of people 50 and older will increase 76.7 percent, while the 18-39 age category shrinks by 10 percent. (By the year 2000, 13 percent of all Americans will be at least 65.) Add this to the fact that the over-50 group already controls 70 percent of the nation's financial assets and 50 percent of its discretionary income, and there's potential gold in programing and advertising directed at those golden years.
TV programers are recognizing that "old is okay," said Mary Cassata, associate professor of the Department of Communication, State University of New York in Buffalo.
Cassata, whose specialty is appraising how television serves the older segment of our population, said that she sees "positive and healthy signs" dating back about five years ago when TV began doing a better job.
Cassata cites such diverse fare as the prime-time soaps Dallas, Falcon Crest and Dynasty, all portraying older people in positions of power, to TV movies about the lives of Golda Meir and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Currently, she's studying the daytime soaps, where she said she sees "many healthy, vibrant, in-charge older persons. Some aren't so wholesome, but that's okay too," she said.
Her two favorite prime-time series are The Golden Girls and Empty Nest, both Saturday night NBC sitcoms. "I know there's criticism of Blanche's many affairs (Rue McClanahan on The Golden Girls). But older people still have sexual desires." Of Empty Nest, Cassata said she's pleased at the way the storyline has developed about Dr. Harry Weston (Richard Mulligan). "Not only is he displaying once a parent, always a parent traits in being involved in his daughters' lives, but he's come back to the mainstream, and is even dating, after the death of his wife."
What Cassata finds distasteful about television is the commercials directed at older people. "Why is every pitch for laxatives, denture adhesives or adult diapers? It's embarrassing, and does nothing but perpetuate the stereotype. I'd like to see clothes using older models on TV commercials."
Thula Hampton, a spokeswoman for the National Council on Senior Citizens, based in Washington, D.C., said there's progress, except for game shows. "You don't see older contestants. I guess the producers think that seniors can't jump up and down."
She added that "older persons aren't ready for the rocking chair" and is pleased that series such as Matlock, Murder, She Wrote and Golden Girls portray more accurate images.
"Golden Girls deals with a type of group housing that occurs across the country and that's one of our central issues," Hampton added.
Hampton also concurs that seniors are big spenders. In fact, older people (namely, grandparents) are "the biggest buyers of toys. So those who don't jump on the bandwagon and direct more commercials at the senior market, aren't very smart," she said.
A spokesman for the Gray Panthers said he's not worried about the advertisers because "they'll eventually understand where the dollar is." But the concern of Gary Christopherson is that television still doesn't "portray the tapestry of life that's out there in the real world."
He said that TV's seniors are "affluent, living in leisure villages, or dying in hospital beds. Where's the variety?"
The Gray Panthers organization, also based in Washington, D.C., works on multi-generational issues, Christopherson explained. "And public policies are influenced by what's reflected on television. So it does concern us very much that the medium gives us a strange picture. Seniors are alive and playing golf until the day they're on their death bed?"
Christopherson said he realizes that TV's portrayal of older people is evolving. "But I'm not convinced that it's going to be more accurate."
PBS has a three-part series that gives a spunky, realistic view of life in a Florida retirement village. The Sunset Gang aired its first two installments, with the final part tonight at 9, locally on WEDU-Ch. 3.
Producer Stan Wlodkowski (Longtime Companion) said that his partner, actor Linda Lavin (Alice), had pitched the concept to numerous networks, but there were no takers except for PBS.
"Linda sees The Sunset Gang as a possible TV series. There is an audience out there. We just need to find it. Hopefully, once people of all ages see that there's a lot of flavor in telling these stories, a network will pick up the idea."
The trio of stories, based on a book by Warren Adler, the author of the mega-hit Christmas 1989 divorce movie The War of the Roses, is anything but syrupy. "There's an element of controversy in each," Wlodkowski explained. "So hopefully The Sunset Gang will provoke some discussion."
The first of the series, Yiddish, is about two 45-year-old marriages breaking up when two people fall in love after meeting at an acting club at a retirement center. Is this unrealistic? "Not really," said Wlodkowski. "You should hear some of the outrageous stories we did when we filmed this series in Fort Lauderdale last summer."
What Wlodkowski thinks is unrealistic is the movie Cocoon, which many hailed as a break-through for retirees. "Cocoon is a cop-out with its fantasy ending. It says that it's better to be young than old. What we say in The Sunset Gang is there are plenty of challenges in growing old, as well as a dark side. Let's look at aging and not come up with any conventional views. Also, we don't treat retirees as cute. I think that's condescending."
One of the actors in the series, Doris Roberts, who plays the dumped wife Mimi in Yiddish, also hopes The Sunset Gang doesn't ride off into the sunset, but becomes a TV series.
Roberts, 59, is proud that the series is packed with senior talent and has much to say. Many will remember Roberts as Mildred Krebs on the detective drama, Remington Steele, which aired on NBC from 1982-87. She's hoping for another such series.
Roberts and Gloria DeHaven had worked on a pilot for ABC a few years ago, but the series never made the network's line-up. The two were San Diego detectives on The Ladies of Sunset Street. "Oh, we were very active," she said. "It was great fun."
"There's a sixtysomething TV series out there, waiting to be made," concluded producer Wlodkowski. "It's just a matter of when."
GRAPHIC:
Back to Doris: In the News
From United Press International
NBC dominates nominations for prime time Emmys
By VERNON SCOTT, UPI Hollywood Reporter
August 5, 1985, Monday, AM cycle: Domestic News
Four out of the five comedy series nominations went to NBC, with ''Cheers,'' ''The Cosby Show,'' ''Family Ties,'' and ''Night Court.'' CBS's ''Kate & Allie'' took the final nomination in the category.
Along with ''Miami Vice,'' the shows nominated for best drama series were ''Cagney & Lacey,'' ''Hill Street Blues,'' ''Murder She Wrote'' and ''St. Elsewhere.''
Three received posthumous nominations: Nicholas Colasanto, who played ''Coach'' Ernie Pantusso in the ''Cheers'' series for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series; Selma Diamond for her supporting role in ''Night Court,'' and Richard Burton as supporting actor in a limited series or special for his role in ''Ellis Island.''
A posthumous nomination went to Nicholas Colasanto, who played ''Coach'' Ernie Pantusso in the ''Cheers'' series for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series. Another went to Selma Diamond for her supporting role in ''Night Court.''
Nominated for outstanding lead actor in a dramatic series were William Daniels and Ed Flanders, ''St. Elsewhere;'' Don Johnson, ''Miami Vice;'' Tom Selleck, ''Magnum P.I.,'' and Daniel J. Travanti, ''Hill Steet Blues.''
Nominated for outstanding actress in a drama series were co-stars Tine Daly and Sharon Gless, ''Cagney and Lacey;'' Debbie Allen, ''Fame;'' Veronica Hamel ''Hill Street Blues,'' and Angela Lansbury, ''Murder, She Wrote.''
Nominated for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series were Harry Anderson, ''Night Court;'' Ted Danson, ''Cheers''; Robert Guillaume, ''Benson;'' Bob Newhart ''Newhart,'' and Jack Warden ''Crazy Like a Fox.''
Bill Cosby was not nominated, at his own request, believing that actors should not compete among each other.
Nominated for best actress in a comedy series was Phylicia Ayers-Allen, ''The Cosby Show;'' Jane Curtin and Susan Saint James, ''Kate & Allie;'' Shelley Long, ''Cheers,'' and Isabel Sanford, ''The Jeffersons.''
ABC will telecast the awards ceremony from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium Sept. 22. Nominations for best variety, music or comedy program went to two series, ''Late Night with David Letterman,'' and ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,'' and three specials, ''The American Films Institute Salute to Gene Kelly,'' ''Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music'' and ''Motown Returns to the Apollo.''
The television academy nominations for best drama or comedy special were''The Burning Bed'' ''Do You Remember Love,'' ''Fatal Vision,'' ''Heartsounds'' and ''Wallenberg: A Heroes' Story.''
Other nominees for best supporting acting in comedy series were Michael J. Fox, ''Family Ties;'' John Larroquette, ''Night Court;'' John Ratzenberger and George Wendt, ''Cheers.''
Nother nominees for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series were Julia Duffy, ''Newhart;'' Marla Gibbs, ''The Jeffersons;'' Rhea Pearlman, ''Cheers,'' and Inga Swenson, ''Benson.''
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series -- Harry Anderson, Judge Harry Stone in ''Night Court,'' NBC; Ted Danson, Sam Malone in ''Cheers,'' NBC; Robert Guillaume, Benson Dubois in ''Benson,'' ABC; Bob Newhart, Dick Louden in ''Newhart,'' CBS; Jack Warden, Harry Fox in ''Crazy Like a Fox,'' CBS.
Lead Actor in a Drama Series -- William Daniels, Dr. Mark Craig in ''St. Elsewhere,'' NBC; Ed Flanders, Dr. Donald Westphall in ''St. Elsewhere,'' NBC; Don Johnson, Detective Sonny Crockett in ''Miami Vice,'' NBC; Tom Selleck, Thomas Magnum in ''Magnum, P.I.,'' CBS; Daniel J. Travanti, Capt. Frank Furillo in ''Hill Street Blues,'' NBC.
Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Special -- Richard Chamberlain, Raoul Wallenberg in ''Wallenberg: A Hero's Story,'' NBC; Richard Crenna, Richard Beck in ''The Rape of Richard Beck,'' ABC; James Garner, Dr. Harold Lear in ''Heartsounds,'' ABC; Richard Kiley, George Hollis in ''Do You Remember Love?'' CBS; George C. Scott, Ebenezer Scrooge in ''A Christmas Carol,'' CBS.
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series -- Phylicia Ayers-Allen, Clair Huxtable in ''The Cosby Show,'' NBC; Jane Curtin, Allie Lowell in ''Kate & Allie,'' CBS; Shelley Long, Diane Chambers in ''Cheers,'' NBC; Susan Saint James, Katie McArdle in ''Kate & Allie,'' CBS; Isabel Sanford, Louise Jefferson in ''The Jeffersons,'' CBS.
Lead Actress in a Drama Series -- Debbie Allen, Lydia Grant in ''Fame,'' syndicated; Tyne Daly, Mary Beth Lacey in ''Cagney & Lacey,'' CBS; Sharon Gless, Chris Cagney in ''Cagney & Lacey,'' CBS; Veronica Hamel, Joyce Davenport in ''Hill Street Blues,'' NBC; Angela Lansbury, Jessica Fletcher in ''Murder, She Wrote,'' CBS.
Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Special -- Jane Alexander, Hedda Hopper in ''Malice in Wonderland,'' CBS; Peggy Ashcroft, Barbie Batchelor in ''The Jewel in the Crown: Masterpiece Theatre,'' PBS; Farrah Fawcett, Francine Hughes in ''The Burning Bed,'' NBC; Mary Tyler Moore, Martha Lear in ''Heartsounds,'' ABC; Joanne Woodward, Barbara Wyatt-Hollis in ''Do You Remember Love?'' CBS.
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series -- Nicholas Colasanto, Coach Ernie Pantusso in ''Cheers,'' NBC; Michael J. Fox, Alex Keaton in ''Family Ties,'' NBC; John Larroquette, Dan Fielding in ''Night Court,'' NBC; John Ratzenberger, Cliff the mailman in ''Cheers,'' NBC; George Wendt, Norm Peterson in ''Cheers,'' NBC.
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series -- Ed Begley Jr., Dr. Victor Ehrlich in St. Elsewhere,'' NBC; John Hillerman, Jonathan Higgins in ''Magnum, P.I.,'' CBS; John Karlen, Harvey Lacey in ''Cagney & Lacey,'' CBS; Edward James Olmos, Lt. Martin Castillo in ''Miami Vice,'' NBC; Bruce Seitz, Detective Mick Belker, ''Hill Street Blues,'' NBC.
Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Special -- Richard Burton, Phipps Ogdon in ''Ellis Island,'' CBS; Sir John Gielgud, Theodore Woodward in ''Romance on the Orient Express,'' NBC; Karl Malden, Freddy Kassab in ''Fatal Vision,'' NBC; Richard Masur, Aryon Greydanus in ''The Burning Bed,'' NBC; Martin Sheen, Chet Dettlinger in ''The Atlanta Child Murders,'' CBS; Rip Torn, Lewis Slaton in ''The Atlanta Child Murders,'' CBS.
Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series -- Selma Diamond, Selma Hacker in ''Night Court,'' NBC; Julia Duffy, Stephanie Vanderkellen in ''Newhart,'' CBS; Marla Gibbs, Florence Johnston in ''The Jeffersons,'' CBS; Rhea Perlman, Carla Tortelli in ''Cheers,'' NBC; Inga Swenson, Gretchen Kraus in ''Benson,'' ABC.
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series -- Barbara Bosson, Fay Furillo in ''Hill Street Blues,'' NBC; Christina Pickles, Nurse Helen Rosenthal in ''St. Elsewhere,'' NBC; Doris Roberts, Mildred Krebs in ''Remington Steele,'' NBC; Madge Sinclair, Ernestine Shoop in ''Trapper John, M.D.,'' CBS; Betty Thomas, Lucille Bates in ''Hill Street Blues,'' NBC.
Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Special -- Penny Fuller, Mae in ''Cat On a Hot Tin Roof: American Playhouse,'' PBS; Ann Jillian, Nellie Byfield in ''Ellis Island,'' CBS; Deborah Kerr, Emma Harte in ''Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Woman of Substance,'' OPT; Kim Stanley, Big Mama in ''Cat On a Hot Tin Roof: American Playhouse,'' PBS; Alfre Woodard, Claudie Sills in Wonderworks: Words By Heart,'' PBS.
Individiaul Performance in a Variety or Music Program -- Billy Crystal, ''Saturday Night Live,'' NBC; George Hearn, Sweeney Todd in ''Sweeney Todd: Great Performances,'' PBS; Gregory Hines, ''Motown Returns to the Apollo,'' NBC; Patti La Belle, ''Motown Returns to the Apollo,'' NBC; Angela Lansbury, Mrs. Lovett in ''Sweeney Todd: Great Performances,'' PBS.
Back to Doris: In the News
From The Washington Post
DORIS ROBERTS
BY MICHAEL E. HILL
June 2, 1985, Sunday, Final Edition: TV Tab; Pg. 9
For Doris Roberts these are the days of smiles ahead and tears behind.
She is touring the country happily talking about ''Had I a Hundred Mouths," the last book written by her husband of 20 years, William Goyen, who died a year and a half ago. But the conversation turns quickly to her work on "Remington Steele," ticketed for renewal next season with Roberts aboard in an expanding role.
"I'm hoping the book will sell," she said. "I'm trying to get him to another audience. Since this is a book of short stories it may be easier to sell to another public grouping," she said of the volume of short stories. Goyen's previous work, Arcadio, was a novel about a hermaphrodite.
"One of the joys I have is that because of th fame of 'Remington Steele' . . . I have access to the media with a book of literature most serious writers would not enjoy . . . At least I can perpetuate his legacy . . . In a world of copycats and clones, to be an original is extraordinary."
"Steele" has done wonders for Roberts herself. Before she became a member of the permanent cast in the '83-'84 season she had to carry her American Express card at all times. Her face was familiar, but only the closest watchers of TV and movies would match it to the name in the credits.
Roberts has a string of stage roles going back to her Broadway debut in "The Time of Your Life" in 1955, with other credits including "The Desk Set," "The American Dream," "The Death of Bessie Smith" and "The Last of the Red Hot Lovers." There have been film appearances in movies such as "Barefoot in the Park," "The Heartbreak Kid," and "The Rose." Television parts have included roles in "Ruby and Oswald" and "It Happened One Christmas." She won an Emmy for her portrayal of a bag lady in the "Cora and Arnie" episode of "St. Elsewhere," giving Roberts her most imposing presence on TV. That was before the part of Mildred Krebs in "Remington Steele" came along. Or rather, before she went after it.
"The part originally was to be for a woman 10 years younger," said Roberts, who'll be 55 this year. "I heard about it and asked to see it. I had my agent call and ask if I could read for it."
Actresses of Roberts' standing don't read for parts. The producer's response was, we know what she can do, but she's not right for the part. She went and read for it anyway and by her own estimate "knocked them out of their socks."
Roberts will go into her third season with an expanded role from her original casting as a secretary/office manager. She and Stephanie Zimbalist will depart for England in search of Pierce Brosnan. That's where he was heading when last seen this past season getting into the detective firm's limo.
"This year Mildred won't be chained to her desk," said Roberts. "She'll be out and about, will be a confidante of Laura and Remington and will get to know his mysterious background."
Roberts' work in "Remington Steele" is balanced with other projects she plans for the show's hiatus. She was recently preparing to do "A Letter to Three Wives" and was "shortening my nails, removing polish and wearing the wig I'll wear for my part. I'm already externalizing the part. I love doing something different," she said with delight. "You know, a couple of years ago if you were 50 years of age you were finished," said Roberts. "Now there are 50-year-old women everywhere in show business -- Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Collins . . .Doris Roberts."
Back to Doris: In the News
United Press International
Obituaries
September 1, 1983, Thursday, PM cycle: Domestic News
A memorial service was planned Thursday for writer and lecturer William Goyen, whose work drew admiration from his colleagues but achieved relatively little commercial success.
Goyen, 68, died Monday of chronic leukemia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, it was disclosed Wednesday. The memorial service was to take place at the Westwood Village Mortuary.
Goyen had just completed seven years of work on his novel ''Arcadio''. The former Columbia and Princeton teacher set many of his surrealist novels, poems and plays in his native Texas.
Goyen married actress Doris Roberts in 1963. Miss Roberts, who appears in the television series ''Remington Steele,'' was at his bedside when he died.