Doris Roberts

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Doris May Roberts (b. November 4, 1930 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an Emmy Award-winning American actress of Russian Jewish descent.

Roberts' father deserted the family when Roberts was a child, and her mother, Ann Melzer, raised Doris on her own in Bronx, New York. Roberts has never revealed her father's name and essentially has distanced herself from him and from that part of her life.

Her career began in 1952 with a guest role on the TV series Studio One.

She also appeared in guest roles on four other TV series, including The Naked City (1952), Ben Casey (1963), and The Defenders (1962 - 1963).

In the 1950s, she began appearing on Broadway. In 1961, she began her film career in Something Wild, and, in 1968 she appeared in the films A Lovely Way to Die and No Way to Treat a Lady, a film co-starring Rod Steiger, George Segal, Eileen Heckart and Lee Remick.

In 1971, she starred in three films, Such Good Friends, Little Murders, and A New Leaf with Walter Matthau and Elaine May.

In 1978, she starred in a film about John F. Kennedy's assassination, Ruby and Oswald; she played Ruby's sister, Eva. She also appeared briefly in The Rose, as the mother of the title character (played by Bette Midler).

She is best known for her work as the nosy, insufferable Italian mother/cook, Marie Barone, in the long-running American TV series Everybody Loves Raymond. She beat out 100 other actresses for the role.

She also appeared as "Mildred Krebs" in the series, Remington Steele, which starred Pierce Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist. After the show's cancellation, she starred in the TV movie If It's Tuesday, It Still Must Be Belgium (1987) and the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) with Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo.

She has been nominated for nine Emmy awards and won from 2001 to 2005 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Everybody Loves Raymond, and was also nominated in 1999 and 2000.

She also won an Emmy for a guest role on St. Elsewhere as a homeless woman, and was nominated for Remington Steele.

Her first husband was Michael Cannata; they divorced in 1962. Their son, Michael Cannata, Jr. is Roberts' manager, and is the father of her three grandchildren: Kelsey, Andrew, and Devon.

Roberts' second husband was writer William Goyen, reputedly a bisexual (according to Boze Hadleigh). She was married to Goyen from 1963 until his death from leukemia on August 30, 1983 in Los Angeles, California.

Goyen was a novelist, short story writer, and dramatist, and his were translated into several foreign languages. Goyen taught writing and literature at the New School for Social Research in New York from 1955 - 1960, and at Columbia University from 1964 - 1965.

He worked as a reviewer for the New York Times from 1950 until 1965, and was a senior editor for McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. He also received several ASCAP awards for his musical compositions.

In 2003, Roberts received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

On September 4, 2002, she testified before a U.S. Congressional panel that age discrimination is prevalent in Hollywood, advocating that such discrimination be treated on par with biases against race and gender.

As an avid cook, she wrote a book in 2005 titled Are You Hungry, Dear? Life, Laughs, and Lasagna, written with Danelle Morton and published by St Martin's Press. She says of her book, "It’s about sharing things I’ve learned that have changed my life."

An animal lover and advocate, she has worked with a group called "Puppies Behind Bars" that works with inmates in training guide dogs and assistance dogs for the physically disabled and elderly, as well as dogs trained in explosives detection to be used by the ATF and other law enforcement agencies. She also is active with the Children with AIDS Foundation, of which she has served as the chairwoman.

She currently lives alone in Los Angeles in a house once owned by screen legend James Dean.

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Emmy Awards

1983 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series - "St. Elsewhere" - (Won)
1985 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series - "Remington Steele" - (Nominated)
1989 - Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series - "Perfect Strangers" - (Nominated)
1991 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Special - "The Sunset Gang" - (Nominated)
1999 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - "Everybody Loves Raymond" - (Nominated)
2000 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - "Everybody Loves Raymond" - (Nominated)
2001 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - "Everybody Loves Raymond" - (Won)
2002 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - "Everybody Loves Raymond" - (Won)
2003 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - "Everybody Loves Raymond" - (Won)
2004 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - "Everybody Loves Raymond" - (Nominated)
2005 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - "Everybody Loves Raymond" - (Won)

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