Doris Roberts

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Doris Roberts
Birth name	Doris May Roberts
Born	November 4, 1930 St. Louis, Missouri
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series 1983 St. Elsewhere Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005 Everybody Loves Raymond

Doris May Roberts (born November 4, 1930 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an Emmy Award-winning American actress.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 TV and Film Career 1.3 Broadway career 1.4 Personal life 2 Emmy Awards 3 Selected filmography 4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Roberts' father deserted the family when Roberts was a child, and her mother, Ann Meltzer, raised Doris with the help of her Jewish-American family in The Bronx, New York. Roberts has never revealed her father's name.

[edit] TV and Film Career

Her career began in 1952 with a role on the TV series Studio One. She also appeared in shows such as The Naked City (1952), Ben Casey (1963), and The Defenders (1962 - 1963). In the 1950s, Roberts began appearing on Broadway. In 1961, she made her film debut in Something Wild (1961) starring Carroll Baker, and in 1968, she appeared in the films A Lovely Way to Die and No Way to Treat a Lady, co-starring Rod Steiger, George Segal, Eileen Heckart and Lee Remick.

She appeared in the 1970 cult film The Honeymoon Killers starring Shirley Stoler and Tony Lo Bianco. In 1971, Roberts appeared in three films, Otto Preminger's Such Good Friends, Alan Arkin's Little Murders, and A New Leaf starring Walter Matthau and Elaine May. She appeared with Walter Matthau again in 1974's The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. In 1978, she starred in a film about John F. Kennedy's assassination, Ruby and Oswald, in which she played Ruby's sister, Eva. She also appeared very briefly in The Rose, as the mother of the title character (played by Bette Midler).

Since then, she was usually cast in the role of a Mother, or of a motherly figure. An example of this was she played newsstand owner, Theresa Falco, mother of Donna Pescow in the short-lived comedy, Angie. After Angie was cancelled, she appeared as "Mildred Krebs" in the series, Remington Steele, which starred Pierce Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist. The series lasted several seasons. After the show's cancellation, she starred in the TV movie remake of If It's Tuesday, It Still Must Be Belgium (1987) and the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) with Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo. She also appeared on Alice playing Alice Hyatt's mother, Mona Spivak and as Danny Tanner's mother on Full House.

Roberts is perhaps best known for her work as the nosy, insufferable Italian mother/cook, Marie Barone, in the long-running American TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. She beat out 100 other actresses for the role ([1]). For her work on the series, she has been nominated for seven Emmy Awards (and won four times) for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

She also won an Emmy for a guest role on St. Elsewhere as a homeless woman, and was nominated once for Remington Steele. She was also nominated for appearances on the ABC sitcom Perfect Strangers and a PBS special called The Sunset Gang. In 2003, Roberts received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2006, she starred in the Adam Sandler-produced comedy Grandma's Boy alongside Shirley Jones and Shirley Knight.

[edit] Broadway career

Roberts has appeared in numerous Broadway shows including the original productions of The Desk Set, with Shirley Booth; and Neil Simon's Last of the Red Hot Lovers, with James Coco and Linda Lavin.

In 1963-1964, she appeared in June Havoc's Marathon '33 starring Julie Harris.

[edit] Personal life

Roberts' 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. Her second husband was writer William Goyen, reputedly a bisexual (according to author Boze Hadleigh). She was married to Goyen from 1963 until his death from leukemia on August 30, 1983 in Los Angeles, California ([2]).

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.

In Summer 2006, she visited Alaska through the Royal Celebrity Tour on the cruise ship "Summit". Locations on the tour included Fairbanks, Denali, and Seward.

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

[edit] 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)

[edit] Selected filmography

• Our House (2006, TV)
• Grandma's Boy (2006)
• Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003)
• All Over the Guy (2001)
• A Mom for Christmas (1990)
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
• Simple Justice (1989)
• Number One With a Bullet (1987)
• Love in the Present Tense (1986)
• Ordinary Heroes (1985)
• Angie (1979-1980)
• Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976-1978)
• Hester Street (1975)
• The Honeymoon Killers (1970)
• No Way to Treat a Lady (1968)

[edit] External links

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