TV, film and Broadway actress Doris Roberts, best known as Ray Romano’s (Raymond Barone) mother Marie on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, has died. Her son, Michael Cannata, says Roberts died in her sleep of natural causes Sunday night. She was 90.
A St. Louis native, Roberts began her acting career in the early 1950s on TV’s Studio One, going on to appear in such series as The Naked City, Way Out, Ben Casey and The Defenders. She later segued to film in the 1960s and ’70s in titles such as A Lovely Way to Die, No Way to Treat a Lady, The Honeymoon Killers, Such Good Friends, Little Murders and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.
However it was for her role as Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond, which aired on CBS from 1996-2005, that she is best remembered. The role earned her seven Emmy nominations and four wins for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She was also nominated for the SAG Award three times and received the award for Best Ensemble.
She also had a guest role on All in the Family, played Theresa Falco on Angie and Mildred Krebs on Remington Steele, for which she was Emmy nominated. She also won an Emmy for a guest appearance on St. Elsewhere and was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for the American Playhouse production of The Sunset Gang. She also guest starred on Desperate Housewives, The King of Queens, The Middle, Grey’s Anatomy, Law & Order: SVU, among many other hit series.
Roberts starred in the TV movie remake of If It’s Tuesday, It Still Must Be Belgium (1987) and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989). She also appeared on Alice, Barney Miller and on Full House as Danny Tanner’s mother Claire. Her other roles include Flo Flotsky on four episodes of Soap, faith healer Dorelda Doremus on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and lonely Aunt Edna on Step by Step. She appeared just this year in a Doritos Super Bowl commercial.
Roberts stage career included numerous Broadway shows, including The Desk Set, Neil Simon’s The Last of the Red Hot Lovers and Terrence McNally’s Bad Habits. She last starred in McNally’s Unusual Acts of Devotion at the LaJolla Playhouse in June 2009.
Here’s a clip of Roberts in the Doritos Super Bowl commercial:
Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.