I had no idea she was so old. I thought she was in her 60s-- early 70s at the oldest. Was she mayor’s wife in the original Taking of Pelham 123? RIP, Doris.
She was in her '60’s when she appeared in *Remington Steele *during the 1980’s, and in her '50’s when I first got to know her in the series Angie, where she was already playing the mother of a 25-year old.
She did appear in *The Taking of Pelham One Two Three *(she was already 49 then).
So it looks like I was a fan for 37 years, and I will miss seeing her familiar face. But she did have a nice long run, with a huge success at the end.
RIP
I couldn’t watch the Raymond show because she was Just.That.Good. God I hated Ray’s mom.
“You’re a regular Fiorello La Guardia.”
Thanks, Ms Roberts.
She was already early middle-aged in* Hester Street*. She had a really good career.
I loved her in Raymond. I had a great mother-in-law, so it’s not as though I watched with a feeling of having experienced anything like that, but I watched with a feeling of horror that there might be mothers-in-law like that, and I would just shudder. The way she got her message across with a look at Deborah was great!
Every time Deborah would annoy me, I’d just think of Marie across the street and figure Deborah should get a pass.
A great actress.
Now that you mention it, I do remember her from Angie. I really liked that show and its cast, even though I was just a kid.
As annoying as the Marie character in Raymond could be, Ms. Roberts made her seem real and sympathetic, and truly made the show enjoyable. A lesser actor would have been grating and one dimensional, but I felt for Marie. Dammit, now I want to binge watch that show. Good thing it’s always on.
She was remarkably talented, love or hate ‘Marie Barone’, Doris Roberts made her a REAL creation. She (Marie) considered herself a person of importance, and so she WAS. Super annoying, but not all bad, she had reality and depth, even if it was exaggerated for comic effect.
What a terrible OP. What? Are we supposed to just take her word for it? Here’s a link, dear.
When I saw her age on CNN, I told my wife, “That can’t be right.”
I don’t quite get the unlove that ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ garners 'round these parts. I find it very funny, and very re-watchable. Doris Roberts was a big part of its success.
I also remember her from very, er, memorable guest appearances on ‘Barney Miller’ and ‘All in the Family’.
mmm
I like her in ELR, although I knew and loved her first in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
She was a solid dramatic actress, too. She won her first Emmy for her role as a homeless woman in St. Elsewhere.
Reading that link, it’s amazing that all those accomplishments were achieved by just one woman. On *Raymond, *she took what may have begun as a 2-dimensional character, and transformed Marie Barone into a living 3-dimensional person. She certainly had a full career, and will be truly missed. RIP, “Marie.”
Marie Barone was one of the greatest sitcom antagonists. Written and played to perfection.
90? HOLY CRAP!! RIP, Doris.
One of my favorite “Raymond” lines is Marie giving the following relationship advice to Deborah:
“Don’t let a suitcase full of smelly cheese become your giant fork and spoon.”
R.I.P. Doris.
I’m surprised at her age too even though I saw some movie with her made in the 60s. Marie Barone was her greatest role. It was Marie and Frank that made Raymond watchable. Farewell Doris.
I loved when she told Debra, ‘dear…a woman reaches an age where she still CAN wear something (revealing), but she really shouldn’t.’ I don’t know if that’s a common bromide but the way she said it, full of passive-aggressive concern, made me laugh!
It can truly be said that she never let a piece of cheese become her big fork and spoon.
The show that comes to mind that reminds me the most of Marie was when she conned Robert’s wife into sending out her thank you notes for wedding gifts right away. I don’t remember many details but it showed the deviousness of the character and the range of her acting talents. Plenty of other moments for her as well. Frank delivered one liners, a great actor in a fairly shallow role, but Marie was a character that developed more depth as the show went on, and that has to be credited to Doris, there are plenty of actresses who could have done a good enough job as Marie, but not so many that would have made the role so central. As the series continued she became the major protagonist in almost every episode, even when not heavily involved in the plot she was a still a force of nature that the other characters had to account for in the stories.
I’ve seen that Raymond doesn’t get much respect here on the board, or in the rest of the world, but I recall the documentary Exporting Raymond and there you can see it’s a show that can only be appreciated by long married people. And if you’ve never had a mother or mother-in-law affect your marriage you can’t really appreciate the character of Marie.
Doris will be remembered for that role more than any other, certainly credits belong to the writers and producers who created the character, but you can’t get that kind of outstanding performance and memorable dramatis personae without great skill from the actor. So many other actresses could only have delivered one-liners in the style of Frank, and the show would never have lasted as long or be so well remembered by anyone. I don’t know if her talent wasn’t recognized earlier in her life, or this was simply the ideal fit for her, but for a long career without great acclaim initially she certainly finished on a high note. There’s gonna be a hell of an applause tonight when she comes out from behind the curtain for her interview on the big talk show in the sky tonight.