Doris Roberts RIP
April 22, 2016 11:43 AM   Subscribe

Doris Roberts, an ubiquitous stage and screen actor from the United States, passed away April 17th at the age of 90.

Roberts is probably most widely known for her role as Marie Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. She won 5 Emmy Awards during her career, four of them for her performance on that show. Her career spanned Broadway, television and film.

In 2002 Roberts spoke at a congressional panel about age discrimination in media. She was also involved in animal rights and AIDS causes.
posted by under_petticoat_rule (36 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
She wasn't as influential as Prince or as mighty as Chyna, but she built a career that essentially made her one of the US's stock players who could turn up in just about anything. And that's despite the ageism present in every aspect of the entertainment industry.

I didn't want her ubiquity ironically to make her invisible wrt her passing.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 11:48 AM on April 22, 2016 [9 favorites]


That's a nice FPP, dear.

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posted by numaner at 11:49 AM on April 22, 2016 [22 favorites]


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posted by Cash4Lead at 11:51 AM on April 22, 2016


She was a favorite of mine - even on Everybody Loves Raymond, a show I can't stand.

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posted by LOLAttorney2009 at 11:51 AM on April 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


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In other news, 2016 announced expansion plans today to kill everyone you ever heard of, in order to streamline and simplify its ongoing mission to be the suckiest year ever.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:52 AM on April 22, 2016 [15 favorites]


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posted by Splunge at 11:53 AM on April 22, 2016


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I loved her in Remington Steele - RS was my first real TV fandom moment.
posted by kariebookish at 11:54 AM on April 22, 2016 [12 favorites]


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posted by Gelatin at 11:56 AM on April 22, 2016


I never really liked Nobody Doesn't Like Raymond, but when I did watch it, it was always Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle who made the show worth the time.

She was everyone's grandma, and I loved seeing her in things. She will be missed.

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posted by hippybear at 12:00 PM on April 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


I loved her in Christmas Vacation.

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posted by Pope Guilty at 12:03 PM on April 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


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posted by Smart Dalek at 12:05 PM on April 22, 2016


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posted by Joey Michaels at 12:08 PM on April 22, 2016


She really was amazing in Raymond. Whether you like the show or not, she created one of the more memorable characters of turn-of-the-century TV. Not to take away from anything else she's done, but that was a pretty amazing accomplishment.
posted by kevinbelt at 12:13 PM on April 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


Sixty-plus years of working more or less constantly, with 157 credits on IMDB. A hundred and fifty-seven. And that's just roles, so the 210 episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond only count as one, as do the 72 Remington Steeles. Oh, and she's in five more things that aren't out yet. That's a pretty damn good run.

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posted by Etrigan at 12:17 PM on April 22, 2016 [6 favorites]


A scene-stealer as the Mayor's wife in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three -- not an easy movie to steal a scene from.
posted by Capt. Renault at 12:22 PM on April 22, 2016 [5 favorites]


I just saw a meme on Facebook that has a photo of a certain famous author with the caption: 2016 - brought to you by George RR Martin. It's makes perfect sense.

I thought ELR was decent in the first few season. Then again, my mother and mother-in-law were both Marie-level freaks so my wife and I could relate all too well.

RIP Doris, a class act to the very end.
posted by Ber at 12:25 PM on April 22, 2016 [3 favorites]


She was hilarious on Angie.
posted by jonmc at 12:28 PM on April 22, 2016 [4 favorites]


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posted by brennen at 12:29 PM on April 22, 2016


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posted by blurker at 12:34 PM on April 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


jonmc beat me to it - my first memories of Doris Roberts was the mom on Angie.

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posted by lootie777 at 12:51 PM on April 22, 2016


Comedy writer Ken Levine has a fine appreciation here.
posted by in278s at 1:02 PM on April 22, 2016 [3 favorites]


They looked nothing alike, but I used to mix Doris Roberts up with Liz Sheridan because of a bit of muddled trivia: Ms. Roberts lived in a home once lived in by James Dean, and Ms. Sheridan said she dated James Dean.

I remember Ms. Roberts from Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and Soap. Two shows that my 6/7 year old self SHOULD NOT have been watching, but somehow saw anyway.

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posted by droplet at 1:11 PM on April 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


MetaFilter: my 6/7 year old self SHOULD NOT have been watching, but somehow saw anyway.
posted by hippybear at 1:14 PM on April 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


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posted by Michele in California at 2:13 PM on April 22, 2016


I'll always remember Roberts for her Emmy-winning performance on St. Elsewhere. She and James Coco were heartbreaking. (Warning: some of the medical stuff is not for the squeamish.)
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 2:15 PM on April 22, 2016 [4 favorites]


She was a really great actress.

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posted by double bubble at 3:10 PM on April 22, 2016


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posted by Samarium at 5:15 PM on April 22, 2016


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posted by rhizome at 5:42 PM on April 22, 2016


I loved her in Remington Steele. Her relationship with Steele in particular was adorable.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:47 PM on April 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


I don't like this, Raymond.

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posted by allthinky at 6:59 PM on April 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


'He hates it when I cry. It reminds him of our wedding night."

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posted by 4ster at 7:08 PM on April 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


She's also in The Honeymoon Killers. I think she was the landlady in that movie. She was definitely straight from Central Casting in playing landladies.

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posted by jonp72 at 7:28 PM on April 22, 2016


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posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 12:21 AM on April 23, 2016


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posted by brecc at 2:21 AM on April 24, 2016


As much as I dislike the show Everybody Loves Raymond, she was a bright star in an otherwise fairly predictable sitcom. Her comic timing and laugh will be missed. She was a joy to watch.

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posted by Fizz at 3:24 PM on April 24, 2016


I was a huge fan of Remington Steele and she really did a lot for the show to give it some grounding and not have it just be all about this neurotic couple that couldn't quite manage to admit they loved each other (while solving mysteries, but, really, the show was kind of mostly rom-com material). But my all time favorite thing she did was a made for TV movie called "Our House." If you haven't seen it, I hope you get a chance to sometime. It's a really special movie.
posted by Michele in California at 3:29 PM on April 24, 2016


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