Doris Roberts, Meddling Mom in ‘Everyone Loves Raymond,’ Dies at 90

Doris Roberts, who won four Emmy Awards as the meddling mother Marie Barone on the popular sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond,” has died.
Roberts, who was of Russian Jewish descent, died overnight Monday in her sleep, her spokeswoman told The Associated Press. The cause of death was not immediately known. She was 90.
Roberts “will be remembered for lighting up every room she walked into with an unparalleled combination of energy, humor, warmth and even a little bit of grit,” CBS, which broadcast “Raymond” from 1996 to 2005, said in a statement.
She won the Emmys and for best supporting actress and was nominated seven times portraying Marie, matriarch of a dysfunctional Italian family. Roberts won another Emmy for a guest appearance on “St. Elsewhere” playing a homeless woman.
In 2003, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Roberts had a recurring role on the television detective drama “Remington Steele” and also appeared in several Broadway shows beginning in the 1950s.
A St. Louis native who grew up in New York, Roberts was raised by her mother, Ann Meltzer, with the help of her family, after Meltzer was deserted by her husband. Roberts took the last name of her stepfather, Chester Roberts.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Fast Forward Jewish Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky reportedly to retire after 26 years in office
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.