10 Things You Didn’t Know About Doris Roberts

You knew her as Ray’s meddling mom Marie from “Everybody Loves Raymond,” but 90-year-old firecracker Doris Roberts was  more than just one of Hollywood’s favorite matriarchs! The award- winning actress was beloved in Hollywood as a veteran actress with a no-nonsense attitude — plus a Ph.D., so that’s Dr. Roberts to you! As the world mourns her passing, here are 10 things you didn’t know about the sitcom legend...

1) Doris was frequently spotted running around Los Angeles, and The ENQUIRER was there when she collapsed outside of one of Hollywood's hottest nightspots. But the actress got her start on the New York stage after being born in the Bronx!

2) After years on the stage, Doris finally made her film debut at the age of 35 with Carroll Baker in the seedy 1961 drama “Something Wild.”

3) She cashed in on her belated fame with a combination memoir/cookbook called “Are You Hungry, Dear? Life, Laughs, and Lasagna” in 2003.

4) Doris' son, Michael Cannata Jr., was also her manager — and she kept him busy, with Doris working right up to her sudden death! 

5) Doris had been given an honorary doctorate in fine arts from the University of Southern California.

6) “Selma Diamond and I appeared in a comedy sketch on NBC called ‘Miami Nice,’" Doris once revealed. "It inspired the idea for ‘The Golden Girls!"

7) Doris didn't make it into "The Golden Girls" cast — and she had also been replaced by future "Golden Girl" Rue McClanahan (far left) as ditzy neighbor Vivian Harmon on "Maude."

8) She was 10 years older than her “Everybody Loves Raymond” husband Peter Boyle — who passed away at the age of 71 in 2006.

9) Doris won four Emmys for playing Marie Barone on "Everybody Loves Raymond" — but she won her first Emmy in 1983 for playing a homeless woman on “St. Elsewhere.”

10) Despite being the oldest member of the "Everybody Loves Raymond" cast, Doris was also the show's only cast member — besides Ray Romano — to appear in every one of the show's 210 episodes!