Doris Roberts reunited with Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, Brad Garrett, and Monica Horan in Las Vegas recently when the stars of Everybody Loves Raymond were inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame. It is one more prize added to a slew of awards (among them five Emmys) earned by Roberts in a long, brilliant acting career that began 50 years ago on Broadway and includes, 43 major films and 96 television credits.
Her new movie, The Little Rascals Save the Day, is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. Her next film is Job’s Daughter, a crime drama. Roberts, who has homes in Los Angeles and Manhattan, met with Parade contributing editor Dotson Rader in her elegant duplex pied-a-terre overlooking Manhattan’s Central Park. The 88-year-old star offered drinks and cookies and then spoke candidly about her life and career, absent fathers and families, men, celebrity, and the current state of television.
You have a new family comedy in release, The Little Rascals Save the Day. It’s a kids’ movie. You play the grandmother. What’s the story about?
“I play Grandma, and I owe the bank so much money they’re going to foreclose my beautiful bakery shop. So the kids decide ways that they can raise money to help me. It’s a charming film. And you don’t find too many charming films for young people. Nobody gets killed, no sex, no bad language. Everyone can go to this movie and have a good time.”
Do you like the way television portrays the American family today? Current sitcoms, the Kardashians?
“It’s terrible. I don’t see anything on television that looks like love, or behaves like real love. It’s all so rapid and loud. Nobody’s taking the time to really look and absorb and have a reaction….We’re living in a very strange age.”
You mean, the lack of love?
“Yes. Love. Gentle love, like you love a baby.”
Why is that?
“Because lots of times men are afraid of it. Men are afraid of being soft, or kind, or gentle, or loving. I don’t think they have it at home and so they can’t bring it into their life when they’re grownups. The family is screwed up.”
What about women?
“The women are overwhelmed.”
What about gay marriage?
“I’m in favor. If you fall in love with someone, why can’t you have what everybody else has? Why should you be segregated and denied? I have a lot of gay friends. I’m lucky. I go to parties celebrating their being together 25, 50 years. They’re together longer than any straight people that I know. I had two marriages, and I didn’t make it as long as they did. [LAUGHS]”
Your marriage to Michael Cannata, your first, didn’t last. You had a child. Then you divorced. Why?
“Because my husband wouldn’t grow up and take on responsibilities. This is a terrible statement to make but I’m going to make it. None of the men in my life ever wanted me to be successful. I think they thought I’d leave them.”
But your second marriage to novelist William Goyen lasted. . .
“22 years. He died of leukemia.”
Marriage seems hazardous for celebrities. Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin are now “uncoupling.” Why can’t many celebrities make relationships last?
“Because when you’re a celebrity you think you’re entitled to everything. ‘Wow, I can do anything I want!’ Something goes a little wacky in your head. Strangers stop me and say, ‘We love you. You’re a part of our family.’ When you get told that you think, ‘I’m really something.’ Well, you’re not. It’s all crazy. I hate narcissism.”
The average person seems to identify with you. Why?
“I’m not a bull artist. I tell it like it is. I’m not some celebrity thinking I’m greater than anybody else. I’m one of the people. And they know that. It’s wonderful when they say to me ‘Thank you for the humor you’ve brought us all these years.’ I am a lucky son of a gun. I get paid for it.”
Let’s talk a bit about your early life. When you were 10-years-old your father deserted your mom and you. How did that affect you?
“I always thought he left us because I wasn’t pretty enough, smart enough, tall enough. Something was wrong with me, otherwise my father would never have left my mother.”
That must have hurt a lot.
“You get through it. All it takes is one person who loves you unconditionally. I had that person. He was my uncle, Willie Meltzer. He lived with my grandparents in the same apartment with us. He totally loved me and took care of me, and taught me laughter, music. In the morning—and this is a long time ago—he’d take the cream off the bottle of milk to put on my cereal, and then he’d take me to school and yell at the boys not to be rough with me. And then he’d pick me up and bring me home.”
He healed the damage your father had done?
“Absolutely. If I had a nightmare as a child I’d run to my mother’s room and she’d say, ‘Doris, go back to bed. I have to get up early.’ And as I’d pass Willie’s door, he’d beckon for me to come in, point to the bottom of his bed and that’s where I slept.”
What happened to Willie?
“He had muscular dystrophy. He died. He was 44. I loved him dearly, unconditionally. I’m the person I am today because of him. All you need is one.”
You grew up in New York City. After high school in Manhattan you attended NYU, but you left school to act. Why?
“I always wanted to be an actress. In kindergarten I was in a little play and I had this line, ‘I am Patrick Potato and this is my cousin, Mrs. Tomato.’ And I heard the laughter in the room, and the bug bit me.”
You were very successful for 20 years in New York theatre. So why did you suddenly move to L.A.?
“Lily Tomlin saw me in Terrence McNally’s play Bad Habits and brought me out to California to do The Lily Tomlin Comedy Hour [on ABC-TV]. The show won the Emmys that year. But they did not pick us up. They picked up Howard Cosell instead. Welcome to showbiz.”
Why did you stay in L.A.?
“Because they kept giving me work. First, I did [TV series] Angie. Then Remington Steele. And Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. I just kept getting all these wonderful comedies. And the money was a lot better than Broadway.”
You testified before Congress about ageism. You believe that we that hide away old people in our society?
“In most cultures you’re taught to embrace getting older, with people respecting you, taking care of you, making you understand you’re loved. The worst part of getting old is (finding) acceptance of it. If you stumble a little bit, or you’re not as fast, that’s life. Why don’t you want somebody like that in your movie? Getting older is part of life. We should be taught to embrace it, not be afraid of it.”
Tell me about Peter Boyle and Ray Romano of Everybody Loves Raymond.
“When Peter Boyle and I met for the first time on the show it was as if we had known each other for 45 years. We got more laughs just giving each other dirty looks than anything else. [LAUGHS] I loved him. When he was ill, he came to me and asked, ‘Should I tell them?’ I said, ‘No, they’ll treat you like a dying man and that’s not who you are.’ So, he had a couple of years of really good work. And he was the antithesis of the character he played. He was bright, well-read. He loved to sing. [Boyle died in 2006 of multiple myeloma cancer. Roberts supports the Peter Boyle Memorial Fund/Myeloma Foundation myeloma.org.]
Ray Romano?
“He was terrific and he still is. A really good human being, which is the most important part. I love talented actors, but they’ve got to be human beings who I care about, otherwise, sorry, I don’t have time for them.”
What about Patricia Heaton? Would you guest star again on her series The Middle. You’ve done three episodes so far.
“I don’t think so. The last line I said on the show was ‘Do you have any more children at home?’ [Patricia Heaton] replied, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Good, because then I don’t ever have to see you again.’
But would you if asked?
“Sure. They pay in American cash. [LAUGHS]”