ENDED TV SERIES

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Everybody Loves Raymond follows the lives of dysfunctional Italian-American family the Barones in Lynbrook, New York. Newsday sportswriter Raymond Barone (Ray Romano) and his wife Debra (Patricia Heaton) live across the street from his parents, Frank (Peter Boyle) and Marie (Doris Roberts). They have a daughter named Ally (Madylin Sweeten) and identical twin sons, Michael (Sullivan Sweeten) and Geoffrey (Sawyer Sweeten). Ray’s brother, Robert (Brad Garrett), a New York City police officer still living at home, completes the line-up.

Raymond Barone – Ray is the younger of Frank and Marie Barone’s two sons and has always been their favorite. He is married to Debra, whom he loves perhaps almost as much as he loves his mother. They have twin boys and a daughter but Ray prefers to leave the parenting to Debra. Often found watching sports on T.V., Ray has been known to whine if things don’t go his way – especially if sex or food is involved. He’s a hardworking man who loves his family – no matter how crazy they drive him!

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Debra Barone – Debra is Ray’s long-suffering wife. Always stressed, she constantly yells that Ray does not appreciate her. Her biggest headache, though, is her mother-in-law Marie and her habit of dropping by at any time and criticizing everything that Debra does. Unfortunately, Ray is reluctant to stand up to his parents, especially his mother! But despite their foibles, Debra loves her in-laws, and has particular sympathy for her browbeaten brother-in-law, Robert.

Robert Barone – Robert is the eldest son of Frank and Marie and forever trying to be the favored son – an ambition which he never realizes. He is a capable New York City police officer, but has far more difficulty with his personal life. Divorced by his first wife, he has his share of problems with women. A tall man and an excellent dancer, Robert is also a good friend and kind uncle, someone who just wants to be loved.

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Frank Barone – Frank is Ray and Robert’s father and the head of the family. A retired bookkeeper, he is also a veteran of the Korean War – a fact he brings up regularly, much to the disgust of Robert and Raymond. He is a registered real-estate agent and belongs to the Order of the Caribou Lodge. Stubborn and difficult, Frank nevertheless loves and is loved by his family.

Marie Barone – Frank might be head of the family, but Marie is the one in charge. Wife, mother and grandmother, she is also a housekeeper and cook extraordinnaire – a particular annoyance to Debra, who cannot cook despite years of trying. She takes her many roles very seriously and insists that everything she does is done for love – no matter how unjust it might seem to other people.

Amy MacDougall/Barone (Monica Horan) – Debra’s best friend and Robert’s on-off girlfriend, Amy becomes a regular member of the cast near the end of the series. She eventually joins the Barone clan as Robert’s wife, although she sometimes wishes she hadn’t. A born peacemaker, Amy does her best to improve family relations, often apologizing for things that aren’t her fault. Her own family are very religious, and the Barones’ brand of communication-by-shouting is a shock to her system.

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Main Cast

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Additional Cast

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Trivia

The show drew extensively on the experiences of Ray Romano and Philip Rosenthal, its creator and producer, as well as those of its writers. Its main characters are based loosely on Romano’s and Rosenthal’s own families.

The Barone children, Michael, Geoffrey and Ally, are played by real life siblings.

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In the pilot episode the twins were called Matthew and Gregory after Romano’s own twin sons, but the names were changed after the show’s debut. Ray Romano’s real-life daughter, Alexandra, was often seen playing the part of Ally’s best friend, Molly.

In the Halloween episode “Halloween Candy” Peter Boyle (Frank) is seen dressed as Frankenstein’s monster. Boyle had previously played a wacky version of the character in Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein. There’s a second nod to one of Boyle’s previous roles in the same episode; his speech about mortality is the same one he made in the movie Taxi Driver.

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Just like the character he plays, Ray Romano has a brother who is a New York police officer.

According to Romano, Patricia Heaton got the role of Debra because she was the only one who would kiss him on the lips at the audition.

Monica Horan, who plays Amy on the show, is married to its co-creator and executive producer, Philip Rosenthal.

The character of Raymond Barone was ranked #10 in TV Guide’s list of “50 Greatest TV Dads of All-Time”.

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Everybody Loves Raymond holds the record for most Screen Actors Guild Nominations in a single year, garnering six nominations in 2004.

Peter Boyle is the only one of the adult Barones never to win an Emmy for his performance, despite being nominated several times.

Patricia Heaton became pregnant twice during the show’s nine seasons. Her pregnancies were concealed by limiting her on-screen time, filming her from the waist up, and covering her bump with loose clothing or strategically placed objects.

Ray Romano’s wife, Anna, recently survived breast cancer.

Ray Romano and Fran Drescher were in the same high school class together, and Romano guest-starred on Drescher’s popular TV series The Nanny.

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Peter Boyle (Frank) died in December 2006 of multiple myeloma and heart disease. After his death his wife, Loraine, created the Peter Boyle Memorial Fund to support the International Myeloma Foundation. Since then his family, co-stars and closest friends have gathered every year in Los Angeles for a comedy celebration to raise funds for the Foundation. The event is hosted by Ray Romano and is the most successful fundraiser in the Foundation’s history, raising over $500,000 in the first year alone.

Peter Boyle met his wife on the set of the movie Young Frankenstein. She was a reporter from Rolling Stone magazine, and he asked her out while still wearing his Frankenstein make-up. The best man at their wedding was John Lennon, whom Boyle had got to know through his wife’s friend, Yoko Ono.

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Just six years before the debut of Everybody Loves Raymond, Peter Boyle had a near-fatal stroke that left him completely speechless and immobile for almost six months.

Doris Roberts testified before a U.S. Congressional panel about age discrimination in Hollywood.

Like her character Marie, Doris Roberts is passionate about cooking.

Brad Garrett (Robert) proposed to his future wife, Jill Diven, on the set of Everybody Loves Raymond in 1998. They divorced in 2006.

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Monica Horan (Amy) converted from Catholicism to Judaism before marrying her husband, Philip Rosenthal.

Tony Shalhoub, Adrian Monk in the series Monk, was best man at the wedding of Patricia Heaton (Debra) to David Hunt.