Doris Roberts

Monday, November 17, 2003

Everybody might love Raymond, but Emmy award winning actress Doris Roberts, who plays Raymond's mother on "Everybody Loves Raymond," is loving life. She recently won her fourth Emmy and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her book, "Are You Hungry Dear," was on the New York Times best-seller list. The actress has also been made a cultural ambassador for the United States and will star in a made-for-television movie dealing with Alzheimer's disease, "A Time To Remember," airing at 8 p.m. Sunday on the Hallmark Channel.

Q Is it refreshing to do a drama like "A Time To Remember" after all the comedy?

A With all my heart, yes. You know I'm an actress, not just a funny lady.

Q Is Alzheimer's getting enough attention?

A Younger people are getting Alzheimer's -- when you think about Rita Hayworth getting it at such a young age. I hope this film, "A Time To Remember," educates people on several levels. One, that anyone can get it. And two, that there is not enough money being set aside for research.

Q "A Time To Remember" also tackles family dynamics.

A A wonderful lesson in the film is about family. We get one family, and we spend so much time arguing over petty little stupid things. Resentments, anger, revenge, all those horrible things that fill our body with poison. When all it takes is to understand somebody else's point of view. Not necessarily agree with it, but at least understand it and accept it from their point of view. And try logically, with humor, with intelligence, but most of all with love. Simple love. OK, there were things that I had with my daughter-in-law in the beginning that were ridiculous. I was judgmental. Who the hell am I to be judgmental? It's not my house; it's her house. I love her for who she is, a smart, brilliant, loving, wonderful mother; a wonderful wife to my son. If you let go of all the garbage, what's left is love and intelligence and caring and a warm happy glow in your body, your soul and your mind. An enjoyment of what you have. Love them for who they are, and what they are they are; they are not you. Good stuff isn't it? You have to live 73 years to get to that.

Q You are so adept at portraying maternal figures. Did you pick that up from your own mother or create the kind of mother you always wanted?

A I just think my mother did the best she could. She was a working mother, and she knew nothing else but to work, because there was no husband around. I did better than she did, and my son does better than I do. (laughing).

Q You once said in an interview that you really didn't live until you were 40.

A That's true. I didn't fulfill my dreams until I was 40, because I got married terribly young, when I was 18. I was in charge of the family and I didn't have the opportunity. On top of that, I think women are taught to ask permission about everything. We don't realize that we are entitled and we do have a say in our lives.

Q What took you from the Bronx to the Hollywood Walk of Fame?

A When I was in kindergarten, I had one line in a little play. I said, "I am Patrick Potato and this is my cousin, Mrs. Tomato," and I heard laughter in the room -- I loved that feeling. Being paid attention to with all their eyes on me. I wanted to be an actress from that moment on. I was raised in the Bronx as a very young child, then moved to Manhattan with an aunt. Then I lived with my mother finally. But Broadway was my home for 21 years before I came out to California.

Q What did writing your book, "Are You Hungry, Dear," do for you?

A It was sometimes painful. It was sometimes deliciously humorous. I lived a full life and I'm still living a full life. My goodness, it's just extraordinary what has happened to me in just this last year alone. And it's all done by the way you perceive things. How about this, Patricia: I even have a new beau!

Correction/Clarification: (Published Nov. 20, 2003) "A Time to Remember" is a made-for-TV movie scheduled to air at 8 p.m. Sunday on the Hallmark Channel. It was listed incorrectly as a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie in an interview with actress Doris Roberts in Monday's editions.

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