Doris Roberts’ decades of superior work has earned her distinctive stature throughout the entertainment profession. In 2001, she was selected by the American Film Institute as one of five actresses of the year. She has received a total of five Emmy® Awards — four (with three in a row) for her role as the beloved but meddlesome mother on the popular and long-running CBS series Everybody Loves Raymond, along with an Emmy® for St. Elsewhere. She also received additional nominations for both dramatic and comedic work on Remington Steele, Full House and The Sunset Gang. Throughout those distinctive television achievements, Roberts has been a three-time winner of the Viewers for Quality Television Award, the 2001 TV Guide Award and the 2000 Beautiful People Award. Also in 2000, she was named Best Actress in a Comedy Role by the American Comedy Awards and the Los Angeles Weekly Awards for her stage performance in 24 Hours.
On the big screen, Roberts drew accolades for her work in A Fish in the Bathtub, My Giant, Walking to Waldheim, The Grass Harp, Used People, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, The Night We Never Met, Something Wild, Barefoot In the Park, No Way to Treat a Lady, A Lovely Way to Die, Honeymoon Killers, A New Leaf, Such Good Friends, Little Murders, Heartbreak Kid, Hester Street, The Taking of Pelham one-Two-Three, The Rose, Good Luck Miss Wyckoff, Rabbit Test, Simple Justice, Number One With a Bullet and Mamma Mia!
To celebrate a lifetime of achievement, on March l0, 2003, the versatile actress was immortalized with her own Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and, in April of that year, St. Martin’s Press published her memoirs, Are You Hungry, Dear. In 2004, she added to these laurels when the Screen Actors Guild selected her as one of the five leading comedy actresses on television.
Roberts was named a Cultural Ambassador by the U.S. Department of State and travels to economically deprived countries to speak to youth about hope; in 2004, she was presented with a humanity award by Secretary of State Colin Powell. She is also a formidable fighter for the rights of fellow actors in the continuing battle against ageism, and testified before U.S. Senator John Breaux’s Special Committee on Ageism in Washington, D.C. in 2002.
