In a middle-class suburb in Long Island lives Ray Barone (Ray Romano), sportswriter, with his beautiful wife Debra, and their three wonderful children. Across the street, live his parents.
Women Who Wow Wednesday once featured Everybody Loves Raymond‘s Debra Barone (Patricia Heaton) as the assertive, do-it-all homemaker who doesn’t take lip from anyone, including kids’ activity coordinators who’ve set themselves on a pedestal waiting for her to knock them off. Strong-willed, independent, Debra wears the loving mom moniker well. She also does it all.
Ray’s mom, Marie Barone (Doris Roberts), has the best job in the family. She spoils her kids rotten, except Ray’s brother Robert (Brad Garrett), but that’s another story. Perpetually caring for Frank (Peter Boyle), her husband of forty-five years, she’s learned a couple of things along the way. For instance, toenails don’t magically crawl into the garbage, nor does dirty underwear jump into the hamper all by itself.
A typical day in the life of the Barones goes something like this:
[Frank is eating lasagna from the platter]
Marie Barone: Frank! What are you doing? You can’t eat it from there! Your fork was in there! Now nobody can eat it!
Frank Barone: That’s all I have to do? In that case, the fork’s been in the ice cream, too!
Ray Barone: [comes in] Hey.
Marie Barone: Hi, Raymond. Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat? Only you can’t have lasagna… Or ice cream.
Frank Barone: [sticks his fork in cake] Or chocolate cake.
Marie Barone: Look at him! He’s like an animal, marking his territory!
[Frank sticks Marie with the fork]
Marie Barone: Hey!
Frank Barone: What? That’s a compliment.
Ray Barone: God, how I wish I could say this is the wrong house…
Her “Are you hungry?” line defines Marie as the selfless mom who is always willing to go out of her way to make life comfortable for Ray. Her relationship with Debra is a different matter. To Marie, Debra’s never been good enough for her son. In that respect, she has said less than flattering things about Debra’s cooking “Did another dinner get away from you, dear?” However, make no mistake; Marie loves Debra like her own daughter:
Marie Barone: I bought tickets for the whole family to go to Italy!
Debra Barone: Me too?
Marie Barone: Of course, dear. You’re family.
[Debra jumps with joy]
Robert Barone: Me too?
What makes Marie is not her intrusive, critical, overbearing attitude, although some may find that off-putting, but it is her unapologetic nature when defending her family. This is what makes her a formidable opponent, should anyone dare attack The Barones:
“I wanna tell ya something, there is nothing wrong with this family. We’re very close, we’re very open, we’re very loving, ‘cause I make sure of it.” ~Marie Barone
And it’s true. She may seem like someone you may not want to be with for long periods, but she certainly knows how to show her love. “Are you hungry, dear?”
RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION, on sale October 21.
Have you seen Everybody Loves Raymond? What do you think of Marie Barone?
Looking to God 
My ex MIL must have been the inspiration for Marie Barone’s character!
I had hosted dinner for 10, no dishwasher, and MIL was helping me clear the table. I was 42 year old.
MIL: Honey, if you don’t stack the dishes like that, you won’t have to wash the backs.
ME: That’s okay…I would wash be backs anyway.
MIL: (Insulted) Well, I wash the backs too!
FIL: Then why are you having this conversation?
But always with veiled politeness. Oh well, no longer is this a source of exaspiration.
Never seen it but it made me smile! My husband does think the bin picks up his toenails, he also things our washing basket is magical as it appears to pick the dirty clothes up from the side of the bed, he then believes it washes, dries and irons them and puts them back in the wardrobe! Oh if only! X
I loved that show. I grew up on. I watched the whole thing. Imagine the excitement when they finally added it to Netflix, Jack. It’s sitting in my queue and after I finish the X-Files, I plan on watching it.
Marie was something else. She reminded me of my one Grandma. My Grandma and Marie had some traits in common, especially being trite, uncivil, and cold to her daughter-in-law. Case in point, my Mother. I imagine my Grandma to have been as spunky as Marie when Grandma was younger. One might say Marie Barone was off her rocker, which she may have been, but her cheekyness and insane antics made her not only a well-rounded character, but also gleaned a lot of traits we may see in all Mother-in-laws, especially in how I have seen how my Grandma treats my Mom, and still treats her to this very day. My Grandma, coincidentally, has had Alzheimer’s since she was in her early 40s, so I guess you could say I have not really known her truly, and it has gotten progressively and rapidly worse over the past few years since my Grandpa passed away in 2012.
Excellent post. Thank you 🙂 Have a great day, Jack.
Great memories. Sorry also to hear about your Grandpa’s passing.
ELR is my all-time fav!
Mine too👍
I always liked Marie. The way she says,”dear” you know she hates you. She always reminded me of my second mother in law.
Yes, that “dear” is what made her character so unique and identifiable.
Haha she was fantastic in this show. She reminded me a lot of my aunt 😀
I love Marie Barone. She & Frank play off of each other like Felix & Oscar.
I remember a scene where she describes herself as ” a trophy wife ” & Frank goes, ” What contest in hell did I win ? “.
Marie is the OPPOSITE of Edith Bunker. She’s not some passive wet noodle.
She & Frank act like they’re sort of stuck in the 50’s – early 60’s though.
Felix and Oscar–now there’s a pair I haven’t hear of for a long time. I wonder if Oscar ever got that spot in the carpet cleaned. Oh, wait, that was the original color!
I never got really into the show, but I had fun watching episodes whenever I stumbled onto them. Loved all the characters. His mother was hilarious, but it was really a show with a cast that had great chemistry.
I remember watching one of the special features on the DVD and it went into how easy it was for the audience to love the characters because they were so well thought out and very clearly defined. It’s a crazy show when you watch it in its full season order, too. BTW, which episodes did you see?
It was a long time ago, so I can barely remember. I don’t even know if it’s still on. I remember most of them revolving around Brad Garrett.