‘Everybody Love Raymond’ Cast Secrets Spotlights the Team Was Not Tight
When it comes to TV shows, especially one that sticks around a while, the cast and crew typically get pretty tight. There are stories of the cast from Friends hanging out long after the cut call, and The Big Bang Theory is another notable show where the cast is pretty tight. You’d think this would be the case for every show, but unfortunately, not every person on a TV show wants to get close. For the cast and crew of Everybody Loves Raymond, secrets they kept from each other might just prove this right. Learn more about the secrets of the Everybody Loves Raymond cast.
‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ is a hit
Everybody Loves Raymond was a comedy that lasted for nine seasons. Ending in 2005, it did so well that it’s still remembered and watched today. It won 15 Emmys and garnered 69 nominations.
The show centers around successful sports writer Ray Barone (played by Ray Romano), a family man whose brother and parents live across the street. His mom Marie (played by Doris Roberts), loves meddling in his life, his dad Frank (played by Frank Boyle), is always raiding his fridge, and his brother Rob (played by Brad Garrett) is a quirky police officer.
Ray can keep a sense of humor about life, but often leaves his more practical wife, Debra (played by Patricia Heaton), to deal with the mess.
The cast and crew weren’t as tight as they seemed
While it’s normal to hide some things from an audience, like Heaton’s two pregnancies, hiding something from the cast and crew can affect the entire show. Ranker had some big surprises to spill about the Everybody Loves Raymond cast, from the fact that the cast was pretty ticked off that Romano made so much more than they did per episode to the shocker that a former star of the show (one of the Barone twins) ended up taking his own life in 2015.
But some secrets revealed show that the cast might not be as close as they seemed on screen.
One actor was able to hide his marital problems, despite going through them for most of the show. Garrett not only proposed to his girlfriend on the set but went through his separation towards the end of the show’s run. The entire time, Garrett kept up the facade of a good relationship and kept on putting on his funny face for every taping.
Another actor was able to keep his cancer illness under wraps while filming. Boyle ended up passing away in 2006, and only a select few on the cast knew that he had been dealing with cancer since 2002. Roberts, his on-screen wife, admitted she played a role in telling him not to share the news. “They will treat you like a dying man and you don’t need that.” Because they had so much fun together, Boyle took her advice.
The cast and crew did have some feels-like-family moments. Boyle had quite the smelly habit on set, so either he didn’t care, or he felt enough like they were family to let it happen. And Garrett and Romano recently appeared on Family Feud, showing that their banter is as friendly as ever.
Secrets or just professionalism?
It’s possible that the secrets were kept out of a sense of professionalism. True, your employer and coworkers need to know if anything drastic is going on in your life that could affect your work, but keeping something to yourself to protect your privacy doesn’t mean you don’t care about the people you work with or want to have a good working relationship with them. Sometimes, like in the case of Boyle’s cancer diagnosis, it’s kept a secret to help the show.
When Garrett shared in his 2015 memoir, When the Balls Drop, that he was a high-functioning alcoholic during season one, it was a fact that surprised many. He hid it well, which he admitted to Entertainment Tonight, but luckily got sober quick. This is the kind of secret that could have affected the show, though, and is definitely one that was due to hiding rather than professionalism.
A show indeed has a better chance of surviving for multiple seasons when the chemistry is strong. Luckily, the cast of Everybody Loves Raymond had the right chemistry despite any secrets and made a show that is well-loved and still airing reruns.
