Self-proclaimed individuals, step aside. Any sensible person understands that their personality wasn’t made from scratch; we borrow traits and beliefs from those we respect and admire. That’s why it can be so rewarding to see a television character who shares some of your own personality traits; to watch yourself represented on television is to feel seen.

It seemed that Marie Barone had too big a personality to limit the character to one inspiration. When developing Marie for Everybody Loves Raymond, series star Ray Romano explained that he and creator Phil Rosenthal both borrowed traits from their own parents.

“The mother is a combination of Phil’s mother, who is Jewish, and my mother, who is Italian,” said Romano during an interview with the Freedom News Service. The actor was quick to clarify that Marie Barone was not a mirror image of his own mother.

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“My mother is not as over-the-top and in your face as Phil’s,” said Romano, “but my mother has her subtle ways of intruding into our lives. She doesn’t mean to be intrusive, of course, but she is.”

Romano admitted that while his mother was aware her son used her for sitcom material, she wasn’t too thrilled with the representation...at first.

“She started liking it after the ratings started to climb,” Romano said.

Of course, beyond good writing and relatability, actor Doris Roberts was charged with bringing Marie Barone to life. It was a responsibility that the actor did not take lightly.

“She was the funniest,” Romano said of Roberts. “And she brings things to the character that are not there on the paper.”