"Everybody Loves Raymond" may have ended but that doesn't mean we can't keep on loving the cast of Raymond!

Keep up to date on what Patricia Heaton, Ray Romano, Brad Garrett, Peter Boyle, Doris Roberts and Phil Rosenthal have lined up for the future.

Patricia Heaton // The Bituminous Coal Queens of PA Patricia Heaton // ABC TV Deal Patricia Heaton // Thou Shalt Laugh
Patricia Heaton // The Scene Patricia Heaton // Amazing Grace Patricia Heaton // Buena Vista Talk Show
Patricia Heaton // Enslaved by Ducks Patricia Heaton // Path to 9/11 Patricia Heaton // The Engagement Ring
Ray Romano // Stand Up Comedy Tour HBO TV Show Deal Ray Romano // Father Knows Best
Ray Romano // The Grand Ray Romano // 95 Miles to Go Ray Romano // Grilled
Ray Romano // Ice Age 2 Brad Garrett // Til Death Brad Garrett // Stand Up Comedy
Brad Garrett // The Odd Couple Peter Boyle // Shadows of Atticus Doris Roberts // Our House
Doris Roberts // Keeping Up with the Steins Doris Roberts // Grandma's Boy Phil Rosenthal // You're Lucky You're Funny

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Our House                                                                     

"I'll Go Out With a Walker Before I Call It Quits"
A Conversation with Doris Roberts

By David Martindale

When Doris Roberts read the script for "Our House," a Hallmark Channel Original movie, the words of her beloved husband came to mind.

"My late husband was William Goyen, a writer of some renown, and he wrote something that I remembered so clearly," says Roberts, the Emmy-winning "Everybody Loves Raymond" star. "He wrote that, when we see infirm or handicapped or older people, or the homeless, we tend to turn away, we shun them and 'we take away their light.'"

 In "Our House," Roberts plays a woman who welcomes a group of homeless people into her home, helps them start anew and gives them back their light. "I got them to put that lovely saying into the film," Roberts says. "It's something my character says, quoting her late husband. But it's actually my late husband that I'm quoting."

It's a small tribute to the man Roberts loved and admired. They were married for 20 years until his death in 1983. But the passage was inserted into the script more so because it captures the spirit and the message of the movie.

"My hope is that, after people see the movie, the next day they might not make rash assumptions when they see homeless people," Roberts says. "Who knows what life did to them to cause them to be on the street? And who are we to judge them? So that's what I hope the movie accomplishes, that it discourages viewers from judging these people and shunning them, that instead they'll have compassion for them."

True to Goyen's words, Roberts doesn't look away when she sees the homeless. Sometimes, as a result, what she witnesses breaks her heart. "I saw a young girl not too long ago -- such a pretty little thing -- just out on the street with a look of absolute despair. I thought, 'What can I do? Can I take her home with me like we do in the movie?' There are so many people out there just like her who just need a little help somewhere along the way, just one more chance to make it."

Unfortunately, at other times, while refusing to look away from a problem that is more widespread than we often like to acknowledge, Roberts has seen con artists preying on people's sentiment. "One thing I have seen that was just outrageous. I saw a young woman seated on the ground. She had a big sign. It said, 'I'm homeless, I need help, I need money.' And she was on her cell phone. Perhaps calling her partner to say, 'I've got my quota for the day; come get me.' I couldn't believe my eyes. I almost got into a car crash."

But it didn't poison Roberts' compassion for those truly in need. In October, for example, she was one of many celebrities to participate in "Mississippi Rising," a fundraising concert benefiting the Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund. "We raised millions of dollars that will go to helping people rebuild their communities," she says.

In the movie, Roberts' character (Ruth Galloway, a Beverly Hills widow) not only gives down-on-their-luck street people a fresh start, but she also restores her own soul in the process. "In the beginning of the movie, this is a woman who feels she has no reason to live, which is something, as Doris Roberts, that I can't understand. Personally, I find life very exciting and wonderful. But she doesn't find that joy until she gives of herself to help these people. That's something that I think people don't realize, that giving and sharing makes you feel good."

This is the first season in a decade that "Everybody Loves Raymond," a phenomenal TV hit, is no longer part of Roberts' life. But the actress says she has been too busy to let that void sink in yet. "I've done two feature movies since then and this movie for Hallmark Channel," she says. "So I haven't had time to even be sad about it. Besides, I had nine fabulous years. That show is now in 171 countries in the world. I cannot complain."

Nor, apparently, can she bring herself to contemplating a life without acting, even though she is now well into her 70s. Retirement, Roberts believes, is for people who dislike their jobs. "Isn't that the truth?" she says with a laugh. "I just love what I do. I really do. I'll go out with a walker, I think, before I call it quits."