By Ruth Bashinsky |
New York Daily News
Before she was working girl
Mary Richards on her own
show, Mary Tyler Moore
played suburban housewife
Laura Petrie on "The Dick
Van Dyke Show."
This generation's Laura Petrie
could be Debra Barone,
Patricia Heaton's suburban
housewife on "Everybody
Loves Raymond."
Both shows feature multi-Emmy-winning
ensemble casts in support of
a comedian top banana — in
Heaton's case, Ray Romano.
Moore won three Emmys,
Heaton has won Emmys the
last two years.
"I think that the role of a mom
on a sitcom is an often
unsung and under appreciated
one," Heaton said.
"In a way [the Emmy] is a
victory for actresses who
play that type of part and
the wives and mothers in
real life who often think
their lives are monotonous
because they are
homemakers," said Heaton,
the real-life mother of four
sons ranging in age from 8
to 2.
However, in the early days of
Debra Barone, Heaton was not
always pleased with her
character.
"I felt that the script was
very funny," said Heaton,
"But I felt also that my
character was the least
fleshed-out and could very
easily have fallen into that
'sitcom-mom' thing that
easily disappears."
Her persistence paid off. The
show is now CBS' top-rated
comedy, and in September,
Heaton doubled her salary to
an estimated $250,000 per
episode for the next two
seasons. 
