10 Secrets About the ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ Cast You Never Knew: Cast Reveals Juicy Tidbits

How They Got the Title

The show’s title actually came from a snide comment from Ray’s brother.

“It came about from a sarcastic comment my brother made, who is a police officer,” Ray revealed on Larry King Live in 2002. “And he said, ‘Look what I do for a living, and look at Raymond — yeah, everybody loves Raymond.’ So we used it as a working title. And it just grew on CBS, and we couldn’t get rid of it.”

The Kids’ Names Were Changed

In the pilot episode, Ray’s fictional children were named after his real-life kids, Matthew and Gregory. After the episode aired, their names were changed in the show to Geoffrey and Michael. In real life, he also shares kids Alexandra and Joseph with wife Anna Romano.

The Concept for the Show

One of the biggest burning questions about Everybody Loves Raymond is whether or not the show is based on Ray’s real-life experiences.

“Well, that was where we started with, based on all the characters in my life and kind of a situation I was living,” Ray revealed. “But it’s a combination. Phil Rosenthal, our executive producer, it’s his parents also. And every writer in — we have 10 great writers, and every one of them brings something from their life.”

Peter Boyle Had Faith in the Show From the Beginning

Peter Boyle, who played Raymond’s dad, Frank Barone, never doubted the show’s potential for a second.

“I knew when we were making the Everybody Loves Raymond pilot that it was really good,” Peter told Esquire in January 2007. “That almost seven years later I would be sitting here — I didn’t know that. It’s a really good show, and I really feel good about it. It makes me happy. It makes me less neurotic. It helps me. When I was a starving actor, life had no structure except suffer, suffer, suffer.”

Brad Garrett Paved His Own Way Too

Brad Garrett played Raymond’s brother, Robert Barone, but he kind of invented the role on his own.

“Listen, when you’re creating a sitcom, you’ve got to get lucky. And we got lucky that we found Peter, we found Doris Roberts and even Brad Garrett,” Ray said. “You know, we didn’t write that role. Brad brought this persona that was nowhere in our minds when we were creating the show. So, we got lucky there. All those things had to fall in place for it to be successful.”

Are Ray and Brad Still Friends?

Ray and Brad are still friends, appearing together in the 2023 series Bupkis.

“We never met until we met on the set of Everybody Loves Raymond, and we became good friends,” Ray told Looper in May 2023. “But we all brought our life experiences to the writers room, at least. Brad, you weren’t in the writers [room]. Well, we weren’t allowing you anywhere near us.”

A Mega Hit

Ray credited Peter, who died in 2006, as the reason why the show was such a huge hit.

“He’s one of the main reasons it worked for me, because he made me feel accepted and comfortable. He was that kind of guy,” Ray told The Associated Press.

Peter Boyle’s Famous Read

Initially, Peter wasn’t supposed to jump into reading for the part of Frank right away.

“He wasn’t supposed to read. We were just supposed to have a meeting with him. But he offered to read,” Ray recalled. “And in his defense, it was a rough day for him. We really couldn’t gauge whether he was getting the comedy of it, and we still said, ‘It’s Peter Boyle, let’s just go with the best actor in the room.’”

Peter Was a Monk

Before paving his way in Hollywood as an actor, Peter was a monk.

“He was a monk sworn to silence for two years,” Ray shared. “I don’t know if you knew that he lived in a monastery. That was his pre-Hollywood days, and I don’t know, I guess that didn’t work out for him.”

Brad Took a Prop From Set

Brad wanted to take the green phone from the Everybody Loves Raymond set as a souvenir when the show ended.

“I wanted to steal it, and they were like, ‘What are you doing?’ And I’m like, ‘Nothing.’ It was really lame,” he told People in June 2023. “They said, ‘Would you like that phone?’ And Rhonda, who was the head of props, gave it to me, and so I treasure it.”