I found this article about Burt Reynolds (9 Things You Never Knew About Burt Reynolds) on the remindmagazine.com website.

1 He was almost a Pro Football Player

While growing up in West Palm Beach, Florida, he was extremely committed to football in high school and had plans to go to Miami, but since he was so into the ladies, he went to Florida State because the ratio of girls to boys was higher. After being offered a contract to play for the Baltimore Colts, his dreams of going pro were dashed when he succumbed to a knee injury. He at least starred in a few movies about his favorite sport.

2 He started out in Spaghetti Westerns

In the early 1960s, both Burt and Clint Eastwood were under contract at Universal, but they couldn’t get the movie roles they desired. So, they both went to Italy to do movies and got their start in Spaghetti Westerns. Eastwood struck gold with The Good, The Bad & the Ugly; meanwhile, Burt made what is considered one of the worst movies of the genre, Navajo Joe in 1966.

3 Late Night talk shows loved him

Burt soon became a fixture on late-night talk shows due to his funny and charming personality. It was one appearance on the Johnny Carson Show that Deliverance director John Boorman spotted him and wanted to cast him immediately for the film. Burt felt it was truly the first good movie he made, as he would often make fun of himself and his roles in the talk show circuit.

4 A famous photo shoot made him a sex symbol

The infamous Cosmopolitan photo shoot stemmed from once hosting the Johnny Carson Show and Cosmo editor Helen Gurley Brown was one of the guests. Making the point that Hugh Hefner had female centerfolds for years, she felt it was time for the ladies to have one and asked Burt to do the photo shoot. While he was a little concerned about how it would affect his career and being taken as a serious actor, he took the gamble anyway and it shot him to sex symbol status. However, Hollywood was not happy about it and the photo shoot is thought to have ruined his chances of getting an Oscar nomination for Deliverance.

5 He claimed bankruptcy several times

Living a very extravagant lifestyle with a private jet, helicopters, the Tampa Bay Bandits football team, a house in Hawaii, several houses in Florida, the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater, and donations of money left and right, he spent every dime he made as he made it. It wasn’t until a few bad investment opportunities that he had to claim bankruptcy and sign his residual checks over for several years to pay off the bankruptcy. The crown jewel of his money though went to the Jupiter Ranch, a 144-acre ranch that he bought in Jupiter, Florida. He once held an opening for the sprawling estate in 1974. He invited the press and locals and 10,000 people showed up! Sadly, he once again had to claim bankruptcy in the ’90s and had to sell it.

6 Smokey and the Bandit tanked at first

Hal Needham was the stunt guy in Hollywood and, wanting to direct, he wrote the script for Smokey and the Bandit. Hal and Burt were best friends since he was Burt’s stuntman, although Burt did many of his own stunts. Hal got him to sign on for the film. While the film tanked at both NYC and LA premieres, Burt said they released it wrong. Being known for his Southern charm, he said it had to be released in the South, and so it was. It went on to be the 2nd biggest movie in 1977, behind a little movie called Star Wars.

7 A stunt gone wrong left him badly injured

While filming City Heat with Clint Eastwood, he got injured doing one of the stunts, which led to a hairline fracture in his jaw that turned into TMJ syndrome. With it being incredibly hard for him to eat, he lost a ton of weight, and at the time he was rumored to have AIDS. Due to the tremendous amount of pain he was in, he became a pain pill addict and almost died from trying to quit them cold turkey once. He sadly struggled with this addiction for many years.

8 He had many loves

When Burt and Loni Anderson finally married in 1988, he bought her wedding ring in every gem possible so she could never say it didn’t match her dress. The pair were together since 1982 and shared an adopted son, Quinton, but later went through a very messy divorce after splitting in 1993. It was in 2015 that Burt came out saying that he let the real love of his life, Sally Field, get away.

9 He HATED Boogie Nights

While always hungry for an Academy Award, he didn’t receive his first award until it came in the form of an Emmy with his hit TV show Evening Shade in the early ’90s. When Boogie Nights came along, he was adamant he didn’t want to do it and was often yelling at the director about how much he didn’t want to. It wasn’t until Nights director Paul Thomas Anderson said to him, “You act this way in the film, and it will win you an Academy Award” that he agreed. He was nominated for his only Academy Award as porn producer Jack Horner but lost out to Robin Williams. He still despised doing the role.

SOURCE: REMINDMAGAZINE.COM  KAREN RUUD

Today is Joe Pesci’s birthday (born in 1943) so I brought an article from discoverwalks.com detailing 10 little known facts about Joe!

Joe Took Acting And Music Classes When He Was Young 

Joe Pesci was born on 9th February 1943 in Newark, but he was raised in Belleville, both in New Jersey. His parents were Angelo Pesci who worked multiple blue-collar jobs including driving a forklift and bartending, and Maria (Mesce) Pesci who was a barber. They were both Italians, the family was catholic and Joe had two siblings. From as young as 5 years old, the boy was enrolled in dancing, music, and acting classes. He immediately started acting on New York stage productions and when he was 10 years old, he was a regular on a TV variety show called Startime Kids that was airing on New York’s WNBC. His co-host was Connie Francis, who went on to become a successful actress and singer. 

As A Teenager He Changed His Focus From Acting To Music 

Joe went to Belleville High School. As a teenager, he lost interest in acting and decided to explore his musical talent. He co-founded a successful rock band, The Four Seasons, with Bob Gaudio, Frankie Valli, and Tommy DeVito. After graduation from high school, the young Joe took up various jobs, including cutting people’s hair just like his mum did. He also worked as a waiter and singer at night clubs still molding his talent.  He released an album titled ‘Little Joe Sure Can Sing!’ under the name Joe Ritchie in 1968. Thirty years later, in 1998, he released his second album Vincent LaGuardia Gambini (his character in the movie ‘My Cousin Vinny’) Sings Just for You. His third album, Pesci… Still Singing, was released in 2019. This time the silent period was 21 years. 

He Was Part Of A Comedy Duo 

He is very hard-working and proactive, still working as a waiter. He tried standup comedy, teaming up with Frank Vincent, and together the duo did insult comedy which was quite popular then. The two developed a bond and they performed as “Vincent and Pesci” from 1970 to 1976. 

Joe’s Rib Was Broken While Acting

In 1976, Joe landed his first role in the film, Death Collector, a low-budgeted crime movie. When Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro saw Pesci’s acting skills therein, they were incredibly impressed.  In 1979, the actor/director duo cast Pesci for a role as Joey LaMotta in their upcoming project, The Raging Bull. As they were filming, De Niro accidentally broke Joe’s rib when he hit him with a bit of strength. Doors opened wide for the actor after this and he got offered several other roles. Fast forward to 1995, in another project (The Casino) with both Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, Joe broke the same rib he had broken 15 years before. He was hit with a baseball bat in his last scene. 

He Played Golf Every Morning While Filming ‘Home Alone’ 

In 1990, Pesci played one of the dim-witted burglars in the Christmas comedy film, Home Alone. He was delighted that there was a golf course near the set, and the producers allowed him time to play golf before filming started. With so many children on the set, adult cast members used the word “fridge” instead of bad language. Anyone who said terrible words would deposit change into their personal swear jar. Joe filled up his jar on the first day. Although most of the stunt scenes had doubles, Joe did some of the stunts on his own. Some were quite painful because he suffered severe burns when he was set on fire and had to treat some painful burns. 

Joe Has Acted With De Niro In Amazing Films 

Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro work very well together. They are mostly in Mafia and Mob movies. Most of these famous films were directed by Martin Scorsese and in some, the two don’t appear together.  These films included Casino, Goodfellas, The Good Shepherd, A Bronx Tale, Raging Bull, Once Upon A Time In America, and The Irishman. The actor announced his retirement from acting to focus on music in 1999. He has however come out of retirement several times after that to act in films, some of which did very well at the box office. 

This Actor Has Been Married And Divorced Three Times 

Joe has been in three marriages but they all ended in divorce. He was also engaged at some point but the relationship ended before they said I do. He has two daughters, one from his first marriage and the other from his third marriage. 

He Gained Weight For A Role That He Didn’t Act 

Pesci sued a production company, Fiore Films, the makers of the movie Gotti. They had promised him a role in the film and he had gained 14 kilograms (30 lbs) in readiness. He sued them for $3 million, which was the payment he had been promised. The case was settled out of court and the terms were not disclosed.

Joe Was Almost Arrested For Attempted Murder  

After her divorce from Joe, actress Claudia Haro got engaged to Garret Warren, an ex-stuntman. In May of 2000, Garret was shot at the front door of his house in Westlake Village in California. Luckily, he survived but he wears an eye patch since he lost his right eye.  A witness claimed to have seen Joe Pesci paying the hitman but after thorough investigations, evidence pointed to Claudia. She had hired a hitman to kill Garret, which earned her 12 years and 4 months in prison. 

He Won An Oscar That He Was Not Expecting   

When Joe Pesci’s name was called out as the winner of the Best Supporting Actor award for the film Goodfellas at the 1991 Oscars, he was excited but also mostly surprised. He made his way to the stage, received the award, and gave the shortest acceptance speech in history. 

He said, “It’s my privilege. Thank you!” Then he walked off the stage. It was one of the shortest acceptance speeches in Oscar history. When asked why his speech was so short, he confessed that he didn’t think he would win, so he hadn’t prepared a speech. 

SOURCE: DISCOVERWALKS.COM

How could you NOT be intrigued by an article with that name? I found this article on CLEDEMY.COM and it was written by RASHMI PANCHAL.

This famous American actor was born on January 7, 1964, in Long Beach, California. His dad, August Coppola, was a professor of literature, and his mom, Joy Vogelsang, was a dancer and choreographer. Nicolas was raised in a Catholic family –his father was of Italian descent, while his mother was of Polish and German ancestry! He is the youngest of three sons. His two brothers are Marc “The Cope” Coppola and director Christopher Coppola.

He changed his name

In 2012, Nicolas told The Huffington Post that he decided to change his last name after actors on the set of the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) resented him! It was the first movie by Nicolas and the actors hated him because his uncle was a well-known director Francis Ford Coppola. Unfortunately, most of his scenes in that movie ended up getting cut. To stand out from his relatives, Nicolas chose “Cage.” He took the name after being inspired by the African-American comic book superhero Luke Cage.

At the foot of Cage’s bed, a naked home intruder ate a fudgsicle

While talking about his home invasion thriller Trespass in the year 2011, Cage told reporters that he was once victimized in his home! He shared that a person had broken into his Orange County home. He was sleeping, and “I opened my eyes, and there was a naked man wearing my leather jacket eating a Fudgsicle in front of my bed.” He further added, “I know it sounds funny…but it was horrifying.” Later, Cage convinced the man to leave before the police arrived. While Cage didn’t press charges, he said he never stayed in the house again. 

Cage once owned 15 houses, including a haunted house

There are many interesting possessions Cage has accrued throughout his life–such as shrunken pygmy heads, an octopus, and his amazing houses located around the world.  Many of those houses were foreclosed on in the wake of debt, including America’s “Most Haunted House.” In 2007, Cage bought the LaLaurie House in New Orleans. He claimed that he bought this to get inspiration to write a book; however, the book was never produced, and two years later, the house was sold.

Cage once slept in Dracula’s castle

While promoting the film Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance in 2011, popular actor Idris Elba recalled an incident. One day, noticing Cage was tired, Elba asked if they had gotten any rest. He answered, “Yeah, man, I went up to Dracula’s castle…the ruins up in the mountains, and I stayed the night.” He further added, “I just had to channel the energy, and it was pretty spooky up there.” He was probably talking about Bran Castle near Transylvania, which may have been Dracula’s residence in the novel of Bram Stoker.

While filming ‘Vampire’s Kiss,’ Cage ate live cockroaches

While playing Peter Low in the 1988 film Vampire’s Kiss, Cage ate a live cockroach! Eating the cockroach was his idea as a calculated on-screen move. According to Bierman, the director, the script actually required the character to eat a raw egg. However, Bierman and Cage decided an egg wasn’t extreme enough, so Cage decided to eat a cockroach.

Cage owns a pyramid-shaped Tomb in New Orleans

Cage owns a tomb that is located in St. Louis Cemetery in the French Quarter in New Orleans.  The tomb is ready for him to be placed inside when the time arrives.  The tomb can only be seen on a licensed tour offered by New Orleans Catholic Church and it sits among the tombs of notable figures, like Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau. It is not known how much Cage paid for this nine-foot-high pyramid tomb when he bought it in 2010, but according to a report, it was $40,000. It has the inscription “everything from one” in Latin.

Cage was the victim of a massive comic book heist

In 1997, comic book fan Nicolas Cage bought a copy of Action Comics #1, the highly sought-after issue of 1939. It was the issue that introduced Superman and even ushered in the superhero genre of the 20^th century. The book, however, along with some other rare titles, was stolen in January 2000 from Cage’s home. The case went cold for 11 years before the book showed up in the storage locker of San Fernando Valley. After a police investigation, Cage got his book back, and he sold it for a then-record of $2.1 million!

Nicolas Cage accidentally bought a skull of a dinosaur

The extravagant spending habits of Cage have been well documented; however, very few of them can match his grandiose gesture of spending $276,000 at a 2007 auction for a Tyrannosaurus bataar skull. Unfortunately, he didn’t know that the skull had been stolen from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. In 2014, contacted by the Department of Homeland Security, Cage agreed to hand it over…so that it could be returned.

A Japanese corn snack used Cage’s likeness without permission

In October 2017, Cage’s fans in Japan were very happy to see the actor’s face emblazoned on a snack package!  It was a crunchy corn snack known as Deluxe Umaibou Nicolastick! The snack was intended to promote his movie, Army of One, in a few theaters; however, no one asked him for his consent.

Cage helped Johnny Depp break into acting

Johnny Depp and Nicolas Cage were good friends, and during a casual game of Monopoly, Cage told Depp that he should try acting! Later in 2019, Cage told The New York Times that Depp was actually dismissive of the suggestions and even said that he couldn’t act and wanted to be a musician! However, Cage pestered and had Johnny Depp meet with his agent. Soon after, Depp was cast in the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

One of Cage’s kids is named after Kal-El, his favorite superhero

Cage has two sons, Weston, and Kal El. Weston was born in 1990 and is the child of Cage and his long-time girlfriend, Christian Fulton. Weston is a musician, has entered acting, and even wrote a comic book with his father called Voodoo Child.

Cage’s third wife, Alice Kim, gave birth to the boy Kal-El in 2005. The name of the actor’s younger son is the same name given to Superman when he lived on Krypton. The name is believed to resemble the Hebrew words for “Voice of God.”

After Cage was arrested in 2011, Dog the Bounty Hunter posted his bail

In 2011, Cage was arrested in New Orleans for domestic abuse and disturbing the peace. He had been fighting with his wife, Alice Kim, according to the police. Duane “Dog” Chapman, also famous as Dog the Bounty Hunter, came to help Cage, posting the $11,000 bond required to be released. According to Chapman, he just performed his duties as a bail bondsman.

Cage has been married five times

In February 2021, Cage walked down the aisle with Riko Shabata in Las Vegas, NV, making it the fifth marriage of the actor. He married Patricia Arquette (1995-2001), Lisa Marie Presley (2002-2004), Alice Kim (2004-2016), and also Erika Koike (2019).

Nicolas Cage worked his way out of $6 million in debt

In an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes, this talented actor, Nicolas Cage, revealed that at one point in his life, he was $6 million in debt! So, he had to act in different kinds of movies, including a few “crummy movies”, but he managed to work himself out of that debt.

SOURCE: CLEDEMY.COM RASHMI PANCHAL

Today is Mel Gibson’s birthday (born in 1956), and I went looking for interesting facts about this talented, sexy man. I found this article on factinate.com and I wanted to share some of the article.

1. A Few Brothers and Sisters…

Mel Gibson is the sixth of eleven children. Eleven children.

2. Poser Down Under

Originally born in New York, Gibson and his family emigrated to Australia when he was twelve. He kept his American citizenship, but picked up the Australian accent.

3. Knowledge is its own Reward

Gibson’s father won $21,000 playing Jeopardy.

4. Bottled Up

His sister applied on his behalf, but without his knowledge, to the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. At the time, Gibson had graduated but was working at an orange juice bottling factory. Somewhere out there is an alternate universe where Mel Gibson is referred to as the “Clark Gable of Orange Juice Bottling”.

5. One Day She’ll Fly Away

While working on that production, Gibson met his future ex-wife Robyn Moore. Gibson took one look at her and said, “One day, I’m gonna divorce that girl.”

6. I Don’t Want to Go to There

Gibson made $400 for his first film role, the 1977 Australian surfer film “Summer City.” It is also known as “Coast of Terror,” which would be a pretty awful tourism ad.

7. Mad Money

For his role in the first Mad Max film, Gibson made $15,000. By the time he got to the second sequel, “Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome,” Gibson’s salary was up to a million, his first million-dollar payday.

8. American Gothic

Gibson’s first American film was 1984’s “The River” in which he and Sissy Spacek played struggling Tennessee farmers.

9. Moo-Urns!

After working on four films in a row, Gibson took almost two years off to work at his Australian cattle station because cows are easier to deal with than actors.

10. Behind-The-Wheel Woes

Gibson took another year off after he rear-ended a car in Toronto whilst under the influence. He was banned from driving in Ontario for three months, which given the traffic, is much less of a punishment than you’d think.

11. Fine, I’ll Win an Oscar

Just like with acting, Gibson originally had no desire to direct. The studios encouraged him to do so, which resulted in Gibson eventually winning a Best Director Oscar for his work on “Braveheart.

12. Why So Serious?

As a director, Gibson likes to break the tension on set by having his actors perform serious scenes while wearing a red clown nose.

13. It’s a Sign

After making “Signs,” Gibson said he no longer wanted to be a movie star and only wanted to focus on roles that were “extraordinary.” He went on to make “Edge of Darkness,” which scored 56% on Rotten Tomatoes.

14. As You Wish

In keeping with his desire to no longer be a movie star, in 2010, Gibson had a public (and profoundly racist, cruel, and threatening) outburst against his girlfriend and was dropped from William Morris Endeavor, his talent agency.

15. Alcohol

On July 28^th, 2006, Gibson was arrested by deputy James Mee of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for driving under the influence while speeding in his vehicle with an open container of alcohol. Gibson first told the officer, “My life is over. I’m [redacted]. Robyn’s going to leave me.” When the officer wouldn’t let him drive home, he exploded into a racist tirade which culminated with, “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?”

16. Not the Best Record

Gibson’s divorce was finalized in December 23^rd, 2011 and, at over $400 million, the settlement was said to be the highest in Hollywood history.

17. In the Right

Gibson’s political views have been charitably described as “ultraconservative.”

18. Laughing in the Face of Controversy

Gibson’s Icon Productions originally agreed to finance Michael Moore’s film “Fahrenheit 9/11” but later sold the rights to Miramax Films. Moore said that his agent claimed that “top Republicans” had called Gibson to tell him not to expect any more invitations to the White House. A spokesperson for Icon dismissed the story saying, “We never run from controversy. You’d have to be out of your mind to think that of the company that just put out The Passion of the Christ.” Fair point.

19. Stickler for the Rules

Gibson was raised a Sedevacantist traditionalist Catholic. He believes that, “There is no salvation for those outside the church… My wife is a saint. She’s a much better person than I am. Honestly. She’s… Episcopalian. And it’s not fair if she doesn’t make it. She’s better than I am. But that is a pronouncement from the chair. I go with it.”

20. On Abortion

Gibson is staunchly pro-life, telling Barbara Walters in an interview that, “God is the only one who knows how many children we should have, and we should be ready to accept them. One can’t decide for oneself who comes into this world and who doesn’t. That decision doesn’t belong to us.” This certainly explains why Gibson has nine children.

21. Breakfast of Champions

Despite his problems with alcohol addiction, he still managed to maintain his professionalism. “Lethal Weapon 2” director Richard Donner recalls being quite surprised when Gibson confided that he was drinking five pints of beer for breakfast. What’s more surprising is that Gibson managed to maintain his action star physique considering the sheer number of carbs he was consuming on a daily basis.

SOURCE: FACTINATE.COM

Happy New Year’s Eve! I do not drink, but I always find it interesting to see what other people are drinking. I found these unusual cocktails at The Pioneer Woman’s website!

Sugar Cookie Martini

Peppermint Martini

Espresso Martini

Chocolate Martini

Pomegranate Margarita

For recipes for these drinks, please visit The Pioneer Woman’s website!

Have a Happy New Year’s Eve! If you drink, don’t drive!

Today is Ray Romano’s birthday (born in 1958), so I found an article about Everybody Loves Raymond!

From: Mental Floss:

1. THE SHOW BEGAN AFTER RAY ROMANO DID A STAND-UP SET ON LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN.

“I was doing stand-up for 12 years,” Romano recounted to Larry King in 2005. “I did my first stand-up spot on Letterman and then the following week his company called me up to say, ‘We want to try to develop a show based around what we saw.'”

2. ROMANO DIDN’T LOVE THE TITLE.

“It was a title that, first of all, the critics … it invites hatred,” Romano explained. “It came about from a sarcastic comment my brother made, who is a police officer. 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.”

3. DORIS ROBERTS THOUGHT SHE WOULD BE TOO BUSY TO EVEN AUDITION.

Doris Roberts was busy directing a play while the Marie auditions were taking place. The play’s producer made sure to have her available for 3:30 one fateful Monday. She beat out over 100 other women for the part.

4. PETER BOYLE WAS PERFECTLY ANGRY AT HIS AUDITION FOR FRANK.

Peter Boyle had trouble just getting into the studio lot. He then couldn’t find a parking space. Then he went into the wrong building. By the time he reached Romano and show creator/showrunner Philip Rosenthal he was, in his own words, “enraged”—and perfectly in character for Frank Barone. The topper of it all was that, according to Romano, the CBS president was going to give Boyle the gig anyway.

5. CBS OFFERED CAROL FROM FRIENDS THE PART OF DEBRA.

Jane Sibbett (Ross’s first ex-wife on Friends) declined the role once she discovered Romano was both unaware she had been offered the role by the network, and that Romano was pushing hard for Patricia Heaton to play his on-screen wife.

Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice on Friends, auditioned for the role of Debra, too. She ended up playing Debra’s friend Linda over the course of the series as a consolation prize. Heaton wasn’t officially cast until one week before the pilot began shooting.

6. RAY IS OLDER THAN HIS “OLDER” BROTHER.

Brad Garrett, who played Ray’s older brother Robert, was 36 when the series first started. Romano was a few months shy of his 39th birthday.

7. PHILIP ROSENTHAL’S WIFE GOT USED TO STORIES FROM HER MARRIAGE BEING WRITTEN INTO THE SHOW.

Monica Horan—who played Robert’s on-again-off-again girlfriend and eventual wife Amy—was married to the show’s creator, Phil Rosenthal. She got used to her arguments with Rosenthal ending up in scripts. Horan told People about an episode where Debra has PMS: “I’m hearing lines from conversations I had with my husband. Ray was telling Debra to take medication, and she was telling him she needed a hug. I was like, ‘Whoa.’ I was crying, then laughing, then crying. It was surreal.”

“Ninety percent of everything you hear on the show has been said to me or Ray Romano or one of the writers,” Rosenthal admitted in the same article. Horan claimed her favorite line to Rosenthal is, “You can say the right thing on TV, but why can’t you do it in real life?”

8. THE NAMES OF THE TWIN BOYS WERE CHANGED AFTER THE FIRST EPISODE.

In the pilot, the kids were known as Matthew and Gregory, but were subsequently turned into Michael and Geoffrey for the rest of the series. Romano’s own twin sons are named Matthew and Gregory; he decided that art was imitating life a little too closely and asked for the names to be changed. Matthew and Gregory not only got new names, they got new actors to play them: Rosenthal cast Sullivan and Sawyer Sweeten as Michael and Geoffrey, respectively. They were the real-life brothers of Madylin Sweeten, who played their TV sis, Ally.

The inclination to separate fact from fiction never seemed to apply to Ally, who kept her character name despite being based on Romano’s real daughter, also named Ally. Not only that, the real Ally (Alexandra Romano) played TV Ally’s friend Molly on the show.

9. RAY’S BROTHER WAS A POLICE OFFICER, WHOSE COLLEAGUES MADE FUN OF HIM.

“Well, my brother was—he is a retired cop now, but at the time he would take a lot of stuff from the other cops,” said Romano. “They think it’s a documentary.” While Garrett put his own spin on the character to differentiate Robert Barone from Rich Romano, there was a point where Ray’s brother—an NYPD sergeant—moved back in with their parents.

10. PATRICIA HEATON’S FATHER WAS A SPORTSWRITER, LIKE RAY BARONE.

Chuck Heaton was a sportswriter for The Cleveland Plain Dealer for 50 years. He’s mentioned in the season one episode “Recovering Pessimist” when Debra runs down a list of Ray’s competition for a Sportswriter of the Year award: “Chuck Heaton’s big story this year was ‘too much violence in boxing.’ Thanks for the scoop, Chuck.”

11. PETER BOYLE’S CAREER WAS ALLUDED TO TWICE IN THE SAME EPISODE.

In “Halloween Candy,” Frank gives the same speech about mortality he famously gave to Robert De Niro’s character in Taxi Driver (1976). He also dressed as Frankenstein’s monster, a nod to his work in Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein (1974).

12. THE SHOW MADE ROMANO THE HIGHEST PAID ACTOR ON TELEVISION.

Romano made $1.7 to $1.8 million per episode during the last two seasons of Raymond, surpassing Kelsey Grammer’s $1.6 million per episode salary for Frasier at the time.

13. THE SERIES ENDED WHEN THE WRITERS RAN OUT OF IDEAS.

“We ran out of ideas,” Rosenthal told The A.V. Club of why the show came to an end. “If you worked for me, I would say to you, ‘Go home, get in a fight with your wife, and come back in and tell me about it.’ And then we’d have a show. But after nine years, if we kept that up, our wives would leave us. And in California, that’s half. So we made sure that we got out before that happened.”

14. THE SERIES FINALE TAPING WAS DELAYED BY ONE WEEK.

Patricia Heaton fell ill, and by the intended showtime her voice was completely gone. The audience was sent home, and told to return seven days later.

15. RAYMOND IS LOVED ALL OVER THE WORLD.

The Voronins, or Воронины, the Russian adaptation which Rosenthal attempted to help, was Russia’s number one comedy, and performed original episodes after going through all 210 of the American installments. Local-language versions of the show were also produced in Egypt (Close Doors); Israel (You Can’t Choose Your Family); the Netherlands (Everybody Is Crazy About Jack); Poland (Everybody Loves Roman, which was canceled after four episodes), and the Czech Republic (Everybody Loves Rudy). In the United Kingdom, a pilot was shot (The Smiths).

SOURCE: MENTALFLOSS.COM