The Everybody Loves Raymond team assembled the perfect cast to play the Barone family. However, finding the right actress for Debra Barone was no easy task, but Patricia Heaton eventually won the role after a very memorable audition.
During the CBS special, Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion, show creator Phil Rosenthal sat down with Heaton and Ray Romano to discuss how they became one of the most beloved sitcom couples. “We saw 200 women before we found Patty Heaton. When she came in, she just knocked it out of the park,” Rosenthal said.