Here's How Much Ray Romano Made From Everybody Loves Raymond
Ray Romano is someone who is just as skilled at making money as he is at making people laugh. The comedian may think that financial-matters are "all relative" — "The joke I used to say was, 'Before I used to think my cabdriver hated me, and now I think my limo driver hates me,'" he told Vanity Fair in 2017, "I'm just in a different tax bracket, but what I'm going through internally is still the same" — however, there's no denying that this is one man who knows how to turn his funny tendencies into a formidable fortune.
If you're wondering how much Romano can command in Hollywood, Forbes notes that he took "home a hefty paycheck for voicing the lovable wooly mammoth 'Manny' in the animated movie series Ice Age." That was surely a significant paycheck considering Celebrity Net Worth points out that the first film grossed $383 million worldwide, while the sequels brought in even more, with Ice Age: The Meltdown taking in $651.8 million and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs earning $884 million, which made it "one of the highest-grossing animated films in history."
However, before that lucrative gig, Romano's ticket to big-time fame and fortune came thanks to his show Everybody Loves Raymond. Premiering in 1996, the comedy ran for nine seasons before wrapping up in 2005. During its run, the show and the people behind it earned multiple Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe nominations — it also made its star a staggering amount of money.
'Everybody Loves Raymond' made Ray Romano 'the highest-paid actor on TV'
While Everybody Loves Raymond first hit television screens in 1996, it apparently hit its peak in 2003, which is when its star, Ray Romano, signed a new contract that made him "the highest-paid actor on TV," according to People. That new deal meant that Romano was set to make $50 million for the eighth season of the show. Yes, $50 million for a single season! That was a pay raise of "about $1.7 million-$1.8 million per episode, compared to [the] $800,000 or so per episode" that he had been making before that.
In comparison, at the time, the stars of Friends were each bringing in $1 million per episode, while Fraiser's Kelsey Grammer was being paid $1.6 million for each episode of his long-running comedy.
What makes the entire situation even more impressive is that even after Everybody Loves Raymond ended, Forbes explained that Romano was still making money off of the show "with the bulk of his annual earnings coming from syndication of the long-running CBS sitcom." We wonder if his cast mates are also still making money off of the show because they certainly had issues getting paid what they thought they were worth while it was on the air.
Ray Romano's co-stars refused to show up for work due to their pay
While Ray Romano was able to negotiate an enviable contract during his Everybody Loves Raymond days, his fellow cast members on the hit show had to fight for salaries that they felt were fair. They even stopped showing up for work when things got bad, staging "walkouts and sickouts," according to The Washington Post.
"Brad Garrett, who play[ed] Raymond's brother Robert Barone on the CBS sitcom, had refused to show up for work ... saying he wouldn't come back until he got a big raise. The network responded by writing him out of the first episode [of the season]," WaPo explained. However, "production got gummed up anyway when Patricia Heaton, who play[ed] star Ray Romano's wife, called in sick, as did Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle, who play[ed] Ray's parents, Marie and Frank Barone."
This came following the reports that Romano was getting a significant raise. Even the star himself told New York's Daily News (via People) that he "blame[d] his own high salary for causing the ... troubles on the set."
If you're curious, The Washington Post points out that Garrett was making a "paltry $150,000 per episode salary — about $4 million a year," while "Heaton was said to be earning about $450,000 per half-hour episode," and Roberts and Boyle were getting "slightly less." They may not have had the kind of earning power that Romano had, but all of the actors are now (or were) millionaires.
What is the cast of 'Everybody Loves Raymond' worth these days?
While the cast members of Everybody Loves Raymond were earning different amounts of money while appearing on the beloved comedy, they were all making significantly more than the average person takes home on payday. That's probably why most of the main cast became millionaires.
The late Peter Boyle, who died in December 2006 at the age of 71 after appearing in plenty of films, like 1974's Young Frankenstein, 1989's The Dream Team, and 1995's While You Were Sleeping, had around $8 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Doris Roberts has $14 million thanks to a longtime career that has included appearances on shows like The Love Boat, Mr. Belvedere, Cagney & Lacey, Full House, Murder, She Wrote, Lizzie McGuire, and many more.
Patricia Heaton, who went on to star as Frankie Heck on The Middle from 2009 to 2018, is worth quite a bit more and now has about $40 million, while Brad Garrett has landed work on shows like 'Til Death, Fargo, and Single Parents, which has surely helped to boost his fortune, which sits at $50 million.
Unsurprisingly, Ray Romano has more money than any of his former cast mates — like, a lot more money. He's thought to have around $130 million, and while he may no longer be the highest-paid actor on TV, this is one star who could retire now and still live comfortably for the rest of his life thanks to the fortune he made while on Everybody Loves Raymond.