The hit series' name Everybody Loves Raymond doesn't just represent the feeling behind the leading character Ray Barone – instead, Executive Producer Rory Rosegarten confirmed that fittingly, "everybody" really does love actor Ray Romano in real life too. Rory exclusively shared with HELLO! just how special the actor is in his personal life.
Much like his beloved character in the popular series which ran from 1996 to 2005, the entertainer is also hilarious, compassionate and humble, making him easily loveable on and off-screen. Rory, who has been Ray's manager for almost 40 years emphasized: "Everybody really loves him. If you don't like Ray Romano, you're the weirdo in that equation."
Despite Ray being the leading character on the show, he always remained grounded and level-headed with everyone he met. Rory explained: "He doesn't walk in like royalty and [like] he holds court. Ray's the most normal regular guy you could ever want to meet. The trick with Ray is you'll always tell him the truth. And that's all – he's a big boy and he's just not like anybody else. Everybody who's ever encountered him, who's ever worked with him – everybody loves him. They really do."
When it comes to what exactly sets Ray apart, it's his authenticity, which simply cannot be acted out or copied. He expressed: "I think the aura [about him] is that Ray is genuine. There's nothing fake about Ray. He doesn't put it on. If you went to dinner with Ray and you didn't know who he was or what he did, you wouldn't know who he was or what he did."
Rory believes that thanks to Ray's humbleness, the set didn't have a hierarchy, and instead it embodied a strong community of close creatives. He said: "It started with him, because he's such a sweetheart and he's just such a good guy. Like everybody on that staff, whether it was a runner – lower-end to an executive on the higher-end – everybody was treated the same. He knew everybody. He played golf with everybody."
When it comes to the duo's manager-client relationship, Rory revealed that the two have been a dream team for decades. He shared: "I've been Ray's manager for 40+ years. He's a tremendously good guy. He's like my brother, and I'll tell you a funny story about him – we have been together 40, about 40 years, and we have never had a fight. That's pretty incredible because in a business filled with tension, we just always got along well. We don't always agree on everything, whatever, but it's never ugly. It's never a fight. It's never an argument. We work it out. We always work it out. He's a tremendously good guy."
The verdict is in – everybody really does love Raymond.