Two Michaels in One Family
The name Michael Cannata connects two generations to actress Doris Roberts. One Michael was her first husband. The other was their son, who remained part of her later public life. Confusing them turns a quiet family history into an inaccurate entertainment biography.
Michael Cannata Sr., also identified as Michael E. Cannata, married Roberts in 1956. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1962, and they had one son, Michael Cannata Jr. I begin with that distinction because the senior Cannata has no established screen career of his own, while many later references to the name concern the younger man.
A fuller identification, Michael Emilio Cannata, is associated with a New York genealogy trail giving a birth date of March 1, 1922, and a death date of June 4, 1988. The connection is plausible, but it is not completely confirmed independently of that family reconstruction. I keep that uncertainty attached to the dates rather than quietly presenting them as settled.
A Possible New York Childhood
The genealogical account places Michael in Manhattan during the 1930 and 1940 census years, in a household headed by Carlo Cannata, sometimes rendered Carlos. His mother is named as Josephine Cannata, and both parents are described as having been born in Italy.
If the identification is correct, it places the senior Cannata within an Italian American family in New York before his marriage to Roberts. That is a useful outline, but it does not establish the language spoken at home, family traditions, schools, or the parents’ occupations.
An Army enlistment dated April 7, 1943, in New York City is also associated with Michael E. Cannata. It offers a dated military connection during the Second World War. It does not, on its own, establish his rank, deployment, length of service, or postwar occupation.
| Detail | Degree of certainty |
|---|---|
| Marriage to Doris Roberts in 1956 | Established in her public biography |
| Divorce in 1962 | Established in her public biography |
| Son Michael Cannata Jr. | Established family relationship |
| Birth on March 1, 1922 | Associated genealogical identification |
| Army enlistment on April 7, 1943 | Associated military record |
| Death on June 4, 1988 | Associated death index identification |
Marriage to Doris Roberts
Doris Roberts was born Doris May Green on November 4, 1925, in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in New York. Her acting career began well before the television role that eventually made her especially familiar to audiences.
She and Michael married in 1956. An older account gives a different year, but 1956 is the preferred date in the more consistent family chronology. Their marriage ended in 1962.
The available details do not establish where they met, what Michael did for a living during the marriage, or why they divorced. I treat those as unanswered questions rather than invitations to infer conflict from the fact of a separation.
Their son is generally described as having been born in the late 1950s. March 18, 1957, appears in later profiles, but that exact birthday is not sufficiently confirmed here. The central fact is simpler and firmer: Michael Jr. was the couple’s only documented child.
The Son and the Next Generation
Michael Cannata Jr. is frequently described as having worked behind the scenes in entertainment, including helping manage his mother’s career. Specific production credits and educational claims are not fully established in the details available for this account, so I avoid presenting a detailed professional résumé.
What is clear is his role as Doris’s son in the family announcements following her death. He was the family member who conveyed the news to her spokeswoman in April 2016.
Jane A. Jasper is identified as Michael Jr.’s wife and Doris’s daughter in law. The next generation includes Kelsey, Andrew, and Devon Cannata, named together as Doris’s three grandchildren. They are also the senior Michael’s grandchildren through his son.
I keep their lives at the level publicly established by those relationships. Their occupations, spouses, and individual life stories are not needed to describe the senior Cannata’s family, and are not reliably developed here.
William Goyen and a Separate Marriage
In 1963, after her divorce from Michael, Doris married writer William Goyen. That marriage lasted until Goyen’s death from leukemia in 1983. Goyen was a novelist and playwright, and his name should not be merged with Michael’s or treated as another version of the same husband.
Doris went on to a long career across theater, film, and television. Her work included Barefoot in the Park, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Hester Street, and Remington Steele. From 1996 to 2005, she played Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond.
The chronology matters. Michael and Doris had been divorced for decades when Raymond began. If the 1988 death identification is correct, he also died eight years before the series premiered. The fame and earnings from that role cannot be assigned to their former marriage as though it were still ongoing.
Later Dates and Financial Limits
The possible death record gives June 4, 1988, in Staten Island, New York, with an age of 66 if the 1922 birth date is correct. No dependable cause of death or newspaper obituary narrative is established. Whether he remarried is also unknown.
Doris died on April 17, 2016, at 90. Her death brought renewed attention to the family, but most references to Michael at that time concerned her surviving son.
There is no reliable personal net worth, estate valuation, or postwar career history for Michael Sr. I would not use Doris’s television success, book royalties, or awards as substitutes for his own financial record.
FAQ
Was Michael Cannata Sr an actor?
A documented acting career is not established. He is publicly known primarily as Doris Roberts’s first husband and the father of Michael Cannata Jr.
When were Michael and Doris married?
The preferred marriage year is 1956. Their divorce took place in 1962.
Who are his grandchildren?
Kelsey, Andrew, and Devon Cannata are identified through his son Michael Jr. and daughter in law Jane.
Are his birth and death dates certain?
March 1, 1922, and June 4, 1988, belong to a plausible genealogical identification. I retain that qualification because the connection is not fully confirmed in Doris’s public family biography.
