Doris Roberts to speak at Town Hall

The Vindicator

WARREN — Doris Roberts, the actress best-known for playing the meddlesome mother in the long-running hit sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond,” will kick off the Trumbull Town Hall speakers series Sept. 30.

The rest of Trumbull Town Hall’s 2009-10 lineup includes Roland Mesnier, former White House pastry chef, Nov. 4; Bill Schustik, known as “the American troubadour,” March 10; and Elliot Engel, scholar and performer, April 14. All of the lectures start at 10:30 a.m. at Packard Music Hall, 1703 Mahoning Ave., N.W.

Season tickets are $55 ($60 after June 1). Call (330) 373-1900 for more information, or go to trumbulltownhall.org.

Roberts was named an actress of the year in 2001 by the American Film Institute. She received an Emmy Award for her work in “Raymond.” Her acting career began in 1955 when she landed a role in the Broadway production of “The Time of Your Life.”

Mesnier, a native of France, became the pastry chef at the White House in 1979, during the Carter administration, and held the job for 25 years, encompassing four presidential terms: Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Schustik travels the nations’s highways and byways, entertaining with his baritone voice and a harmonica and guitar. He has performed at the White House and on Broadway.

Engel is a scholar and author who will speak on “Queen Victoria and the Victorian Novel.”