Why Everybody Loves Raymond child actors rarely spoke on show as cast opens up on tragic death at 30 year reunion

Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.

The child actors on Everybody Loves Raymond barely spoke on the TV show despite appearing in it for all nine seasons, and it was done for a specific reason.

Interest in the show has been renewed by the 30-year anniversary special on CBS which saw the cast of the beloved US sitcom reunite.

The TV show reunion was praised in particular by its viewers for a heartbreaking but sweet moment in which the cast spoke about how one of the child stars had tragically died at the age of 19.

Sawyer Sweeten played Geoffrey Barone in the series, with his real-life identical twin Sullivan Sweeten playing his in-show twin Michael.

The pair are two of the children of Ray Ramano’s character, Raymond Barone, alongside their real-life older sister Madylin who played his daughter Ally in the series.

The cast had a 30 year reunion where they acknowledged Sawyer's death (CBS)

Sawyer and Sullivan each appeared in 142 episodes of the shows 210 episode run, however, neither received almost any lines in the series.

They joined the cast when they were just 16 months old and, obviously, unable to speak, but even as they grew up over the course of the series they still received almost no lines.

This was not accidental, however, with the show’s creator having previously revealed why the child actors barely got any lines.

Speaking to TV Guide in 2002, Phil Rosenthal said: “I wasn't interested in doing a show with cute kids.

“I wanted to do a show about real people who happened to have children.

“On the surface, it could look like a Full House-type of show, and we wanted to avoid that. We wanted to do an adult sitcom, a nine o'clock show."

Rosenthal stated that he thought the characters worked far better to rarely feature, saying: “I think child actors, in general, can wear out their welcome in a short amount of time.”

The show's creator explained why Sawyer and Sullivan rarely had lines (CBS)

This has been a mystery for many in the 30 years since the show came out, but once its pointed out, seems obvious.

Sawyer sadly died ten years after the show ended in 2015 when he took his own life, something which the cast paid an emotional tribute to in the reunion special.

Ray Ramano said in the reunion special: “So Sawyer, of course, is no longer with us, and we miss him and he, just like you are [gesturing to his siblings], was this bright energy.”

Sawyer’s identical twin brother Sullivan added: “None of us really expected what happened. But I try to think about the good moments. And oftentimes, that’s here on the set.”

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123 or contact Harmless by visiting their website https://harmless.org.uk.