Everybody Loves Peter

The incredibly versatile character actor Peter Boyle died yesterday in New York. He was 71. Apparently he passed away at New York Presbyterian Hospital after suffering from from multiple myeloma and heart disease. (The actor had suffered a stroke in 1990, and a heart attack in 1999). Boyle has had supporting roles in such varied films as The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The Candidate, Taxi Driver, Hardcore, Outland, Joe, Steelyard Blues and While You Were Sleeping. Boyle also turned in a brilliant performance in one of personal favorite films: Mel Brooks' comic masterpiece Young Frankenstein.


Boyle won an Emmy for a guest turn on the The X-Files in 1996 and was cast that same year in the role that would make him a household name: the cantankerous patriarch Frank Barone in the Ray Romano sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. The part earned him seven Emmy nominations but never a win. In stark contrast to his TV role, his chilling turn as a racist former cop in 2001's Monster's Ball demonstrated that Boyle could still play intense drama as well as light-hearted comedy. Most recently, he appeared in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. Boyle is survived by his wife, Loraine Alterman (whom he met on the set of Young Frankenstein), and their two daughters.


R.I.P. PETER BOYLE
(1935 - 2006)