Peter Boyle, the actor who transformed from an angry workingman in Joe to a tap-dancing monster in Young Frankenstein and, finally, the comically grouchy father on Everybody Loves Raymond, has died. He was 71.
Boyle, who had been suffering from multiple myeloma and heart disease, died Tuesday evening at New York Presbyterian Hospital, said his publicist, Jennifer Plante.
His comedic role in Frankenstein showed another side of Boyle, one that would be best exploited in the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, in which he played the curmudgeonly paterfamilias Frank Barone for 10 years.
“He’s just obnoxious in a nice way, just for laughs,” Boyle said of the character in a 2001 interview. “It’s a very sweet experience, having this (success) happen at a time when you basically go back over your life and see every mistake you ever made.”
Boyle met his wife, Loraine Alterman, on the set of Young Frankenstein when she visited as a reporter for Rolling Stone magazine and Boyle, still in monster makeup, asked her for a date. Through his wife, a friend of Yoko Ono, he became close with John Lennon, who was best man at his wedding.
In 1990, Boyle had a stroke and couldn’t talk for six months. In 1999, he had a heart attack on the Raymond set. He soon recovered and returned to the series.
Boyle and his wife had two daughters, Lucy and Amy.
It’s always sad to see someone go when you’ve been with them every week, even just through the magic of television. He will be missed.
Holy crap!
-Frank Barone
