Everybody Loves Raymond Dad Dies

[Shorty Rok729]

LOS ANGELES (Dec. 13) - 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 died Tuesday evening at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He had been suffering from multiple myeloma and heart disease, said his publicist, Jennifer Plante.

A member of the Christian Brothers religious order who turned to acting, the tall, prematurely balding Boyle gained notice in the title role of the 1970 sleeper hit "Joe," playing an angry, murderous bigot at odds with the emerging hippie youth culture.

Briefly typecast in tough, irate roles, Boyle began to escape the image as Robert Redford 's campaign manager in "The Candidate" and left it behind entirely after "Young Frankenstein," Mel Brooks ' 1974 send-up of horror films. The latter movie's defining moment came when Gene Wilder, as scientist Frederick Frankenstein, introduced his creation to an upscale audience. Boyle, decked out in tails, performed a song-and-dance routine to the Irving Berlin classic "Puttin' On the Ritz."

It showed another side of Boyle, one that would be best exploited in the sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond," in which he played 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."

[KENNY GUIDO]

I simply adored this guy!!! I cant believe he passed.

[steve b]

ahhhh man, i cant believe he's gone. i liked that guy. he was great !!!!!
another man dead before his wife !!!!!! ugh.... just kidding

[Shorty Rok729]

He was the only one on the show I liked. It's sad. R.I.P.

[KENNY GUIDO]

Peter Boyle, veteran actor who perfected cranky

BY VERNE GAY AND GENE SEYMOUR
STAFF WRITERS

December 14, 2006

Peter Boyle, whose portrayal of the irascible Frank Barone over nine seasons of "Everybody Loves Raymond" was one of the great crank comic roles in TV history, has died. He was 71.

According to a statement from his publicist released to The Associated Press, he died Tuesday night in New York Presbyterian Hospital, and had been ill from multiple myeloma and heart disease.



"I am deeply saddened by the passing of Peter Boyle," said Ray Romano, his "Raymond" co-star, in a statement. "When I came out to L.A. to do 'Everybody Loves Raymond,' I knew no one. Peter immediately took me under his wing and became my friend and mentor. He gave me great advice, he always made me laugh, and the way he connected with everyone around him amazed me. The fact that he could play a convincing curmudgeon on the show, but in reality be such a compassionate and thoughtful person, is a true testament to his talent."

"It's like losing a spouse," said Doris Roberts, who played Marie Barone alongside Boyle over the show's 208-episode run, in a statement. "I'm going to miss my dear friend, so unlike the character he played on television. He's a brilliant actor, a gentleman, incredibly intelligent, wonderfully well-read and a loving friend."

Boyle had a history of health problems dating back to 1990, when he had a stroke that rendered him speechless for six months. He also had a heart attack while taping "Raymond" in 1999. Nevertheless, Boyle had continued to work steadily after the series wrapped in 2005. He has a role in "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause," a current release.

But it is Frank Barone that millions of viewers know and came to love. In a Knight Ridder newspapers profile a couple of years ago, "Raymond" series creator Phil Rosenthal said, "He came in to audition and he scared me, so I gave him the part," but added: "Peter is quite erudite and forward-thinking. In many ways, he's a child of the '60s. The best man at his wedding was John Lennon. He's playing Frank Barone, but he's nothing like Frank Barone, and that makes his performance even more impressive."

As Barone, he was gruff, sour and miserable, a perfect foil to Marie, who served him straight lines in hundreds of scenes, which he promptly whacked out of the park. "I'm not just some trophy wife," she once observed. "Trophy wife?," he harrumphed. "What contest in hell did I win?"

While Boyle had a glorious run on "Raymond," it also had the unintended effect for many of his newer fans of obscuring a brilliant big-screen career. Before 1970, Boyle had been a character actor, cast mostly in TV and movie comedies. But with his performance as the title character of "Joe" (1970), Boyle's standing was raised considerably. As a blue-collar bigot who morphs into a mass murderer, Boyle brought smoldering menace and a Brando-esque swagger to the Vietnam-era archetype of the "hardhat."

The movie, now somewhat dated, was a sleeper hit, mostly because of Boyle, who became one of the succeeding decade's busiest and most versatile actors. His roles ranged from Robert Redford's slippery campaign manager in "The Candidate" (1972) to the sweet but socially challenged tap-dancing monster in Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein" (1974).

His movie appearances tailed off during the 1980s with his most memorable big-screen performance in the 1990s coming in Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" (1992) as a NYPD patrolman confronting Denzel Washington's Muslim firebrand in a street demonstration.

The son of a local TV personality in Philadelphia, Boyle was born Oct. 13, 1935, educated in Roman Catholic schools and spent three years in a monastery before abandoning his religious studies.

He traveled to New York to study with Uta Hagen, supporting himself for five years with various jobs. Finally, he was cast in a road company version of "The Odd Couple." When the play reached Chicago he quit to study with the famed improvisational troupe Second City. Upon returning to New York, he began to land roles in TV commercials, off-Broadway plays and finally films.

Through his wife, a friend of Yoko Ono, the actor became close friends with John Lennon. "We were both seekers after a truth, looking for a quick way to enlightenment," Boyle once said of Lennon.

Boyle, who lived in Manhattan, is survived by his wife, Loraine Alterman, and two daughters, Lucy and Amy.

This story was supplemented with an Associated Press report.