Peter Boyle, RIP
[Posted by reader_iam]
I keep hearing on TV that Peter Boyle, who died last evening, was "most widely known" for his role in "Everybody Loves Raymond," which is also what Wikipedia says, though at least a "perhaps" is thrown in there. I suppose that could be true.
I liked "Everybody Loves Raymond" as much as the next guy who didn't actually love the series overall (and therefore followed it only to a degree), and it was, indeed, a treat to get to see Peter Boyle again. But that's not what I most know and admire him for, which is, for example, his work in Joe, and Taxi Driver, and, of course, Young Frankenstein, from which the YouTube clip at the top of this post is taken. Then, too, his personal history, and the diversity of his career--with its ups and downs and twisty turns-was fascinating. How many of his "Raymond" fans, for example, remember that the best man at his wedding to the woman who is now his widow was John Lennon?
I like the following quote, which seems so very appropriate, which appears in the LA Times story about his death:
I keep hearing on TV that Peter Boyle, who died last evening, was "most widely known" for his role in "Everybody Loves Raymond," which is also what Wikipedia says, though at least a "perhaps" is thrown in there. I suppose that could be true.
I liked "Everybody Loves Raymond" as much as the next guy who didn't actually love the series overall (and therefore followed it only to a degree), and it was, indeed, a treat to get to see Peter Boyle again. But that's not what I most know and admire him for, which is, for example, his work in Joe, and Taxi Driver, and, of course, Young Frankenstein, from which the YouTube clip at the top of this post is taken. Then, too, his personal history, and the diversity of his career--with its ups and downs and twisty turns-was fascinating. How many of his "Raymond" fans, for example, remember that the best man at his wedding to the woman who is now his widow was John Lennon?
I like the following quote, which seems so very appropriate, which appears in the LA Times story about his death:
"When I was in high school I wanted to be a leading man guy, like Howard Keel," Boyle told The Associated Press in 2001. "But then God saw fit to take the hair off my head at age 24."We were the lucky ones, for that.
