Peter Boyle, RIP

Peter Boyle has died . Though he's known more today for his role as Frank Barone, patriarch from the TV series Everybody Loves Raymond, I think this was probably Boyle's best comedic moment:

Comments

[Jesse Walker]

He had a great guest role on one of Darin Morgan's episodes of The X-Files, too. RIP.

[NoStar]

Early on it appeared that Peter Boyle was to be forever typecasted as characters named Joe. That is why I picture Boyle's face when reading a post from joe.

[Gimme Back My Dog]

Agreed. That X-Files that he was on was one of the best.

I can't see the link, but I am assuming it is "Puttin' on the Ritz" from Young Frankenstein, right?

[joe]

I can't see it, either, but knowing Walker, I'm betting it's from Taxi Driver.

[Matt J]

A great scene from one of my all time favorite films. Of all of Brook's movies Young Frankenstein holds up the best. Boyle's performance IMOP is one of the top 10 in comedy history. No small feat when sharing the screen with Wilder, Feldman, Leachman and Kahn.

Another classic Boyle performance was he and Belushi doing dueling Brandos on SNL. He was also great as Jocko Dundee in Johnny Dangerously. And, he was about the only thing funny on Raymond.

This news really bums me out.

(pours a shot)

Here's to you Pete.

[ed]

Oh, crap!

[Sticherbeast]

He also had a charming turn as a flatulent Cornelius Vanderbilt in Walker.

[John]

"And, he was about the only thing funny on Raymond."

Boy isn't that the truth. What a great actor.

[joe]

"He was also great as Jocko Dundee in Johnny Dangerously."

I'm standing heeeeaaaahhhhh...with my dork in my hand!

And then there's Boyle's performance in Johnny Dangerously.

[Franklin Harris]

Peter Boyle on "The X-Files" ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjJ45DNXdzw

[highnumber]

Young Frankenstein has a very special place in my heart. My parents took me to see it in re-release at the theater when I was a little one. I was just old enough to ask a ton of questions and laugh at Marty Feldman's antics and Peter Boyle's dance routine.
Gene Hackman and Cloris Leachman were a bit beyond me at the time. Too intense.

Condolences to his family.

[Troy]

I love the scene in Young Frankenstein with Peter and Gene Hackman.

[Andy]

Please nuke the embedded video (youtube?). It's causing the page to bomb out for me.

[Matt J]

joe,

You fargin sneaky bastage. I'm gonna take your dwork. I'm gonna nail it to the wall. I'm gonna crush your boils in a meat grinder. I'm gonna cut off your arms. I'm gonna shove 'em up your icehole.

What a great, underappreciated comedy. It marked two cinema milestones; the last time Piscipo was funny and Marilu Henner's entry into my spank bank.

BTW, did any of you cork-sucking bastages catch the Young Frankenstein homage in Talladega Nights?

[Jeff P]

He's great as the cabbie in the otherwise awful Shadow.
I also like the short-lived Joe Bash on ABC.

Everybody Loves Raymond is just fucking unwatchable, and I air two episodes a day here at the station.

[Matt J]

"I love the scene in Young Frankenstein with Peter and Gene Hackman."

Wait. Where are you going? I was going to make Espresso.

The genius of that scene was that it came straight from the original 1931 Frankenstein. Which is one of the most unintentionally funny movies ever made. When frank kills the blind man and chucks the little girl in the lake - hilarious!

Fun film fact - Young Frankenstein was shot in the same castle, with the same props as the 1931 version.

[Pro Libertate]

Putting on the Riiiitttzzz!

R.I.P., Peter Boyle. You'll always be my favorite Frankenstein's monster. Pardon me, I meant Frahnkensteen's monster.

[Isaac Bartram]

Oh, thank God. I thought I was the only one that hated Raymond.

But Peter Boyle made it almost watchable.

It is a sad day.

[Peter K.]

Peter Boyle's character in Taxi Driver was "the wizard", the man of apparently mediocre intelligence to whom the other cabbies turned for advice.

[Jesse Walker]

I can't see it, either, but knowing Walker, I'm betting it's from Taxi Driver.

The post was from Balko, not me. But I love Young Frankenstein, and I agree with Radley that the "Putting on the Ritz" scene is one of the best in Boyle's career.

I also agree with Isaac that Boyle was the only good thing about Everybody Loves Raymond.

[Peter K.]

Another somewhat noteworthy death: Martin Nodell (a/k/a Mart Dellon) creator of the Green Lantern, and part of the creative team behind the Pillsbury Doughboy.

[Dennis]

It's a friggin' crime against nature that Boyle is "known more today for his role as Frank Barone..."

[Jonathan C. Hohensee]

there are worse ways for Peter Boyle to go, but I can't think of a more undignified way than autoerotic asphyxiation

[Ellie]

... And Jonathan wins the thread.

I'll cop to a pretty deep appreciation for Everybody Loves Raymond, but I still think Peter Boyle was the best thing on it. I'm really upset at the news, and hope his family is doing okay.

[anonymous]

Young Frankenstein sucks.

[highnumber]

I never watched Raymond, but I don't get all the animosity towards the show.

[Jesse Walker]

I don't get all the animosity towards the show.

It isn't lousy so much as it's bland. An interesting actor like Boyle feels out of place in it.

[Happy Jack]

Hmmm. No mention of his wonderfully sleazy P.I. in Hardcore. May he rest in peace.

[highnumber]

Jesse,

Mostly, the animosity confuses me because of the title of the show. 😉

[mediageek]

Even back when I only knew him as a Thatguy he made a positive impression.

An excellent performer, adept at both comedy and drama.

Oh, and for Jeff P.:

"The seed of evil bears bitter fruit!"

[Matt J]

John Lennon was his best man. This guy buried the coolness meter.

http://imdb.com/name/nm0001967/bio

I couldn't find video, but as futher evidence of Boyle's coolness I submit the transcript of the Dueling Brandos scetch.

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75mbrando.phtml

[Rhywun]

Thank God I only watched Raymond a couple times; Peter Boyle will always be Frankenstein to me. RIP

[Rhywun]

Of course, you know I meant Frankenstein's monster.

[Jesse Walker]

It isn't lousy so much as it's bland.

Sorry for the incoherent sentence - for "lousy" substitute "unwatchable."

[Bretigne]

Oh this just sucks.

RIP, Peter.

And condolences to his family.

[jp]

Early on it appeared that Peter Boyle was to be forever typecasted as characters named Joe. That is why I picture Boyle's face when reading a post from joe.

I'm glad somebody alluded to Joe.

[Jim Walsh]

One of the best character actors ever. He will be missed.

Trivia sidenote: Boyle's father, aka "Uncle Pete Boyle," hosted a great kids' show on Philly TV in the fifties...

[kevrob]

mediageek(sic):

"The weed of crime bears bitter fruit!"

Misquote The Master at your peril!

Joe did make a great Moe "Shrevvy" Shrevnitz.

BTW, if embedded YouTube pages make your browser freak, and you have switched to Firefox, the NoScript utility will keep that from happening, while allowing you to temporarily or permanently allow trusted pages to run scripts. The embedded video on reason pages I view don't start until I hit the button with the Flash trademark on it.

Let all power and triumph be mine, in whatever right I do.

...and I shall shed my light over dark evil.
For the dark things cannot stand the light,
The light of the Green Lantern!

I met Mr. Nodell at a ChicagoCon years ago. He was a real gent, and created one of my favorite 4-color heroes.

Kevin

[Akira MacKenzie]

I think Gene Hackman speaks for all of us:

"Wait! Where are you going? I was going to make espresso."

[Eyegor]

"I love the scene in Young Frankenstein with Peter and Gene Hackman."

You mean Gene Wilder, right? Or was that a joke? On the other hand, it would be interesting to see what Gene Hackman would do with that role though it's hard for me to imagine anyone but Wilder as Victor.

Young Frankenstein and Monty Python and the Holy Grail are two comedies that are burned into my blood stream forever. I enjoyed bits of Borat this year but already I can't remember much.

[eyegor]

Oh right, sorry, I forgot. Hackman was the blind man.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, I just remembered a good Peter Boyle role--the bad guy in Outland.

[Isaac Bartram]

Sorry for the incoherent sentence - for "lousy" substitute "unwatchable."

You are of course right, Jesse. Raymond is just bland, King of Queens (another show with an iconic actor in the father role) is unwatchable.

But, ah, Young Frankenstein, when Teri Garr was young and pretty, as was I (well young at least).

[edna]

i described my favorite show (now cancelled, alas) "lucky louie" as being like "everyone loves raymond" except it's funny.

besides the perfect "ritz" sequence (had my 6 year old running around the house yelling, "sooper dooper!"), the most memorable boyle line in my memory was, "is this an orgy? i never been to an orgy before," mispronounced with a hard "g."

[Dennis]

Yeah, Raymond was one of those shows that was aggressively mediocre. If it was on in the background while you did something else, you'd be compelled neither to watch nor to turn it off.

[mediageek]

"mediageek(sic):

"The weed of crime bears bitter fruit!"

Misquote The Master at your peril!"

This is what I get for quoting from memory a movie I haven't seen since high school...

[Mike Laursen]

Love Peter Boyle. Love Young Frankenstein. Love Raymond. But, no other Frankenstein can ever take the place of Herman Munster:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj4lelnXv70

[Herman]

Oh goody,goody,goody!