Peter Boyle: An Appreciation of a Great Actor

And it was well-deserved.

Now, most young folks only recognize Peter Boyle from his superb, Emmy award-winning work on comedian Ray Romano's incredibly successful sitcom, but old farts like me clearly remember Boyle's career before then. Years ago, before Mr. Boyle became a scruffy, drool-covered teddy bear beloved by TV audiences, in the film community he was a fierce, bloodthirsty grizzly.

Remember Boyle in Joe? Nothing cute at all about his bigoted blue-collar nutjob, huh?

Then there was his cunning, ruthless, slick-as-snot campaign manager in The Candidate.

And how about his memorable turn as a sad, philosophical but creepy cabbie in Taxi Driver?

Boyle was one of those ingenious actors who could easily put a human face on the maggots crawling underneath cold, dry rocks without being phony or melodramatic about it. But hell, who knew he could be funny too?

But, then again, John Lithgow was a notable movie bad guy who happily and successfully found a second career as a comic. (It is a long, strange trip, isn't it, from Blow Out to Third Rock From The Sun?) So did Boyle. And Mel Brook's zany, subversive, and brilliant Young Frankenstein was his vehicle. I dare you to watch Boyle's creature dressed up in a tuxedo singing "Putting on the Ritz" and not smile.

And, as his amusing and eloquent appearance on the famous X-Files episode, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" proved (which won him an Emmy, by the way), he could make you laugh and squeeze a tear out of you at the same time.

Frank Barone, however, was Boyle's jackpot.

Honestly, I'm not really a big fan of Ray Ramano. I always thought of him as an ordinary, meat-and-potatoes kind of comic. Still, the smartest thing he did when putting his sitcom together was hiring people funnier than he was, and Boyle was an inspired choice.

In a great cast that included Patricia Heaton, Brad Garrett, and Doris Roberts, Boyle as Frank ("What in the holy name of crap are you talking about?") Barone was Everybody Loves Raymond's Don Corleone.

As Ray's dad, Boyle was nasty, obnoxious, and hilarious. He absolutely loved being a mean son of a bitch who made Ray's life miserable and didn't apologize for it. A bald, grumpy, overweight ninja, Boyle tossed poison-tipped one-liners with a malicious joy. He made bad jokes funny, and good jokes brilliant comedic gems that would have you rolling on the floor laughing helplessly as he grabbed your wallet.

Boyle died last year in December, but his sneering, unhappy ghost will live on for years, bitching non-stop, in reruns, DVDs and "YouTube". And because the huge jockstrap juggernaut that is the Super Bowl is rolling ominously closer, I'm reminded of the funny commercial he and his Everybody Loves Raymond co-star Doris Roberts did for it.

A parody of Alka Setzler's famous "I can't believe I ate the whole thing" ad, it wasn't the flashiest or the most expensive commercial shown that evening. It was just the funniest.

As usual, it was an excellent job by a great actor.

Thank you, Peter. For everything.