My Story
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: 10-18-1935
Date of Death: 12-12-2006
Age: 71
Place of birth: United States (US)
Peter Boyle
Biography
Peter Lawrence Boyle (October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American actor. Known as a character actor, he played Frank Barone on the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond and the comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof Young Frankenstein (1974). He also starred in The Candidate (1972). Boyle, who won an Emmy Award in 1996 for a guest-starring role on the Fox science-fiction drama The X-Files, won praise in both comedic and dramatic parts following his breakthrough performance in the 1970 film Joe, and as Wizard in Taxi Driver (1976).
Peter Lawrence Boyle was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, the son of Alice (née Lewis) and Francis Xavier Boyle. He was the youngest of three children and had two elder sisters: Alice Duffy (nee Boyle) and Sidney Boyle. He moved with his family to nearby Philadelphia.
His father, Francis, was a Philadelphia TV personality from 1951 to 1963. Among many other roles, he played the Western show host Chuck Wagon Pete, as well as hosting the after-school children's program Uncle Pete Presents the Little Rascals, which showed vintage Little Rascals and Three Stooges comedy shorts alongside Popeye cartoons. He also appeared at times on Ernie Kovacs' morning program on WPTZ (now KYW-TV).
Boyle's paternal grandparents were Irish immigrants, and his mother was of mostly French, British and Irish descent. He was raised Catholic and attended St. Francis de Sales School and West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys. After graduating high school in 1953, Boyle spent three years in formation with the De La Salle Brothers, a Roman Catholic teaching order. He lived in a house of studies with other novices earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from La Salle University in Philadelphia in 1957, but left the order because he did not feel called to religious life.
While in Philadelphia, he worked as a cameraman on the cooking show Television Kitchen hosted by Florence Hanford.
After graduating from Officer Candidate School in 1959, he was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy, but his military career was shortened by a nervous breakdown. In New York City, Boyle studied with acting coach Uta Hagen at HB Studio while working as a postal clerk and a maitre d'.
Boyle played Murray the cop in a touring company of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple, leaving the tour in Chicago and joining The Second City ensemble there. He had a brief scene as the manager of an indoor shooting range in the critically acclaimed 1969 film Medium Cool, filmed in Chicago.
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