Peter Boyle, the superb character actor who could portray characters both villainous (the murderous hard hat in Joe) and hilarious (the put-upon monster in Mel Brooks'Young Frankenstein) with equal ease, died on December 12 at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He had been fighting multiple myeloma and heart disease. He was 71.

He was born on October 18, 1935, in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Philadelphia, where his father became a popular local television show host in the '50s known as "Uncle Pete." Boyle attended a Catholic high school and later a Christian monastery while he was attending university. By the early '60s, Boyle felt the calling to become an actor and moved to New York. He studied drama under Uta Hagen and eventually found work in commercials and even had a stint with Chicago's famed Second City troupe before he entered movies.

After being cast as a military officer in The Virgin President (1968); a gun clinic manager in Medium Cool (1969); and a hilarious one-scene role as a man in a therapy session hassling Carrie Snodgrass in Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970), he delivered the goods when he was cast in John G. Avildsen's hard-hitting drama about a murderous blue-collar bigot in Joe (also 1970). Although released to little fanfare at the time, Boyle's terrifying performance was duly noted and soon after, he would prove himself to be one of the most gifted character actors of the '70s.

With his towering frame, bald head and narrow-slit eyes, Boyle was never leading man material, but all the better for films that employed his supporting talents: Robert Redford's edgy campaign manager in The Candidate; the terrific slacker comedy Slither (1973) co-starring James Caan and Sally Kellerman; the classic monster in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein (1974); Robert De Niro's cabbie friend the Wizard in Taxi Driver (1976); a mesmerizing Senator Joseph McCarthy in the telefilm Tail Gunner Joe (1977) and a fine Sgt. "Fatso" Judson in the miniseries From Here to Eternity (1979).

His career slowed down alarming by the '80s, save for a few highlights: the lighthearted Michael Keaton romp Johnny Dangerously (1984); a short-lived but critically well-received sitcom Joe Bash (1986); and his best role during the decade, as Admiral John Poindexter in the telefilm Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North (1989). Boyle's career would suffer a setback when he suffered a stroke in 1990 and lost his speech for six months. After he recovered, he gamely got back into the fray. He offered ample comic support in a series of box office hits: Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), The Santa Clause (1994), While You Were Sleeping (1995), and That Darn Cat (1997). However, his warm-hearted portrayal of the gruff but tender Frank Barone for nine seasons (1996-2005) on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond achieved something most thought unlikely - popularity with the masses across the country.

Although his later film roles were overtly sentimental, such as his performances as "Father Time" in the subsequent Santa Clause sequels, he proved to critics and moviegoers that he was still a capable dramatic actor with his gritty, unsympathetic performance as the aging invalid Buck Grotowski in Monster's Ball (2001). His final film, Shadows of Atticus, will be released next year. Boyle is survived by his wife, Loraine; his daughters, Lucy and Amy; and sisters, Alice and Sidney.

by Michael T. Toole