Goodbye, Peter Boyle
Peter Boyle, one of TV and film's most versatille and funny actors, died last night at the age of 71. Although a lot of younger viewers might know him best as Frank on Everybody Loves Raymond, Boyle's dramatic and comedic abilities went far beyond sitcoms. Of his recent roles, the most memorable is probably as the grim Buck Grotowski in 2001's Monster's Ball. There's no escaping his turn as the monster in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, or his supporting part in Taxi Driver. Among his better TV appearances: As a reluctant clairvoyant helping out with a murder investigation on a 1995 episode of The X-Files, and, A.V. Club's Noel Murray points out, the "Dueling Brandos" skit on a 1976 Saturday Night Live, in which he traded Marlon Brando lines with John Belushi.