The actor Peter Boyle has died, aged 71.
Reuters report:
Emmy-winning actor Peter Boyle, who played the tap-dancing monster in the movie “Young Frankenstein” and grouchy father Frank Barone in the TV series “Everybody Loves Raymond,” has died at age 71.
The former Christian Brothers monk and friend of Beatle John Lennon died on Tuesday after a long battle with multiple myeloma and heart disease, his publicists said on Wednesday.
Boyle, who often played cantankerous characters, shot to fame as a foul-mouthed, working-class bigot in the 1970 film “Joe.” He also played one of Robert DeNiro’s fellow taxi drivers in Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” in 1976 and the cruel, racist father to Billy Bob Thornton in 2001’s “Monster’s Ball.”
In the 1974 Mel Brooks spoof “Young Frankenstein,” he took a comic turn as the Frankenstein monster, singing and dancing to “Puttin’ on the Ritz” with Gene Wilder in tuxedos and top hats.
Although a lot of news outlets seem to be emphasising his role in the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond, I think his film career is worthy of more attention.
His turn in Taxi Driver as “Wizard”, the monster in Young Frankenstein and (most memorably) his portrayal of the campaign manager in the political satire The Candidate are the ones that initially come to mind.