American actor (1935-2006). He was born in Philadelphia. While he was once a monk in the Christian Brothers order, he soon decided to become an actor. He moved to New York City, where he did some off-Broadway plays, did a tour of "The Odd Couple," and performed with Chicago's Second City troupe.
The imposingly-tall but sad-eyed actor's first movies included "The Virgin President," "Medium Cool," "Diary of a Mad Housewife," and "Joe," in which he played a violent, manipulative bigot. His performance was widely acclaimed and led to more films, including "The Candidate," "The Friends of Eddie Coyle," "Kid Blue," and "Steelyard Blues." He got a lot of attention after starring as the monster in "Young Frankenstein," then followed up by appearing in "Taxi Driver," "The Brink's Job," "Where the Buffalo Roam," "Outland," and "Hammett."
Boyle met his future wife, Loraine Alterman, when she was a reporter for "Rolling Stone" -- at the time, he was wearing his makeup for "Young Frankenstein." Alterman was friends with Yoko Ono, and through her, Boyle met and became friends with John Lennon. In fact, when Boyle and Alterman got married in 1977, Lennon was the best man.
Boyle went through a dry period for a while, showing up in clunkers like "Yellowbeard," "Johnny Dangerously," "Turk 182!", and "Red Heat," but in recent years, his fortunes went on an upswing, with roles in "The Dream Team," "Honeymoon in Vegas," and a cameo in "Malcolm X." He suffered a stroke in 1990, leaving him unable to speak for about six months, and he had a heart attack on the set of "Everybody Loves Raymond" in 1999.
His appearances on TV shows garnered Boyle a lot of positive attention. He had a recurring role as Frank Barone on "Everybody Loves Raymond," and he had a notable -- and Emmy Award-winning -- guest-starring role as a reluctant psychic in the "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" episode of "The X-Files."
Boyle died in late 2006 after suffering from heart disease and multiple myeloma.
Much research from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)