A Sitcom Giant Passes Away

As most of you have probably heard, Peter Boyle, probably best known as Frank Barone on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” passed away at the age of 71.

I just read “It’s a Good Thing You’re Funny,” the book by “Raymond” creator Phil Rosenthal in which he says he hired Boyle because he was afraid of him. It seems that Boyle had to wait for his audition for a while, so by the time it finally happened he was good and agitated—which was perfect for Frank.

It was obvious in the later seasons that Boyle was in poor health, but his comic timing never failed. And his performance in the final episode should have earned him an Emmy (It went to his costar Brad Garrett.).

My favorite performance of Boyle’s is not Frank, though. It’s Jack McDermott from “The Dream Team.” Jack was the advertising executive who had a nervous breakdown and ended up in the mental institution with Michael Keaton, Christopher Lloyd and Stephen Furst. The scene where he takes his clothes off in the church and declares “we are all naked in the eyes of the lord” is one of the high points of the movie.

He will truly be missed…