Peter Boyle
Boyle in 1978
Born	Peter Lawrence Boyle, Jr. (1935-10-18)October 18, 1935 Norristown, Pennsylvania
Died	December 12, 2006(2006-12-12) (aged 71) New York City, New York
Cause of death	multiple myeloma
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1966–2006
Spouse	Loraine Alterman (m.1977–2006; his death)

Peter Lawrence Boyle, Jr. (October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006)^[1][2] was an American actor, best known for his role as Frank Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, and as a comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof Young Frankenstein (1974).

Boyle, who won an Emmy Award in 1996 for a guest-starring role on the science-fiction drama The X-Files, won praise in both comedic and dramatic parts following his breakthrough performance in the 1970 film Joe.

Early life and career[link]

Boyle was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania of Irish descent, the son of Alice and Peter Boyle Sr. He moved with his family to nearby Philadelphia.^[3] His father was a Philadelphia TV personality from 1951–1963 who, among many other things, played the Western-show host Chuck Wagon Pete, and hosted the afterschool children's program Uncle Pete Presents the Little Rascals, which showed vintage Little Rascals, Three Stooges comedy shorts and Popeye cartoons.^[4]

He was raised Roman Catholic^[5][6] and he attended St. Francis de Sales School and West Philadelphia Catholic High School For Boys. After high school Boyle spent three years as a novice of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, or De La Salle Brothers, a Catholic teaching order. He lived in a house of studies with other novices and earned a BA from La Salle University in Philadelphia in 1957, but left the order because he did not feel called to religious life.^[7][8] While in Philadelphia, he worked as a cameraman on the cooking show Television Kitchen, hosted by Florence Hanford.^[9]

After graduating from Officer Candidate School in 1959, he was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy, but his military career was shortened by a nervous breakdown.^[10]

In New York City, Boyle studied with acting coach Uta Hagen while working as a postal clerk and a maitre d'.^[11] He went on to play Murray the cop in a touring company of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple, leaving the tour in Chicago, Illinois and joining The Second City improv comedy ensemble there.^[11] He had a brief scene as the manager of an indoor shooting range in the critically acclaimed 1969 film Medium Cool, filmed in Chicago.

Screen and theater[link]

Boyle gained acclaim for his first starring role, playing the title character, a bigoted New York City factory worker, in the 1970 movie Joe. The film's release was surrounded by controversy over its violence and language. It was during this time that Boyle became close friends with actress Jane Fonda, and with her he participated in many protests against the Vietnam War. After seeing people cheer at his role in Joe, Boyle refused the lead role in The French Connection (1971),^[12] as well as other movie and TV roles that he believed glamorized violence. His next major role was as the campaign manager for a U.S. Senate candidate (Robert Redford) in The Candidate (1972). He also played an Irish mobster opposite Robert Mitchum in The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973).

Boyle had another hit role as Frankenstein's monster in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy Young Frankenstein, in which, in an homage to King Kong, the monster is placed onstage in top hat and tails, grunt-singing and dancing to the song "Puttin' on the Ritz". Boyle said at the time, "The Frankenstein monster I play is a baby. He's big and ugly and scary, but he's just been born, remember, and it's been traumatic, and to him the whole world is a brand new alien environment. That's how I'm playing it".^[11] Boyle met his wife, Loraine Alterman, on the set of Young Frankenstein while she was there as a reporter for Rolling Stone.^[13] He was still in his Frankenstein makeup when he asked her for a date.^[14] Through Alterman and her friend Yoko Ono, Boyle became friends with John Lennon, who was the best man at Boyle and Alterman's 1977 wedding.^[15] Boyle and his wife had two daughters, Lucy and Amy.

Boyle received his first Emmy nomination for his acclaimed dramatic performance in the 1977 television film Tail Gunner Joe, in which he played Senator Joseph McCarthy. Yet he was more often cast as a character actor than as a leading man. His roles include the philosophical cab driver "Wizard" in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), starring Robert De Niro; the private detective hired in Hardcore (1979); the attorney of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson (played by Bill Murray) in Where the Buffalo Roam (1980); a corrupt space mining-facility boss in the science-fiction film Outland (1981), opposite Sean Connery; Boatswain Moon in the 1983 pirate comedy Yellowbeard, also starring Cheech and Chong, Madeline Kahn, and members of the comedy troupe Monty Python's Flying Circus; a psychiatric patient who belts out a Ray Charles song in the comedy The Dream Team (1989), starring Michael Keaton; a boss of unscrupulous corporation in the sci-fi Solar Crisis (1990) along Charlton Heston and Jack Palance; the title character's cab driver in The Shadow (1994), starring Alec Baldwin; the father of Sandra Bullock's fiancee in While You Were Sleeping (1995); the corporate raider out to buy Eddie Murphy's medical partnership in Dr. Dolittle (1998); the hateful father of Billy Bob Thornton's prison-guard character in Monster's Ball (2001); Muta in The Cat Returns (2002); and Old Man Wickles in the comedy Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004). In cameo roles, he can be seen as a police captain in Malcolm X (1992), and as a drawbridge operator in Porky's Revenge (1985). In 1992, he starred in Alex Cox's Death and the Compass, an adaptation of Jorge Luis Borges' La Muerte y la Brujula. However, the film was not released until 1996.

His New York theater work included playing a comedian who is the object of The Roast, a 1980 Broadway play directed by Carl Reiner. Also in 1980 he co-starred with Tommy Lee Jones in an Off Broadway production of playwright Sam Shepard's acclaimed True West. Two years later, Boyle played the head of a dysfunctional family in Joe Pintauro's less well-received Snow Orchid, at the Circle Repertory.

In 1986, Boyle played the title role of the acclaimed but short-lived TV series Joe Bash, created by Danny Arnold. The comedy-drama followed the life of a lonely, world-weary, and sometimes compromised New York City beat cop whose closest friend was a prostitute, played by actress DeLane Matthews.^[16]

Later life and career[link]

In 1990, Boyle suffered a near-fatal stroke that rendered him completely speechless and immobile for six months. After recovering, he went on to win an Emmy Award in 1996 as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his appearance on The X-Files. In the episode, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", he played an insurance salesman who can see selected things in the near future, particularly others' deaths. Boyle also guest starred in two episodes as Bill Church in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. He appears in Sony Music's unaired Roger Waters' music video "Three Wishes" (1992) as a scruffy genie in a dirty coat and red scarf, who tries to tempt Waters at a desert diner.^[17][18]

Boyle was perhaps most widely known for his role as the deadpan, cranky Frank Barone in the CBS television sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, which aired from 1996 to 2005. The show was shot in Los Angeles, to which Boyle commuted from his New York City home. He was nominated for an Emmy seven times for this role, but never won (beaten out multiple times in the Supporting Actor category by his co-star Brad Garrett), though fellow co-stars Garrett, Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, and Boyle's TV wife Doris Roberts won at least one Emmy each for their performances.

In 1999, he had a heart attack^[13] on the set of Everybody Loves Raymond. He soon regained his health and returned to the series. After the incident, Boyle was drawn back to his Catholic faith, and resumed attending Mass.^[19]

In 2001, he appeared in the film Monster's Ball as the bigoted father of Billy Bob Thornton's character.

Introduced by comedian Carlos Mencia as "the most honest man in show business", Boyle made guest appearances on three episodes of the Comedy Central program Mind of Mencia — one of which was shown as a tribute in a segment made before Boyle's death — in which he read hate mail, explained the "hidden meanings" behind bumper stickers, and occasionally told Mencia how he felt about him.

Starting in late 2005, Boyle and former TV wife Doris Roberts appeared in TV commercials for the 75th anniversary of Alka-Seltzer, reprising the famous line, "I can't believe I ate that whole thing!" Although this quote has entered into popular culture, it is often misquoted as, "...the whole thing."^[20] Boyle had a role in all three of The Santa Clause films. In the original, he plays Scott Calvin's boss. In the sequels, he plays Father Time.

Death and legacy[link]

On December 12, 2006, Boyle died in New York City at New York Presbyterian Hospital after suffering from multiple myeloma and heart disease. He was 71 years old. At the time of his death, Boyle had completed his role in the film All Roads Lead Home and was scheduled to appear in The Golden Boys.^[21] The end credits of The Santa Clause 3 and All Roads Lead Home include a dedication to his memory.

Newspapers and magazines reported on Boyle's death and reflected on his lifetime accomplishments, while numerous tribute pages and videos can be found on the Internet in commemoration of him and his career. The familiarity of Boyle's grouchy but lovable character on Raymond could easily allow the audience to develop a seemingly intimate parasocial relationship with the actor. Since his death, fans have been quoted saying such remarks as "It was like we lost a family member ourselves".^[22]

Boyle's death also had a tremendous effect on his Raymond co-stars, who worked alongside him for the entire nine seasons of the popular CBS sitcom. When asked to comment on Boyle's death, his cast members had nothing but positive things to say. Ray Romano was personally affected by the loss, saying, "He gave me great advice, he always made me laugh, and the way he connected with everyone around him amazed me." Boyle's death also saddened Patricia Heaton who stated, "Peter was an incredible man who made all of us who had the privilege of working with him aspire to be better actors."^[23]

On October 18, 2007, which would have been Boyle's 72nd birthday, his friend Bruce Springsteen, during a Madison Square Garden concert with the E Street Band in New York, dedicated "Meeting Across the River", segueing into "Jungleland", in memory of Boyle, stating: "An old friend died a while back – we met him when we first came to New York City... Today would have been his birthday."^[24]

After he lost his battle to multiple myeloma in late 2006, Boyle's wife Loraine Alterman Boyle established the Peter Boyle Memorial Fund in support of the International Myeloma Foundation.^[25] Boyle's closest friends, family and co-stars have since gathered yearly for a comedy celebration fundraiser in Los Angeles. Acting as a tribute to Boyle, the annual event is hosted by Ray Romano and has included performances by many comedic veterans including Dana Carvey, Fred Willard, Richard Lewis, Kevin James, Jeff Garlin and Martin Short. Performances typically revolve around Boyle's life, recalling favorite and hysterical moments with the late actor. The comedy celebration has been noted as the most successful fundraiser in IMF history, as the first event held in 2007 raised over $550,000, while the following year over $600,000 was raised for the Peter Boyle Memorial Fund in support of the IMF's research programs.^[26]

Awards and nominations[link]

• Emmy Award

Nomination (1977) — Lead Actor in a Drama or Comedy Special: Tail Gunner Joe

Nomination (1989) — Guest Actor in a Drama Series: J.J. Killian in Midnight Caller episode "Fathers and Sins"

Win (1996) — Guest Actor in a Drama Series: Clyde Bruckman in The X-Files episode "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose"

(7) Nominations (1999–2005) — Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Everybody Loves Raymond

• Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award

The cast of Everybody Loves Raymond was nominated for Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series each year from 1999–2000 and 2002–2006. Boyle was additionally nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series in 2002.^[27]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Peter Boyle at Find a Grave
• Peter Boyle at the Internet Broadway Database
• Peter Boyle at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Peter Boyle at the Internet Movie Database
• Archive of American Television interview with Peter Boyle
• Peter Boyle at the TCM Movie Database
• Peter Boyle at AllRovi
• MSNBC.com (December 13, 2006): The Daily Nightly: "Remembering Uncle Pete", by Clare Duffy, NBC Nightly News Producer

Ray Romano
Ray Romano at the Night of Comedy 9 benefit to support the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation (CAAF) in Beverly Hills, California on April 30, 2011. Photography taken by Angela Georgia.
Birth name	Raymond Albert Romano
Born	(1957-12-21) December 21, 1957 (age 54) Queens, New York, U.S.
Medium	Film, stand-up, television
Nationality	American
Years active	1989–present
Genres	Observational comedy, satire
Subject(s)	Everyday life, marriage, parenting, family, friends, self-deprecation
Influences	Bob Newhart[1]
Spouse	Anna Romano (1987–present)
Notable works and roles	Raymond Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond Manfred "Manny" in Ice Age film series Joe Tranelli in Men of a Certain Age
Website	RayRomano.com
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Comedy Series 2003 Everybody Loves Raymond 2005 Everybody Loves Raymond Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series 2002 Everybody Loves Raymond
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 2003 Everybody Loves Raymond
American Comedy Awards
Funniest Male Performer in a Television Series (Leading Role) 2000 Everybody Loves Raymond

Raymond Albert Romano (born December 21, 1957) is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian, best known for his roles on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond and in the Ice Age film series. He recently starred in the TNT comedy-drama Men of a Certain Age.

Early life[link]

Romano was born in Queens, New York, to Italian American parents: Lucie, a piano teacher, and Albert Romano (1925–March 2010), a real estate agent and an engineer.^[2] He grew up in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens.^[3] He has a brother named Richard A. Romano. Romano attended elementary and middle school at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Forest Hills. After transferring from Archbishop Molloy High School, Romano graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1975.^[4] He was in the same high school class as Fran Drescher and later appeared on Drescher's sitcom, The Nanny, as an old classmate. Before getting into show business, Romano briefly attended Queens College, in Flushing, New York, where he studied accounting. Romano quit after gaining only 15 credits in three years, but he would later return, however, making it to the Dean's List for three years.

Career[link]

His early comedy career started when he competed in the Johnnie Walker Comedy Search in 1989. His career included many outlets, such as Comedy Central, where he had been a recurring guest voice on the show Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. He also was a contestant on Star Search in the stand-up comedy category. He originally was cast to play Joe (originally named Rick) on the American television sitcom NewsRadio, but was fired and replaced by Joe Rogan. He then appeared on Late Show with David Letterman doing his stand up routine which formed his ties with CBS. Shortly thereafter, he became the star of his own show, Everybody Loves Raymond on CBS, that featured a cast and format more suitable to Romano's brand of humor.

Romano and his comedian friend, Kevin James, starred in the salesman comedy, Grilled, as two guys of the same profession who are both very desperate to land a big sale. Romano was featured on a 2000 episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, on which he won US$125,000 for the NYPD's D.A.R.E. Unit. His older brother, Richard Romano (born in 1956), is a sergeant with the NYPD, and he has a younger brother, Robert Romano (born 1965).

In 2001 Romano was named one of E!'s top twenty entertainers of the year. That same year he was featured with his brother (a teacher at a school in Long Island) on a New York Police Department recruiting poster. In 2004 he became the highest-paid television actor in history for his role of Raymond on CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond. It was later revealed on E! that he had broken another record by his show having the highest revenue at US$3.9 billion.

On December 13, 2003, Romano was featured as a special guest star, sending a birthday card to Bob Barker in his eightieth-birthday bash on the twenty-seventh "Million Dollar Spectacular" special of the long-running daytime CBS series The Price Is Right.

Romano was the subject of the documentary film, 95 Miles to Go. The film documents Romano's road-trip for a series of rides across the south of the United States. The film was released in theaters on April 7, 2010, by ThinkFilm.^[5] In August 2006 Romano was interviewed in front of a live audience at UCLA by fellow stand-up veteran, David Steinberg, for an episode of Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg. The program first aired on the TV Land network in March 2007.

Romano returned to television with a new dramedy for TNT in 2008, Men of a Certain Age, which he co-created with former Everybody Loves Raymond writer, Mike Royce. It co-starred Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher.

Romano made an appearance in the seventh season of NBC show The Office as Merv Bronte, an anxious job applicant interviewing for the job left vacant by Michael Scott.

Romano made an appearance in the third season premiere of ABC sitcom The Middle as Nicky, a friend of Mike, who ruined his and Frankie's honeymoon. Romano was the second actor from Everybody Loves Raymond to be reunited with Patricia Heaton on The Middle. Doris Roberts (who played his mom Marie on Everybody Loves Raymond) guest starred in three episodes in the second season as Ms. Rinsky, Brick Heck's third grade teacher, who dislikes Frankie.

Personal life[link]

Romano at the 2010 World Series of Poker main event

Romano married his wife, Anna, on October 11, 1987. They met while working at a bank together. They have four children: one daughter, Alexandra (born 1990), and three sons: twins Matthew and Gregory (born 1993), and Joseph Raymond (born February 16, 1998). He is not related to King of Queens actor Larry Romano.

Romano's on-screen daughter for Everybody Loves Raymond was named after his real-life daughter. Also, in the series pilot, Ray and Debra's twin boys were named after Gregory and Matthew, Romano's real twin sons, but Romano felt it was too weird to have all his TV kids have the same names as his real kids, so they changed the twins' names to Geoffrey and Michael on screen.

Romano's family has made various appearances in the show. Romano's real-life daughter Alexandra "Ally" Romano made several appearances on Everybody Loves Raymond as Molly, the best friend of his on-screen daughter, Ally, and the daughter of Ray Barone's arch-nemesis, Peggy the Cookie Lady. Romano's father, Albert Romano, has made various appearances as "Albert", one of Frank Barone's lodge buddies in various episodes such as "Debra at the Lodge", and "Boys' Therapy". Romano's brother, Richard Romano, has appeared in the episodes "Golf For It", "Just a Formality" and "The Toaster".

Romano competed in the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 World Series of Poker.

In early 2010 Romano starred in the second season of The Golf Channel's original series The Haney Project in which Tiger Woods' former coach, Hank Haney, attempts to improve the golf games of different celebrities and athletes. Charles Barkley starred in the first season. Romano's goals are to finish the show being able to break 80.^[6] Romano took time off from the show to be with his father, Albert Romano, who died in March 2010. The show resumed on May 24. Romano is also a regular competitor in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am; where he finished fifth in 2012 with partner, Australian professional Steven Bowditch. It was the first time Romano had qualified for the final round after failing to do so on 11 successive occasions, previously.

In February 2012 Romano revealed that his wife, Anna, had successfully battled stage one breast cancer in 2010. Romano told People magazine that "the reason we're going public is to share our experience, yeah, but to have an effect. Our goal is to help people."^[7]

Filmography[link]

Writing credits[link]

[edit] Everybody Loves Raymond

In addition to his roles as star and producer of Everybody Loves Raymond, Romano also co-wrote the following episodes:

Season One

• "Why Are We Here?" (with Tom Paris)

Season Two

• "Golf" (with Tom Caltabiano and Kevin James)
• "The Wedding" (with Philip Rosenthal)

Season Three

• "Ray Home Alone" (with Tucker Cawley)
• "How They Met" (with Philip Rosenthal)

Season Four

• "Debra's Workout" (with Tom Caltabiano and Mike Royce)
• "Bad Moon Rising" (with Philip Rosenthal)

Season Five

• "Super Bowl" (with Mike Royce)

Season Six

• "Jealous Robert" (with Tom Caltabiano)
• "Talk to Your Daughter" (with Tucker Cawley)
• "The First Time" (with Tom Caltabiano and Mike Royce)

Season Seven

• "She's the One" (with Philip Rosenthal)
• "The Bachelor Party" (with Mike Royce and Tom Caltabiano)

Season Nine

• "Angry Sex" (with Lew Schneider and Mike Scully)
• "The Finale" (with Philip Rosenthal, Tucker Cawley, Lew Schneider, Steve Skrovan, Jeremy Stevens, Mike Royce, Aaron Shure, Tom Caltabiano and Leslie Caveny)

[edit] Men of a Certain Age

Season One

• "Pilot" (with Mike Royce)
• "Let It Go" (with Mike Royce)
• "Back in the Shit" (teleplay) with Mike Royce

Season Two

• "If I Could, I Surely Would" (with Mike Royce)

Awards[link]

Bibliography[link]

• (1999) Everything and a Kite (non-fiction)
• (2005) Raymie, Dickie and the Bean (children's)
• (2004) Everybody Loves Raymond: Our Family Album

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ray Romano

• Official website
• Ray Romano at the Internet Movie Database

Bill Murray
Murray at the premiere of Get Low at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	William James Murray (1950-09-21) September 21, 1950 (age 61) Wilmette, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian, writer, golfer
Years active	1973–present
Spouse	Margaret Kelly (1981–1996) Jennifer Butler (1997–2008)
Children	With Kelly: 2, With Butler: 4
Family	Brothers: John Murray, Joel Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray Nancy Murray (sister)

William James "Bill" Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor, comedian and golfer. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack (1980), Ghostbusters (1984), and Groundhog Day (1993). Murray gained additional critical acclaim later in his career, starring in Lost in Translation (2003), that earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination, and a series of films directed by Wes Anderson, including Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and Moonrise Kingdom (2012).

Early life[link]

Murray was born and raised in Wilmette, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, the son of Lucille (née Collins), a mail room clerk, and Edward Joseph Murray II, a lumber salesman.^[1][2] Murray's father died in 1967 from complications of diabetes when Bill was 17 years old.^[3][4] Murray, along with his eight siblings, was raised in an Irish American family.^[5] Three of his siblings are actors: John Murray, Joel Murray and Brian Doyle-Murray. A sister, Nancy, is an Adrian Dominican nun in Michigan, who has traveled the United States in a one-woman programme, portraying St. Catherine of Siena.^[6]

As a youth, Murray read children's biographies of American heroes like Kit Carson, Wild Bill Hickok and Davy Crockett.^[7] He attended St. Joseph grade school and Loyola Academy. During his teen years, he worked as a golf caddy to fund his education at the Jesuit high school.^[7][8] One of his sisters had polio and his mother suffered several miscarriages.^[7] During his teen years he was the lead singer of a rock band called the Dutch Masters and took part in high school and community theatre.

After graduating, Murray attended Regis University in Denver, Colorado, taking premedical courses. However, he quickly dropped out, returning to Illinois.^[9] In 2007, however, Regis awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree.^[10]

Around 1971, police arrested Murray at Chicago's O'Hare Airport for trying to smuggle 9 pounds of marijuana which he had allegedly intended to sell.^[8][9]

Career[link]

Second City[link]