Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Peter Boyle, R.I.P.


It's hard to say what my favorite performance of his was, especially since I was never a fan of "Everybody Loves Raymond." Didn't hate it or anything, just never got into it.

I first saw Boyle in Yellowbeard, which (despite almost universal gagging) remains one of my favorite parodies of all time. I remember him as a police commander trying everything he could find to relieve stress in Red Heat; he made an otherwise forgettable movie as least a little enjoyable. And everybody loved him in Young Frankenstein.

I think my favorite role of his, though, was as the father (Ox Callahan) in the sappy romantic comedy While You Were Sleeping. Some of the quotes still crack me up:
Man at Church: Will you please pipe down?
Ox Callahan: Hey, be nice pal-ly, we're in Church!
Man at Church: You're disrupting the Mass!
Ox Callahan: Who made you the Pope?

And one I throw around sometimes for no particular reason:
All I know is, she was pretty high and mighty for someone named after breakfast meat!

Incidentally, looking at his trivia, I notice that before he was an actor, he was a Christian Brothers monk. How cool is that?

Rest in peace, pal. Make God laugh.

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