Actor tried religious life way before ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘Raymond’

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — Peter Boyle has spent a lifetime in acting — on stage, screen and television — and has just come off a nine-year run as Frank Barone, the quarrelsome father on the successful "Everybody Loves Raymond" TV show.

As a child, he acted in grade school, summer camp and high school.

The funny thing is, he didn’t act at all when he was a student at La Salle College (now University) in 1953-58. But then again, he was a Christian Brother in training back then.

"All we did was study and pray," said the former Brother Francis de Sales, during a recent visit to Philadelphia, his hometown, to accept the Shining Star Award from La Salle’s communications department.

Boyle left the Christian Brothers after five years, eventually settling into a career in acting.

"Theater and religious ritual are very connected," he said in an interview with The Catholic Standard & Times, Philadelphia archdiocesan newspaper. "It’s the using of an inner process to express an outer reality, or something mysterious."

As a young actor, Boyle likes to joke, his Christian Brother experience was an asset. "It prepared me for a life as a struggling actor," he said. "When I first went to New York, I wasn’t starving but I really got into that vow of poverty."

Boyle grew up in St. Francis de Sales Parish, which explains his choice of names as a Christian Brother. His first acting experience was in a parish Christmas pageant.

As a student at West Catholic Boys High School, Boyle went out for theater, he said, because there were girls from West Catholic Girls High in the productions. "It was a good way to meet girls."

Despite that, and the fact that he was not the most diligent of students, he was also interested in the Christian Brothers, the teaching order at West Catholic. "They were good guys, and so I became one," he said.

After deciding the religious life was not his vocation, Boyle eventually lit on acting at a time when Philadelphia still was a great theater town. Virtually all of the big stage productions had tryout runs in Philadelphia theaters before opening on Broadway.

"My parents always went to the theater, and I started going," he said. "You’d see actors walking around town, and they looked like they were having fun. I wanted to have fun."

Boyle, who performed with Chicago’s Second City Company, was rarely a leading man but had many memorable supporting roles in film. His own favorites include "Young Frankenstein" (1974); "The Candidate" (1972); and "The Dream Team"(1989).

In Mel Brooks’ classic spoof, "Young Frankenstein," Boyle plays the genial monster. When the film was in production, he knew it was going to be good, but he never dreamed people would still be watching it 30 years later, and that a younger generation would be buying it on DVD.

In television work, Boyle earned an Emmy for a guest appearance on "The X-Files." Overall, he prefers film to television.

"Raymond" is the exception. "It was shot with four cameras before a live audience," he said. "It was hard work, but very gratifying to hear the response of the audience. That’s a great experience for an actor."

Boyle said he was lax in the practice of his Catholic faith for much of his adult life. That changed in 1999.

"I had a heart attack ... and after that, I decided I wasn’t going to fool around anymore, and got myself back to Mass," he said.

Now, on Sundays he can be found at St. Joseph’s Church when he’s in New York, or at St. Victor’s when he’s in Los Angeles.