Peter Boyle, 1935–2006

Actor Peter Boyle, who starred in films as varied as Young Frankenstein, Taxi Driver, and Monster's Ball, died Tuesday evening at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He was 71. The cause was multiple myeloma and heart disease, his representative said.

A seven-time Emmy nominee for the long-running CBS sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond," Boyle briefly entered a religious order before taking up acting lessons with Uta Hagen in the early 1970s. He turned down the role Gene Hackman played in The French Connection and became known for playing heavies before accepting Mel Brooks's offer to play Frankenstein's monster in the 1974 Gene Wilder–starring comedy.

Boyle and Brooks spoke to Premiere in 2003 about the Creature's showstopping performance:

Presenting his Creature (Peter Boyle) to a skeptical audience of doctors and scientists, Dr. Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) introduces him thusly: "From what was once an inarticulate mass of lifeless tissues, may I now present a cultured, sophisticated . . . man about town!" The curtain comes up on mentor and monster, each with top hat and cane, and they break into a duet of Irving Berlin's jaunty "Puttin' on the Ritz," complete with finger snaps and tap dancing.

Once the song starts, no one is quite sure what's going to come out of the Creature's mouth. Director Mel Brooks was in the same position during filming: "I said to Peter, 'I want you to take an old-fashioned vaudeville handoff. When it comes to the lyric 'Puttin' on the Ritz,' you know, just . . . take it!'" he says. Though it was a run-through, he fortuitously had the camera running when Boyle came out with his hilarious high-pitched slur: Punnondariiiiiiiiiizz! "Thank God we got it on film."

"I had been practicing all sorts of voices for years," Boyle says. "Most people think I just talk to myself. This is a case where it paid off." A week of rehearsals with choreographer Alan Johnson (Blazing Saddles) helped Wilder and Boyle perfect the routine, which the six-feet-two Boyle had to perform in eight-inch soles and extensive body padding. "That's the tricky part," Boyle says. "If you don't put your foot down just so, you could break an ankle. Doing comedy's real serious."

The director sent the scene to composer Berlin to get his okay. "[Berlin] said, 'It's not cheap comedy, it's in-depth,'" Brooks remembers. "He never gave a song to anybody. He knew we were gonna have fun with it, but he felt the spirit was right."

Boyle is survived by his wife of 29 years, Loraine, and two daughters.

—Sara Brady