Peter Boyle Net Worth

What was Peter Boyle's Net Worth and Salary?

Peter Boyle was an American actor who had a net worth of $8 million at the time of his death in 2006. Peter Boyle was best known for playing Frank Barone on the CBS television sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond." He also starred in numerous films, such as "Joe," "The Candidate," "The Friends of Eddie Coyle," "Young Frankenstein," and "Monster's Ball." Among his many other credits, Boyle guest-starred on "The X-Files" and won an Emmy Award for his performance.

Early Life and Education

Peter Boyle was born on October 18, 1935 in Norristown, Pennsylvania as the youngest of three children of Alice and Francis. His siblings are Alice and Sidney. Raised Catholic in Philadelphia, Boyle attended St. Francis de Sales School and West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys. After graduating in 1953, he spent three years in formation with the Catholic teaching order the De La Salle Brothers. Boyle earned his BA degree from La Salle University in 1957, and then left the order. He went on to attend officer candidate school, graduating in 1959. Although he was subsequently commissioned as an ensign in the US Navy, Boyle suffered a nervous breakdown that curtailed his military career. He decided to pursue acting, and studied at the HB Studio in New York City under Uta Hagen.

Career Beginnings

Before acting in films, Boyle played Murray the cop in a touring production of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple." After leaving the tour in Chicago, he joined the Second City improv ensemble.

Film Career

After brief roles in the Chicago films "Medium Cool" and "The Monitors," Boyle had his breakthrough playing the titular character in the 1970 film "Joe." The film was fairly controversial for its rough language and gritty violence. Boyle next starred in "T.R. Baskin" and "The Candidate." In 1973, he appeared in four films: "Steelyard Blues," "Slither," "Kid Blue," and "The Friends of Eddie Coyle." Boyle had one of his most iconic roles in 1974, playing Frankenstein's monster in Mel Brooks's parody film "Young Frankenstein." The same year, he starred in the crime film "Crazy Joe" and the British comedy "Ghost in the Noonday Sun." Over the remainder of the decade, Boyle appeared in "Taxi Driver," "Swashbuckler," "F.I.S.T.," "The Brink's Job," "Hardcore," and "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure." He continued his prolific acting in the 1980s, starting with roles in "Where the Buffalo Roam," "In God We Tru$t," and "Outland." Boyle was subsequently in "Hammett," "Yellowbeard," "Johnny Dangerously," and "Turk 182." His credits in the latter half of the decade include the comedies "Surrender," "Red Heat," "The Dream Team," and "Speed Zone."

Kicking off the 1990s, Boyle starred in the science-fiction thriller "Solar Crisis" and the crime drama "Men of Respect." He followed those with such titles as "Kickboxer 2: The Road Back," "Honeymoon in Vegas," "Malcolm X," "Bulletproof Heart," "The Shadow," and "The Santa Clause." In 1995, Boyle had notable roles in the family comedy "Born to Be Wild" and the romcom "While You Were Sleeping." He was in another romcom, "Milk & Money," in 1996. Boyle subsequently returned to family comedies with roles in "That Darn Cat" and "Dr. Dolittle." Switching to much more adult fare, he played the bigoted father of Billy Bob Thornton's character in the 2001 romantic drama "Monster's Ball." After that, Boyle was in the Eddie Murphy science-fiction comedy "The Adventures of Pluto Nash." His final film credits included "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed," "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause," and "All Roads Lead Home." The lattermost film was released in 2008 two years after Boyle's passing.

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Television Career

On the small screen, Boyle made his debut in the 1973 television film "The Man Who Could Talk to Kids," in which he starred as the titular character. Four years later, Boyle starred in another television film, "Tail Gunner Joe," portraying Senator Joseph McCarthy. For his performance, he earned his first Emmy Award nomination. Boyle next played Fatso Judson in the 1979 miniseries adaptation of "From Here to Eternity." He didn't return to television until 1986, when he starred as the titular world-weary New York City beat cop on the short-lived ABC series "Joe Bash." Boyle went on to appear in the television film "Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8" and the miniseries "Echoes in the Darkness." Closing out the decade, he was in the television films "Disaster at Silo 7" and "Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North."

Boyle appeared in more television films in the early 1990s, with credits including "Challenger," "The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story," and "Taking the Heat." From 1994 to 1995, he played the recurring role of Dan Breen on the police procedural series "NYPD Blue" and the guest role of Bill Church on the superhero series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman." Also in 1995, Boyle guest-starred as clairvoyant insurance salesman Clyde Bruckman in an episode of "The X-Files"; for his performance, he won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

Boyle soon began playing his longest-running role: Frank Barone on Ray Romano's sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond." During the show's run from 1996 to 2005, Boyle earned eight Emmy Award nominations, but never won. He reprised his role as Frank Barone in episodes of the sitcoms "Cosby" and "The King of Queens."

Everybody Loves Raymond Salary

Ahead of the final two seasons of "Everybody Loves Raymond", Ray Romano's salary per episode was raised to a then record-setting $1.8 million per episode. At that point Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts were each earning $250,000 per episode and Patricia Heaton was making $450,000. Brad Garrett, who was earning $160,000, was not pleased at the size of Romano's pay increase and launched a protest. At one point the show wrote Garrett out of a number of episodes and filmed an entire episode without him.

In solidarity, Patricia Heaton began calling in "sick," to support her co-stars. Boyle and Roberts soon also called in "sick." Production was halted for several weeks.

In the end, a settlement was reached with Garrett, Boyle and Roberts where they each got modest per-episode salary increases, but more importantly they received shares of the show's back-end equity points so they could continue making money every time it was sold into syndication forever.

Personal Life and Death

In 1977, Boyle married Loraine Alterman. They had two children and remained together until Boyle's passing.

Boyle had some health struggles during his life. In 1990, he suffered a near-fatal stroke that left him speechless and immobilized for close to six months. At the end of the decade, he had a heart attack while filming "Everybody Loves Raymond." After battling multiple myeloma and heart disease, Boyle passed away in December of 2006 at the age of 71. His widow Loraine went on to establish the Peter Boyle Memorial Fund in his honor.