Boyle, who also won acclaim as the tap-dancing monster in the Mel Brooks' film "Young Frankenstein," had been suffering from multiple myeloma and heart disease, according to The Associated Press.

    With his bald pate, wide forehead, dark eyebrows and eyes that could jut from side to side, Boyle flashed a manic glint that could be scary or endearing. A one-time monastery student, he turned to acting after he felt the "normal pull of the world and the flesh."

    "It's like losing a spouse," said Doris Roberts, who played Frank's wife, Marie, on the show. "I'm going to miss my dear friend, so unlike the character he played on television. He's a brilliant actor, a gentleman, incredibly intelligent, wonderfully well-read and a loving friend."

    Phil Rosenthal, the sitcom's creator, called Boyle's passing "a death in the family." He recalled the actor was not happy when he was kept waiting for his "Raymond" audition.

    "He came in all hot and angry," Rosenthal described. "I hired him because I was afraid of him."

    But he also noted: "I knew right away that he had a comic presence."

    Boyle earned 10 Emmy nominations in his long career, seven of them for his role as Frank Barone on "Raymond," which ran on CBS from 1996-2005.

    Boyle's sole Emmy win came not for "Raymond" but for a dramatic guest shot on Fox's "The X Files" in 1996.

    Boyle in recent years had suffered from heart trouble. In 1990, he suffered a stroke and couldn't talk for six months. He had a heart attack on the set of "Raymond" in 1999 but quickly recovered.

    Boyle won his first movie recognition for his portrayal of blue-collared bigot Joe in 1970's "Joe," and he played a taxi driver in Martin Scorsese's 1976 classic "Taxi Driver," one of the nocturnal cabbies who drove the same weird streets as Travis Bickel. More recently, he played Billy Bob Thornton's racist father in "Monster's Ball" (2001).

    His wide range of off-center roles also included playing Robert Redford's opportunistic campaign manager in 1972's "The Candidate" and Hunter S. Thompson's gonzo lawyer Carl Lazlo in 1980's "Where the Buffalo Roam."

    Boyle met his wife, Lorraine Alterman, on the set of that film. She was a writer for Rolling Stone magazine, and Boyle reportedly asked her for a date while he was still in his monster makeup. Rock icon John Lennon, whose wife Yoko Ono was a friend of Alterman's, served as best man at their wedding. The couple made their home in New York.

    On TV, Boyle won accolades and an Emmy nom for his portrayal of Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1977 NBC telefilm "Tail Gunner Joe." He also appeared in "The Man Who Could Talk to Kids" and did a stint as a guest host of "Saturday Night Live" and sang.

    Boyle reportedly turned down the lead role of Popeye Doyle that went to Gene Hackman in 1971's "The French Connection," saying he did not want a role that glamorized violence.

    In addition to his wife, Boyle is survived by daughters Lucy and Amy.

    (Agencies)