John Lennon Was the Best Man at This Everybody Loves Raymond Star's Wedding
Creator Phil Rosenthal remembered star Peter Boyle, who died in 2006. Rosenthal told the audience a little-known fact that John Lennon was the best man at Boyle’s wedding to his wife, Loraine Alterman, a journalist
Everybody Loves Raymond probably doesn’t make you think of The Beatles, but it just might now.
On Monday, June 16, at the Paley Center in New York City, Everybody Loves Raymond stars Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton and Maggie Wheeler, creator Phil Rosenthal and producer Tom Caltabiano reunited to celebrate 30 years of the hit sitcom. The comedy series, which also starred Brad Garrett and the late Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts, ran from 1996 to 2005 and continues to find new fans in syndication. Romano, 67, starred as sportswriter Ray Barone, and the characters around him were loosely based on his real family.
During the panel, the group took time to remember Boyle, who died in 2006 at 71. Boyle played Ray’s dad, Frank, who could be extremely stubborn and over-the-top with his sons. Coexecutive producer and writer Cindy Chupack remembered how she based a plotline for Frank on her own dad, who was a “terrible driver,” and she said Boyle was “so belligerent” in how he portrayed Frank.
Ray Romano (left) and Peter Boyle in 'Everybody Loves Raymond'.
Rosenthal — who also stars in Netflix’s Somebody Feed Phil — chimed in. “Two interesting things about Peter Boyle,” he said. “He studied to be a monk when he was younger. I asked him, ‘Why'd you give it up?' And he says, ‘There weren't enough girls there.’ ”
“And the other thing is, I wonder if you know this. You know who the best man at his wedding was? John Lennon,” Rosenthal revealed. “He was cool, Peter Boyle.”
Boyle met his wife, Loraine Alterman, on the set of Young Frankenstein. Boyle played the Monster in the now-legendary Mel Brooks film. Alterman was a journalist for Rolling Stone who was visiting the set for work. It was widely reported that Boyle was still wearing his monster makeup when he asked her out, but Alterman told The New York Times in 2001 that Boyle had exaggerated the truth. ''He actually was out of makeup when we met, but let him have it his way,” she told the outlet.
Alterman, who worked widely as a music writer at the time, was friends with Yoko Ono, and through her, Boyle became friends with Lennon. Boyle and Alterman wed in 1977 with Ono and Lennon by their sides.
“My wife and I had a very low-key wedding,” Boyle told Philadelphia magazine in 2005. “At the last minute, I asked John to stand in as my best man. And he said yes. The rest is history.” He noted Lennon didn’t sing, but added, “He is John Lennon. And everything he does is memorable.”
Source: people.com/Victoria Edel
