Categorical Aperitif

Peter Boyle died last night. I knew about his magnificent performances in things like Young Frankenstein and The Candidate, but I did not know this about him:

Through his wife, a friend of Yoko Ono, the actor became close friends with John Lennon. "We were both seekers after a truth, looking for a quick way to enlightenment," Boyle once said of Lennon, who was best man at his wedding.

Actually, my favorite performance of Boyle's is probably his title role in one of the all-time greatest X-Files episodes ever, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose," in which he plays a haunted, lonely, world-weary clairvoyant whose gift is really a curse. Boyle embodies Clyde Bruckman with a disconcerting mix of wit, pain, and resignation that suits the odd subject matter perfectly—and which still leaves me awestruck with its apparent effortlessness years later. But I guess that's not such a stretch for a guy who could pull off Frankenstein's monster singing "Puttin' on the Ritz."

Rest in peace.