Peter Boyle; Yoko Ono

(New York-WABC, Dec. 13, 2006) (WABC) -- I met Peter Boyle only once.

He was at the time risking his career. He halted acting on the screen for a while and, along with Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda, was visiting military bases and cities across the country on an anti-Vietnam War tour.

Their program was called "FTA," which they said stood for "Free The Army." We all suspected the "Free" part of the title was cleaned up considerably from its original meaning.

"FTA" was a series of sketches -- admittedly anti-war, from a "the U.S. has wrongly invaded and divided Vietnam" perspective.

The cast of "FTA" had such a good time together -- their chemistry was so great -- they decided to make a movie together. "Steelyard Blues" came out in 1973. Most people today know Boyle as the father in the long-running TV sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond."

But his breakout role was in 1970 in the movie "Joe." He played an angry white man, a racist, redneck, drunken factory worker who hated -- well, just about everybody.

Our entertainment reporter Sandy Kenyan remembered this story about Boyle today: Boyle thought people would find his character despicable enough that they would confront their own prejudices. Instead, people loved "Joe."

The response shocked and dismayed him so much that he refused the next role he was offered. Too bad for him, because that role was Popeye Doyle in the "French Connection." Gene Hackman took the role instead. And he won an Academy Award for it.

Boyle was 71 when he died today in New York of heart disease. He was a great character.

Now to tonight's 11 p.m. newscast. Yoko Ono is making news tonight. Her bodyguard was arrested today for trying to extort $2 million from her -- this in exchange for not releasing some of her "secret recordings."

According to NYPD detectives, who arrested Koral Karsan, the bodyguard told the widow of John Lennon that he had recordings of her personal conversations, and he threatened to release the recordings unless she paid him $2 million.

He's expected to be arraigned tonight or tomorrow. Nina Pineda has our story tonight. There is a kismet between Boyle and Ono. His wife is a friend of Yoko Ono's -- and through that friendship, Boyle developed a friendship with Lennon. In fact, Lennon was the best man at Boyle's wedding.

So there you go.

We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Bill Evans (in for Lee Goldberg) with the AccuWeather forecast, and Scott Clark with the night's sports. I hope you can join Liz Cho and me, tonight at 11.

BILL RITTER

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