Peter Boyle’s beginnings in Young Frankenstein (1974) were fairly simple, though his impact in the film was grand. Boyle played The Monster, portraying the well-known character with a more comedic and entertaining interpretation.

According to Boyle, he was originally cast in the film because he shared an agent with future co-star Gene Wilder.

“My agent had three clients,” Boyle said during an interview with the Knight Ridder News Service. “Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, and me. He said, ‘I want to put you together in a movie,’ and Gene came up with the idea of a Frankenstein remake. We took it to Mel Brooks.”

The film didn’t just win Boyle a starring role. It also won him a wife. According to an interview with PARADE, Boyle met his wife, a writer, during the production of Young Frankenstein.

“That was great fun,” Boyle said. “[The makeup] took me three and a half hours. But I met my wife while making that movie. She was a writer for Rolling Stone, and we’re still happily married 27 years later.”

Although Boyle’s Monster was better for laughs than scares, the actor’s intimidation served him well in the future, as it won him roles like Frank Barone. “He came into the audition, and he scared me, so I gave him the part,” said Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal to the Knight Ridder News Service. “He’s hilarious. For a lot of people, he’s their favorite character, because there’s no filter on what he says.”