He was born Dominick DeLuise in New York City on Aug. 1, 1933, to Italian immigrants. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. November 3, 2020 / 4:41 PM / CBS Detroit. He was 75. [citation needed], DeLuise was probably best known as a regular in Mel Brooks' films. DeLuise died Monday night, son Michael DeLuise told KTLA-TV and radio station KNX on Tuesday. no matter what the situation, my mothers solution was always, Eat this, itll make you feel better. , DeLuise, who had a second career as a celebrity chef, also wrote a number of childrens books, including Charlie the Caterpillar and The Pouch Potato.. ", "I worked two years solidly on plays and moving furniture and painting scenery and playing parts," he remarked in a 2006 interview. He spent summers at the Cleveland Playhouse, where he appeared in productions as varied as Guys and Dolls and Hamlet. In 1958, he had a stint as the fourth and final Tinker the Toymaker, the host-performer-instructor on Tinkers Workshop on Channel 7 in New York City. Peter is the oldest of Dom's three sons. His appearances on the hit comedy-variety program brought offers from Hollywood, and DeLuise first came to the attention of movie-goers in "Fail Safe," a drama starring Henry Fonda. Dom DeLuise, actor, comedian and chef, dies, Keith I. Marszalek, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. ", "I worked two years solidly on plays and moving furniture and painting scenery and playing parts," he remarked in a 2006 interview. "I was just having such a great time.". Please enter valid email address to continue. Watch an impromptu performance by Dom DeLuise . Kristi Noem's desk, Beach students place in S.T.E.M. He authored two cookbooks and would appear often on morning TV shows to whip up his favorite recipes. His father, who spoke only Italian, was a garbage collector, and those humble beginnings stayed with him throughout his life. For years he resisted the efforts of family members and doctors who tried to put him on various diets. True to life, Dom played a sympathetic kiddie show host in the moving TV-movie Happy (1983). He finally decided to enroll at Tufts College and study biology, with the aim of becoming a teacher. Dom DeLuise, the mirthful, moon-faced comic actor who provided frequent comedic support in television variety shows of the 1960s and '70s and in movies starring Mel Brooks and Burt Reynolds, has. He used to say, If you can make money with your mouth, God bless you! , DeLuise, whose girth grew greater over the years -- reportedly weighing 325 pounds in 1999-- was obviously a man who loved to eat. It just so happened he was a voice actor for Spaceballs (1987), a spoof of Star Wars. He was 75. It'll Also Make You Feel Good.". I will miss him very much.". The show went so well that DeLuise was soon a regular on Martin's program, participating in both songs and sketches. .component--type-recirculation .item:nth-child(5) { display: none; He was a naturally funny man, film critic Leonard Maltin told The Times on Tuesday. As you get older you think about this more and more, I was dreading this moment. As might be said for the late and great comedians Harvey Korman and Madeline Kahn, it seems that Mel Brooks was the only director on the planet who knew how to best utilize this funnyman's talents on film. Another actor-friend, Dean Martin, admired his comic abilities so much that he cast DeLuise as a regular on his 1960s comedy-variety show. Comic legend Dom DeLuise dies at 75 LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Dom DeLuise, who spiced up such movies as "Blazing Saddles," "Silent Movie" and "The Cannonball Run" with his manic. The star shared that he started learning the importance of family from his famous parents, who had thriving Hollywood careers. DeLuise was most famous for his supporting roles in a number of Mel Brooks films, including 1974's "Saddles" -- in which he played a flamboyant musical director who led dancers in a number called "The French Mistake" -- and 1976's "Silent Movie," in which he played the assistant to Brooks' director Mel Funn. An overweight bachelor is fat, 40 and fed up--to the gills--but when his obese cousin Sal dies at 39, he must finally come to terms with his own weight problem. [4], DeLuise's paid stage debut, at age 18, of Bernie the dog was in the drama Bernie's Christmas Wish. He was just so much bigger than life, and he was so funny. I always say that between him and Mel Brooks, it was a tossup over who can make you laugh fastest and harder.. He was surrounded by his family, including his wife, Carol Arthur, and three sons. He was also in the Brooks-directed "The Twelve Chairs" (1970), "Spaceballs" (1987) and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" (1993). [14][15] They married in 1965 and had three sons, all of whom are actors: Peter, Michael, and David DeLuise. Actor: The Cannonball Run. [11], DeLuise exhibited his comedic talents while playing the speaking part of the jailer Frosch in the comedic operetta Die Fledermaus at the Metropolitan Opera, playing the role in four separate revivals of the work at the Met between December 1989 and January 1996. His wife, Carol Arthur, a Broadway actress whom he married in 1965, was one of the regulars. DeLuise's introduction to acting came at age 8 when he played the title role of Peter Rabbit in a school play. In 1973, he starred in a situation comedy, "Lotsa Luck," but it proved to be short-lived. I will miss him very much."DeLuise's death was confirmed Tuesday by a representative for his son, David DeLuise. I never heard him say an unkind word about anyone. DeLuise told The Times in 2005 that the shows producer-director, Greg Garrison, gave him great confidence as a comedian. Dom DeLuise at Spago Restaurant in Hollywood on September 28, 1987 | Photo: Getty Images. Mr. DeLuise in his director's chair while working on the film "Hot Stuff" in 1979. We see that you have javascript disabled. He is often identified for his work in the films of Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder, as well as a series of collaborations and appearances with Burt Reynolds. Dom DeLuise, who spiced up such movies as "Blazing Saddles," "Silent Movie" and "The Cannonball Run" with his manic delivery and roly-poly persona, has died, his son's publicist said . Still another comic buddy, Gene Wilder, handed Dom the roles of the indulgent opera star in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975) and harassed movie mogul Adolf Zitz in The World's Greatest Lover (1977). DeLuises wife and three sons were with him when he died. (1968), he proved a delight as an inept, dim-witted spy in the Doris Day caper The Glass Bottom Boat (1966).Mel Brooks first cast Dom as the miserly Russian Orthodox priest, Father Fyodor, in his film The Twelve Chairs (1970), and found plenty of room for the comedian after that -- as campy director Buddy Bizarre in Blazing Saddles (1974), the silly-ass director's assistant in Silent Movie (1976), Emperor Nero in History of the World: Part I (1981), the voice of the cheese-oozing Pizza the Hutt in the "Star Wars" parody Spaceballs (1987), and as Sherwood Forest's very own puffy-cheeked Godfather, Don Giovanni, in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993).A very close friend of action star Burt Reynolds, Dom romped through a number of Reynolds' freewheeling films as well, including Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), The Cannonball Run (1981) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982). However, years later, the hardworking and determined star had his eyes on "21 Jump Street," and before long, he bagged his most famous role. Calls to his agent were not immediately returned. and 1997's "Eat This Too! "It's easy tomourn his death," his family said in a statement, "but easier to remember a time when he made you laugh. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Tim Molloy May 5, 2009, 9:36 a.m. PT. At his best, looking embarrassed or agitated, the laughs usually came at his own expense, whether playing a panic-stricken klutz or squirming nervous-Nelly type. [citation needed], TV producer Greg Garrison hired DeLuise to appear as a specialty act on The Dean Martin Show. Ive never gone to work and wanted to do something else.. Writer-director-actor Mel Brooks particularly admired DeLuise's talent for offbeat comedy and cast him in several of his films, including "The Twelve Chairs," 'Blazing Saddles," 'Silent Movie," 'History of the World Part I" and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights." Other TV credits included appearances on such shows as "The Munsters," 'The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.," 'Burke's Law," 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and "Diagnosis Murder.". Actor and comedian Dom DeLuise, who developed a reputation as an avid amateur chef along with his prolific entertainment career, has died at age 75. Dom DeLuise, the portly actor-comedian whose affable nature made him a popular character actor for decades with movie and TV audiences as well as directors and fellow actors, has died. The son of Italian immigrants, DeLuise was born Aug. 1, 1933. . On Broadway, DeLuise appeared in Neil Simon's "Last of the Red Hot Lovers" and other plays. The part called for me to roll under a bed as soon as the curtain went up and stay there until I was found in the very last scene, he said. Dom DeLuise, the U.S. comic actor who gained fame on television and in movies such as "Blazing Saddles," has died at age 75, family members said on Tuesday. As long as he was entertaining people, he was happy, DeLuise told The Times in 1992. . I was allowed to ad-lib a great deal with Dean., In a golfing sketch with Martin and Bing Crosby, DeLuise played their loud, bad-joke-spouting caddie who arrives at a tee in a golf cart topped with a colorful umbrella: Im sorry Im late, he said. DeLuise was also the voice of Pizza the Hutt in Brooks' "Star Wars" parody, "Spaceballs. He told Larry King that it was the "joy of my life" to work with his oldest son, Peter, when he directed the film "Second Nature.". He made a cameo appearance as a wild-eyed agent in The Muppet Movie (1979), took on a tragicomic role as a compulsive eater in Fatso (1980), and directed his first film, Hot Stuff (1979), in which he also took a starring role opposite Suzanne Pleshette. You have permission to edit this article. She was 85.. He finally agreed in 1993 when he needed hip replacement surgery and his doctor refused to perform it until he lost 100 pounds. DeLuise died in Southern California on Monday, May 4, 2009, according to his son, Michael DeLuise. Actor and comedian Dom DeLuise has died. Brooks once remarked that, whenever he cast Dom in one of his films he'd add an extra two days to the shooting schedule because of delays between takes due to the constant laughter from cast and crew at Dom's improvisations.The lovable, butterball comedian was a mainstay on 1960s and '70s TV variety as a "second banana," or comic-relief player. I never heard him say an unkind word about anyone. Some of his biggest misses were the Mae West disaster Sextette (1977), the Dudley Moore showcase Wholly Moses! Writer-director-actor Mel Brooks particularly admired DeLuise's talent for offbeat comedy and cast him in several of his films, including "The Twelve Chairs," "Blazing Saddles," "Silent Movie," "History of the World Part I" and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights." While working in summer stock in Provincetown, Mass., he met a beautiful young actress, Carol Arthur, and they were soon married. In the late 80s, he wrote a cookbook containing his favorite Italian recipes, Eat This: Itll Make You Feel Better, which was followed by Eat This Too!, When I was a kid, he wrote in the first book, if I had a fever, had a cold, had a fight, had a fall, had a cut, was depressed, had a disappointment, fell off a truck, woke up with a headache . He was born Dominick DeLuise in New York City on Aug. 1, 1933, to Italian immigrants. He went on to graduate from New York City's famed School of Performing Arts in Manhattan. As an actor, he was incredibly prolific, appearing in scores of movies and TV shows, in Broadway plays and voicing characters for numerous cartoon shows. No details were immediately available. Obesity was also a chronic, real-life problem for the comedian and, at one point in 1999, it was reported that he had tipped the scales at 325 lbs. Dom DeLuise, who spiced up such movies as "Blazing Saddles," "Silent Movie" and "The Cannonball Run" with his manic delivery and roly-poly persona, has died, his son's publicist said. His chubby face and hysterical laugh made him a natural for comic roles, like the dimwitted spy in the Doris Day film The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). Beginning in the 1980s, his popularity expanded to younger audiences from voicing characters in several major animated productions, particularly those of Don Bluth. 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