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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 told CNN.
Dom DeLuise was best known for his roles in Mel Brooks films as well as films with his friend Burt Reynolds.
Publicist Jay Schwartz did not disclose the cause of death, but DeLuise, 75, had been battling cancer for more than a year.
DeLuise was surrounded by family when he died in a Santa Monica, California, hospital Monday night, son Michael DeLuise told CNN affiliate KTLA-TV.
Dom DeLuise Career and fun facts
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. He was also in the Brooks-directed “The Twelve Chairs” (1970), “Spaceballs” (1987) and “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” (1993).
DeLuise generally appeared in comedic parts, although an early appearance (in the movie Fail-Safe as a nervous enlisted airman) showed a possible broader range. His first acting credit was as a regular performer in the television show The Entertainers in 1964. In the 1970s and 1980s, he often co-starred with Burt Reynolds; together they appeared in the films The Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II, Smokey and the Bandit II, The End, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and All Dogs Go to Heaven. DeLuise was the host of the television show Candid Camera from 1991 to 1992.
TV producer Greg Garrison hired DeLuise to appear as a specialty act on the popular Dean Martin show. DeLuise ran through his “Dominick the Great” routine, a riotous example of a magic act gone wrong, with host Martin as a bemused volunteer from the audience. Dom’s catch phrase in broken Italian dialect, No Applause Necessary, Sava to the End. The show went so well that DeLuise was soon a regular on Martin’s program, participating in both songs and sketches. Garrison also featured DeLuise in his own hour-long comedy specials for ABC. (Martin was often just off-camera when these were taped, and his distinctive laugh can be heard loud and clear.)
DeLuise was probably best known as a regular in Mel Brooks’s films. He appeared in The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, History of the World, Part I, Spaceballs & Robin Hood: Men in Tights. In Silent Movie (1976), Brooks plays a film director and his strange friends, DeLuise (as “Dom Bell”) and Marty Feldman, struggle to produce the first major silent film in forty years. Brooks’ late wife, actress Anne Bancroft, directed Dom in Fatso (1980). He also had a cameo in Johnny Dangerously as the Pope, and in Jim Henson’s The Muppet Movie as a wayward Hollywood talent agent who comes across Kermit the Frog singing “The Rainbow Connection” in the film’s opening scene.
DeLuise exhibited his comedic talents while playing the speaking part of the jailer Frosch in the comedic operetta Die Fledermaus at the Metropolitan Opera. In the production, while the singing was in German, the spoken parts were in English.
An avid cook and author of several books on cooking, in recent years he appeared as a regular contributor to a syndicated home improvement radio show, On The House with The Carey Brothers, giving listeners tips on culinary topics.[5] He also wrote several children’s books.
Dom De Luise Filmography
tom thumb (1958)
Diary of a Bachelor (1964)
Fail-Safe (1964)
The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
The Busy Body (1967)
What’s So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968)
The Twelve Chairs (1970)
Norwood (1970)
Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)
Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother (1975)
Silent Movie (1976)
The World’s Greatest Lover (1977)
Sextette (1978)
The End (1978)
The Cheap Detective (1978)
The Muppet Movie (1979) (cameo)
Hot Stuff (1979) (also director)
The Last Married Couple in America (1980)
Fatso (1980)
Wholly Moses (1980)
Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)
History of the World, Part I (1981)
The Cannonball Run (1981)
Peter-No-Tail (1981) (voice in English dubbed version)
The Secret of NIMH (1982) (voice)
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
Cannonball Run II (1984)
Johnny Dangerously (1984)
Haunted Honeymoon (1986)
An American Tail (1986) (voice)
A Taxi Driver in New York (1987)
Spaceballs (1987) (voice only)
Going Bananas (1988)
Oliver & Company (1988) (voice)
The Princess and the Dwarf (1989)
All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) (voice)
Loose Cannons (1990)
Driving Me Crazy (1991)
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) (voice)
Munchie (1992) (voice only)
The Magic Voyage (1992) (voice)
Almost Pregnant (1992)
The Skateboard Kid (1993) (voice only)
Happily Ever After (1993) (voice)
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
Don’t Drink the Water (1994)
The Silence of the Hams (1994)
A Troll in Central Park (1994) (voice)
All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996) (voice)
Red Line (1996)
Boys Will Be Boys (1997)
The Good Bad Guys (1997)
Between the Sheets (1998) (Cameo)
The Godson (1998)
An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998) (voice)
Baby Geniuses (1999)
An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster (1999) (voice)
Lion of Oz (2000) (voice)
The Brainiacs.com (2000)
It’s All About You (2001)
Always Greener (2001)
My X-Girlfriend’s Wedding Reception (2001)
Remembering Mario (2003) (voice only)
Girl Play (2004)
Breaking the Fifth (2004)
Bongee Bear and the Kingdom of Rhythm (2006) (voice)
[edit]Television
Amazing Stories (1 Episode Guilt Trip)
The Entertainers (1964–1965)
The Dean Martin Summer Show (regular performer in 1966)
The Dom DeLuise Show (1968) (summer replacement for Jackie Gleason)
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (regular performer from 1971 – 1972)
The Roman Holidays (1972) (cancelled after four months)
The Dean Martin Show (regular performer from 1972 – 1973)
Lotsa Luck (1973–1974)
Only with Married Men (1974)
The Muppet Show (1977) [Guest]
Happy (1983) (also executive producer)
The Dom DeLuise Show (1987 – 1988)
21 Jump Street (1989)
Die Laughing (1990)
Timmy’s Gift: A Precious Moments Christmas (1991) (voice)
Fievel’s American Tails (1991 – 1992) (voice)
Candid Camera (host from 1991 – 1992)
The Ren & Stimpy Show (cast member from 1993 – 1995) (voice)
Married… With Children (1993) (voice)
Burke’s Law (1994–1995)
seaQuest DSV (1994)
Tin Soldier (1995)
Shari’s Passover Surprise (1996)
3rd Rock from the Sun (1997)
Dexter’s Laboratory
Cow and Chicken
Hercules: The Animated Series
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1998)
All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (1996 – 1999) (voice)
Charlie Horse Music Pizza (1998 – 1999)
Stargate SG-1 episode “Urgo” (2000)
Robot Chicken (2005) (guest voice)
“Spaceballs: The Animated Series” (2008) (voice)
Our best wishes to Dom DeLuise family, and may he rest in peace…