Dom DeLuise dead at 75, Burt Reynolds sheds a tear
Comedian-actor-director Dom DeLuise, who delighted audiences with his antic performances, has died. He was 75. His son Michael DeLuise told Los Angeles TV station KTLA and radio station KNX that he died Monday night in Southern California. DeLuise was widely recognized for his inspired comic characterizations. His roly-poly energy and high hysterics garnished several movies with his close friend Burt Reynolds, beginning with “The End” and including “Smokey and the Bandit II,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “Cannonball Run II.” – from THR
Brooklyn-born Dom DeLuise, the roly-poly movie foil to best buddy Burt Reynolds during a comedic career that spanned the last half-century, died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 75.
DeLuise, also a regular in director Mel Brooks’s acclaimed comedies, passed away in his sleep at a Los Angeles hospital, according to TMZ.com.
DeLuise served as the rotund sidekick to matinee idol Reynolds in a series of films, an extension of their off-screen friendship.
The pair shared the big screen in “The End,” “Cannonball Run I & II,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “Smokey & the Bandit II.”
“I was dreading this moment,” Reynolds said in a statement to “Entertainment Tonight.”
Brooklyn-born Dom DeLuise, the roly-poly movie foil to best buddy Burt Reynolds during a comedic career that spanned the last half-century, died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 75.
DeLuise, also a regular in director Mel Brooks’s acclaimed comedies, passed away in his sleep at a Los Angeles hospital, according to TMZ.com.
DeLuise served as the rotund sidekick to matinee idol Reynolds in a series of films, an extension of their off-screen friendship.
The pair shared the big screen in “The End,” “Cannonball Run I & II,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “Smokey & the Bandit II.”
“I was dreading this moment,” Reynolds said in a statement to “Entertainment Tonight.”
- from NYDailynews
After hearing the news of Dom DeLuise’s death, Burt Reynolds released a statement to “Extra” describing what a great guy Dom was. “I was thinking about this the other day,” Burt’s statement reads. “As you get older, and start to lose people you love, you think about it more, and I was dreading this moment. Dom always made you feel better when he was around and there will never be another like him. I never heard him say an unkind word about anyone. I will miss him very much.” – from Extra
The son of Italian immigrants — his father was a city garbage collector, his mother a full-time homemaker — he was born Dominick DeLuise in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Aug. 1, 1933.
The third of three children, DeLuise developed an interest in acting after playing Scrooge in a junior high school production of “A Christmas Carol” and went on to graduate from the High School of Performing Arts in New York. “I became a comedian when they laughed at my serious acting,” he said in a 1997 Times interview. – from LAtimes