Dig A Hole: Dom DeLuise

May 5th, 2009 by Scott Marks

Dom DeLuise, the jovial rotund comic best know for his collaborations with Mel Brooks and Burt Reynolds, died in his sleep last night after a long illness. He was 75.

Dominick DeLuise was born on August 1, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York to Italian American parents Vincenza “Jennie” (née DeStefano), a homemaker, and John DeLuise, who was a civil servant. DeLuise graduated from Manhattan’s High School of Performing Arts and later attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

He first appeared on the small screen on Tinker’s Workshop (1958) a local New York children’s show produced by Bob “Captain Kangaroo” Keeshan. It would be another decade before DeLuise cracked the big time and became one of televisions most recognizable faces in the 1960s. While performing in the Broadway play Here’s Love, Garry Moore noticed him and gave him a spot on his television show as “Dominick the Great.” His appearance on The Shari Lewis Show led to a regular spot on the variety show The Entertainers. He played Dr. Dudley in a memorable episode of The Munsters where Herman becomes disfigured after a bolt of lightning transformed him into Fred Gwynne.

While working in summer stock in Provincetown, Mass., Mr. DeLuise met and eventually married Carol Arthur. The couple would remain together for close to 45 years and had three sons, Peter DeLuise, Michael DeLuise and David DeLuise.

He got a call from producer Greg Garrison in 1966 to appear as a specialty act on the wildly popular Dean Martin Show. DeLuise revived his act as the bumbling magician “Dominick the Great.” It clicked with audiences and it wasn’t long before he became a regular fixture on the show. His success with Dino led to The Dom DeLuise Show (1968), a comedy and variety summer series.

DeLuise’s first film roles were in the forgotten comedy Diary of a Bachelor and a rare dramatic turn as a nervous enlisted airman in Fail Safe. He also added comedic support to Frank Tashlin’s The Glass Bottom Boat.

He began his long and fertile collaboration with Mel Brooks in 1970 as Father Fyodor in the Russian spoof The Twelve Chairs. His brief cameo as the homophobic musical director Buddy Bizarre (”Throw out your hands, stick out your tush”) proved to be one of the highlights of Blazing Saddles. He also appeared as Dom Bell in Silent Movie, Emperor Nero in The History of the World Part I, the voice of Pizza the Hut in Spaceballs and Don Giovanni in Robin Hood: Men in Tights. His Brooks affiliation led to parts in Gene Wilder’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother and The World’s Greatest Lover as well as the title role in Fatso directed by Mel’s wife Anne Bancroft.

Dom’s teaming with Burt Reynolds proved less memorable. His non-stop stream of ‘Polock’ jokes in The End landed him in hot water with the Polish American community (most notably Sig Sackowicz). He also appeared in the sequel to Reynolds’ shit-kicking “comedy” Smokey and the Bandit as well as both Cannonball Run pictures and the big screen adaptation of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

The actor put his money where is girth was by authoring two successful cookbooks, 1988’s “Eat This _ It Will Make You Feel Better!” and 1997’s “Eat This Too! It’ll Also Make You Feel Good.”

The tail end of his career was spent entertaining children. He authored of two children’s books: “Charlie The Caterpillar” and “Goldie Locks & The Three Bears: The Real Story!”. He also lent his voice to numerous animated features including Oliver & Company, All Dogs Go To Heaven and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West in addition to such TV hiys as The Ren & Stimpy Show, Duckman and Dexter’s Laboratory.

According to the Washington Post, DeLuise’s weight balloone to 325 pounds, but the actor refused to be put on a diet. He dropped 100 pounds in 1993 because his doctors refused to perform hip replacement surgery until he took some weight off. “He and his family enrolled at the Duke University Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, N.C., and DeLuise lost enough weight for the surgery, although he gained some of it back afterward.”

For a performer who spent his career playing the fat man, DeLuise commented, “I’m actually a thin serious person but I play fat and funny, but only for the movies.”

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