Dom DeLuise Dies at 75

Image from source, NY Daily News

Some of the stars of my greatest pop-culture memories growing up are dying away. Since I've had this blog, I've chronicled the deaths of Bea Arthur, Suzanne Pleshette, Tom Poston, Ricard Montalban, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, Eartha Kitt, Paul Newman, Estelle Getty, George Carlin, Harvey Korman, Vampira, Alice Ghostly and Evel Kneivel. Considering that this blog is only two years old, and this is a partial list, it can get kind of depressing.

Today, Dom DeLuise died, taking the list of comedy stars I grew up with past the tipping point. I think more of my favorites from that era are now dead than alive. Certainly, in DeLuise's milieu--Burt Reynolds, Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder movies--the list of the dearly departed is long. My favorite DeLuise movies are Hot Stuff, Silent Movie, Blazing Saddles, History of the World Pt. I and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. But even in those stinkeroo old Reynolds movies, DeLuise was hilarious. In fact, the "bloopers over the credits" trend in movies may have been started just to showcase DeLuise's brand of hilarity.

It's been a while since I've seen DeLuise shine, but he'll still be greatly missed.

[Excerpt]

Comedic actor and cookbook author Dom DeLuise dies at 75

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. . .

Read more at: New York Daily News