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Outside of Don Knotts, Dom DeLuise was my favorite comic actor. Even in dreck, he was a joy to watch.

(Blazing Saddles which is grossly overrated, but that's for another time and place).

Great obit, DP.

And Wreck, you're just completely, unfortunately wrong. And it is for another time and place, but you brought it up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkKMjDhCJ70

R.I.P., Captain Chaos. Must've seen Cannonball Run three dozen times growing up, and the obvious camraderie he and Burt had any time they shared the screen was palpable and infectious. Can't think of DeLuise without thinking of those end-credit outtakes, and Dom and Burt cracking each other up.

Completely agree with you, Lex. They had an undeniable chemsistry that never failed to work (even in the iffy THE END). It's a shame that they weren't able to take further advantage of that.
I recall confusing him with James Coco when I was a kid, but looking back on it, they were really nothing alike. Dom seemed amost incapable (in a good way) of carrying the seething anger and cynicism that Coco did, even in his comedic roles.
I need to see FATSO again. It was greatly maligned at the time, but I can't remember anything about it now.

Cannonball Run was seemingly on HBO about three times a day, every day during the summer of 1983. I think I saw it every time it was on. Loved it.

Young Frankenstein is Brooks' undeniable masterpiece. Blazing Saddles is too crude and cartoony for my taste.

'blazing saddles' - legend

rest in peace, dom

Hot Stuff is the kind of genially lightweight, inconsequential but comical fluff that appeared at megaplexews on a fairly regular basis in the mid 1970s to early '80s. Like LexG, I find myself growing ever more nostalgic for that period. Seriously.

BTW: Speaking of Blazing Saddles: Years ago, Slim Pickens told me that he felt a little uneasy about doing the farting-around-the-campire scene. On the day of filming, he asked an AD about it, and the guy replied: "I don't know why Mel is shooting this shit! They're never gonna let him put it in a movie!"

And David: I forget who it was who said it, but: The worst thing about hitting 40 is, that's when the people you've known all your life really start dying.

Dom may mean nothing to audiences today but if you started getting into films as a child in the 70's when Burt and Mel ruled the Box Office...he was awesome.

I rememeber all of these films...The End, Fatso, Blazing Sadles and others. I think Fatso was trying to be his Marty but it never quite took.

To me, he will always be Captain Chaos in The Cannonball Run coming out of the 7/11 gleefully singing "I'm a Pepper, You're a Pepper, He's a Pepper, She's a Pepper, Wouldn'tcha like to be a Pepper too!"

RIP

"That man's nuts...Grab 'em!"

When Schieder passed, It reminded me that we of the VCR and cable age have a closer identity with talent because they didn't simply appear and disappear on their own schedule. As long as Scheider was alive, Jaws felt timeless whether it was cable or disc. When he pwent, I began to think of the movie in a past-tense.

The passing of major legends - Connery, Nimoy, Hackman - that's really going to signal the end of Hollywood as an image. I got a feeling of it when Newman and Brando died, but they were part of the first revolution - TV and Cinemascope - and stopped trying to be relevant to the second wave almost two decades ago.

Fatso was the first movie I remember my father laughing out loud in a theater. He busted up when Dom stepped in the dogshit.

Hot Stuff, directed by DeLuise, was absolute gold and is, as mentioned above, the type of lightweight, mildly raunchy comedy that just isn't made anymore.

Here's Dom at his best from Hot Stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8bextcivUw

Blazing saddles is one of my Pop's favorite movies, but I remember better the Muppet Movie and Secret of NIMH, where he was Jeremy the annoying crow building a love nest.

I saw Blazing saddles much later on cable.

RIP

Funny enough when I was little I would confuse him with Jonathan Winters.

I met Dom once or twice at autograph shows and he was really, really great to his fans, but that's nothing compared to a friend of mine's story.

A pal was interviewing Dom once and it came up that said pal's grandmother was a huge fan of Dom's. Dom said that he'd call her up and say, "hi" just to be nice and my buddy gave him the number, but didn't think anything would come of it. Dom did just that - called her up, chatted, talking cooking, etc. and made this guy's grandmother's day/week/month.

After he told that story around, it turned out that Dom did this kind of shit all the time. Hell, I saw him in his car once on Ventura driving past Mexicali and some yahoo yelled out, "Hey, Dom!" Dom smiled, waved back and yelled out "hey" back.

I have these great Don Bluth-painted storyboards of his character from "The Secret of NIMH" that I mentioned to him about at a show once, which immediately prompted all these interesting stories about his voice-acting second career.

HBO used to show Hot Stuff all the time when I was about 13... must've seen it 30 times. Wish it was on DVD, really liked that movie.

This brother right here. He gets three huzzahs for LOOSE CANNONS. VIVA LA DOM! HUZZAH! HUZZAH! HUZZAH!

Loved Hot Stuff as a kid, watched it every oppurtunity I got. I must have watched the big brawl in the finale about a hundred times.

Makes sense that he directed it. While his role wasn't overly comedic, the movie itself had all the good nature and anarchic spirit he brought to most of his roles.

I was going to post something about some very negative experiences with DD, but I realize that this may be the place, but its not the time.

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