TV Guidance

TV Guidance

Jaime Weinman writes about all kinds of television and other kinds of popular culture. He does not write Gossip Girl episode reviews. Follow Jaime on Twitter: @weinmanj

Dom DeLuise, R.I.P.

by Jaime Weinman on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 12:24pm - 6 Comments

He died yesterday at the age of 75. We’ve all seen him in many things, but this is where I first encountered him on television:

His most famous role may be as the director in the pointless musical number near the end of Blazing Saddles (when the Western brawl interrupts the filming of a musical on the other soundstage).

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  • Jason Davis

    I would have thought that he was most famous for his side-kicking for Burt Reynolds in all those 70′s/80′s comedies: Cannonball Run I and II, Smokey and the Bandit II, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The End.

    • CAPS

      My favourite line from The End, “That man’s nuts! Grab ‘em!”

  • CAPS

    When I was little I used to confuse him with James Coco. And then James Coco died a long time ago and I knew who was who.

    • Jaime Weinman

      Oddly enough, when I was little I confused James Coco not with Dom DeLuise but with Gordon Jump.

  • http://www.macleans.ca/feschuk Scott Feschuk

    let us all spare a thought for chef paul prudhomme, who is surely spending his day enduring the stares of passersby who then exclaim: “But… but… but i heard you had died!”

  • Northern PoV

    I was sitting in the 1st class of an AA plane in Chicago (bound for San Jose) and along comes this enormous, apologetic man to sit at the window seat beside me.
    Despite the hovering flight attendants (Anything else Mr. Deluise?) I didn’t have a clue who he was.
    He identified himself as famous – then by the roles he’d played – so I did recognize some of those.
    Kept talking about how much he missed his wife.
    He was about to publish a cook book with a CD – so I gave him some ideas for interactive recipes – and he took my card. No I never heard from him again.
    Nice guy.

From Macleans