LOS ANGELES — With an ever-present smile that gave way to ready laughter, Dom DeLuise possessed a jovial warmth that charmed not only film and TV audiences, but the actors and directors with whom he worked for decades. Though lighthearted onscreen, the prolific actor was deeply passionate about food, forging a second career as a popular chef and cookbook author.
The affable and portly star, described as a natural comedian who kept the laughs rolling even when the cameras weren't, died Monday at age 75.
"You can't teach someone to be funny," his agent, Robert Malcolm, said Tuesday. "He was born funny, and he knew how to charm you and he knew how to make you feel comfortable. He loved people."
DeLuise was surrounded by his wife and three sons when died "peacefully" Monday evening at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif..
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The family did not release the cause of death, saying only in a statement on the actor-comedian's official Web site Tuesday: "It's easy to mourn his death but easier to remember a time when he made you laugh."
DeLuise appeared in scores of movies and TV shows, in Broadway plays and voicing characters for numerous cartoons. Writer-director-actor Mel Brooks particularly admired DeLuise's talent for offbeat comedy and cast him in several films, including "The Twelve Chairs," "Blazing Saddles," "Silent Movie," "History of the World Part I" and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights." DeLuise was also the voice of Pizza the Hutt in Brooks' "Star Wars" parody, "Spaceballs."
"Dom DeLuise was a big man in every way," Brooks said in a prepared statement Tuesday. "He was big in size and created big laughter and joy. He will be missed in a very big way."
The actor also frequently appeared opposite his friend Burt Reynolds in films such as "The End," "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," "Smokey and the Bandit II," "The Cannonball Run" and "Cannonball Run II." Reynolds fondly recalled DeLuise in a statement issued by his publicist.
"I was thinking about this the other day," Reynolds said. "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."
Another actor-friend, Dean Martin, admired his comic abilities so much that he cast DeLuise as a regular on his 1960s comedy-variety show. In 1973, he starred in a situation comedy, "Lotsa Luck," but it proved to be short-lived.
"To know Dom was to love him and I knew him very well. Not only was he talented and extremely funny, but he was a very special human being," said actress Carol Burnett, who starred with DeLuise on TV show "The Entertainers" in the '60s. DeLuise also appeared on "The Carol Burnett Show" in the '70s.
He was born Dominick DeLuise in New York City on Aug. 1, 1933, to Italian immigrants. His father, who spoke only Italian, was a garbage collector, and those humble beginnings stayed with him.
