Dom DeLuise, a comedic favorite on the big and small screen over six decades, has died after a long illness. He was 75.
A relative said the Brooklyn-born actor beloved for his role in “Spaceballs” and renowned for his passion for meatballs,died Monday.
DeLuise wasn’t afraid to use his roly-poly frame to his comic advantage.
The perennial sidekick in films such as “Blazing Saddles,” “Spaceballs” and “The Cannonball Run” had a rare starring role in 1980’s “Fatso,” about a middle-aged bachelor obsessed with food. DeLuise’s death touched many in Hollywood, but none more deeply than Burt Reynolds, with whom he starred in “Cannonball” and its sequel.
“As you get older and start to lose people you love, you think about it more, and I was dreading this moment,” Reynolds said. “Dom always made you feel better when he was around, and there will never be another like him.”