6 May 2009

Actor Dom DeLuise dies aged 75

4:02 pm on 6 May 2009

Comic actor Dom DeLuise has died in a Los Angeles hospital at age 75.

DeLuise collaborated with Mel Brooks and Burt Reynolds in 1970s movies such as Blazing Saddles, Smokey and the Bandit II and The Cannonball Run.

Other films included Robin Hood: Men in Tights and The Glass Bottom Boat with Doris Day.

Dominick "Dom" DeLuise was born 1 August, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York.

He began his career in the 1960s and gained recognition on the Dean Martin Show as Dominick the Great, a magician whose act routinely went wrong.

An avid cook, he wrote several cookbooks. He is survived by his wife and three sons.