Recognized instantly by young moviegoers of the Eighties and Nineties for his constantly wheezing voice and constantly cheerful, if quirky, disposition, Dominick "Dom" DeLuise (August 1, 1933 — May 4, 2009) first started his acting profession on stage, his first role being Tinker the toymaker in a local children's program, soon moving on to comedies like the off-Broadway "The Jackass", where he truly started to shine. In fact, former partner Mel Brooks once quipped that when he hired Dom for one of his films, he would "instinctively add another two days to the schedule because of the constant laughter Dom provided on the set". Along with Brooks, Dom was a regular player in Don Bluth films, often being the only actor to reprise their characters in the many Direct to Video sequels they received.
In addition to his acting, DeLuise had a successful second career as a gourmet cook, publishing two cookbooks, Eat This... It'll Make You Feel Better and Eat This Too!, as well as an instructional CD-ROM, Cooking With Dom DeLuise. He managed to have fun with this in his acting work by playing characters who were either involved in the culinary arts or liked to cook.
DeLuise died on May 4, 2009 of kidney failure and respiratory complications from cancer at age 75.
He has three sons, two of whom (Peter and Michael) became featured players of the early Fox TV series, 21 Jump Street and a third (David) who has an interesting resume himself. All four got the chance to share a scene together on 3rd Rock from the Sun and Seaquest DSV.
Works Dom DeLuise has appeared in:
- Fail Safe (his debut) - Sgt. Collins
- The Munsters - Replaced Paul Lynde as Dr. Dudley in the character's final appearance.
- The Twelve Chairs - Father Fyodor
- Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? - Irwin Marcy
- Blazing Saddles - Buddy Bizarre
- Silent Movie - Dom Bell
- Sextette - Dan Turner
- The End - Marlon
- The Muppet Movie - Bernie the Agent
- The Cannonball Run - Victor Prinzim (also known as Captain Chaos)
- History of the World Part I - Emperor Nero
- Fatso - Dominick DiNapoli
- The Secret of NIMH (and its sequel) - Jeremy
- Peter No-Tail (1981, 1983 American English dub) - Bull
- Haunted Honeymoon - Aunt Kate
- An American Tail (films and TV series) - Tiger
- Spaceballs - Pizza The Hutt
- Oliver & Company - Fagin
- All Dogs Go to Heaven (films and TV series) - Itchy Itchiford
- The Magic Voyage - Christopher Columbus
- Loose Cannons — Harry "the Hippo" Gutterman
- Robin Hood: Men in Tights - Don Giovanni
- Toonstruck - Fingers the Octopus
- The Skateboard Kid - Rip
- Diagnosis: Murder- Buddy Blake (Episode: "Murder at the Telethon")
- A Troll in Central Park - Stanley
- The Silence of the Hams - Dr. Animal Cannibal Pizza
- Dexter's Laboratory - Koosalagoopagoop
- Father of the Pride - Duke
- Lion of Oz - Oscar Diggs / Wizard of Oz
- Timmy's Gift: A Precious Moments Christmas Story - Nicodemus The Pig
- Evil Roy Slade - Dr. Logan Delp
- The Brainiacs Dot Com - Ivan Lucre
- Stargate SG-1 - Urgo
Tropes Associated with Dom DeLuise's roles:
- Pigeonholed Voice Actor: Often plays a nice and innocent (or at least, one with a set of morals that means well), bumbling non-human supporting character whenever he's cast in a Don Bluth movie.
