Dominick “Dom” DeLuise was a man of many talents. He was an actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef and author

Dom DeLuise was born in Brooklyn on August 1, 1933, and made his acting debut at age six in a school production of Peter Rabbit. His obese shape won him atypical roles at the time, including that of a coin which had rolled under a bed; and a very young, very fat Thomas Jefferson.

Back then he had no desire to act professionally. Instead he wanted to become a biologist and after leaving school DeLuise enrolled at Tufts College to study the subject, but lasted only one term. He immediately joined Cleveland's Cain Park Theatre in 1952. From there he went to Broadway in 1960 and only four years later he would make his television debut in the Dean Martin Show. It was the same year that he would make his film debut with Fail-Safe, a powerful drama about the cold war. However, drama was not his calling.

If there was one thing he excelled in it was to make people laugh. DeLuise had a broad, slapstick style of physical humour. He derived this approach from his role of Jackie Gleason, star of the sitcom The Honeymooners. He was a master improviser of throwaway lines, gestures and bug-eyed looks of surprise delivered casually with perfect timing. Such a talent was not overlooked, and hence it gave him plenty of opportunities in entertainment.

DeLuise appeared in scores of films, TV shows and Broadway plays besides doing voice-overs for numerous cartoon characters as well. Writer-director-actor Mel Brooks was particularly fond of him and admired the portly actor's talent for offbeat comedy. Brooks cast the actor in several of his films, the most notable being Blazing Saddles. He also appeared in his The Twelve Chairs, Silent Movie, History of the World Part I, Spaceballs and Robin Hood Men in Tights.

Brooks called him “A big man in every way. He was big in size and created big laughter and joy.” His co-stars would often praise the actor for continuing to joke when the cameras were not rolling; a fact particularly recalled by Gene Wilder. DeLuise appeared with Wilder in several films including The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Smarter Brother which the latter directed. “During the three months of rehearsals and the prerecording of our songs, Dom DeLuise kept us laughing,” Wilder wrote in his memoirs. “When the actual filming started, he kept the whole crew laughing, not just with his acting but also between takes. He was the funniest man, in person, that I've ever known.”

DeLuise co-starred frequently with Burt Reynolds in such films as Smokey and the Bandit 2, The End, and The Cannonball Run (Parts 1 & 2). They would go on to make nine films together and ultimately become the best of friends. “A great big piece of my heart is gone,” Reynolds spoke about DeLuise, “It seems to be a cliché these days to say someone is irreplaceable, but for me, Dom is.”

“He was born funny,” said DeLuise's agent, Robert Malcolm. “He knew how to charm you and how to make you feel comfortable.” Veteran actress Doris Day, with whom DeLuise worked in the 1966 film, The Glass Bottom Boat, also shared memories about DeLuise. “I loved him from the moment we met. Not only did we have the greatest time working together, but I never laughed so hard in my life.”

DeLuise enjoyed considerable success and fame with films. But his luck with TV did not fare too well. Lotsa Luck, a sitcom in which he played a New York City bus company's lost-and-found department custodian and a bachelor, ran for only a year. He also starred in The Dom DeLuise Show, in which he played a Hollywood barber and widowed single father of a 10-year-old daughter, which also ran for a year. In 1991, he hosted the short-lived syndicated return of the classic comedy-reality show, Candid Camera. That barely lasted two seasons. But it didn't waiver DeLuise's attitude.

DeLuise battled weight problem for most of his life, sometimes weighing 325 pounds or more. In later years, DeLuise wrote several cookbooks and children's books and occasionally appeared as a television and radio chef. He said his interest in cooking came from his mother. “She was always ready to cook at a moment's notice,” he said. “She carried around two meatballs in the bun of her hair.” Though he continued to find new ways to make people laugh, the same cannot be said for him trying to maintain his health which continued to deteriorate through the years.

Dom DeLuise died at the age of 75 on May 4 in Los Angeles. He is survived by his sons Michael, Peter and Dave (all of whom work in the entertainment business), his wife Carol and three grandchildren.— Khaver Siddiqi