Dom Deluise, RIP

I know that many of you are still waiting for my Bea Arthur obituary, but I'm just too torn up to write about it. In the meantime, I have this remembrance of Dom DeLuise, the larger-than-life actor, comedian and chef who died this week at age 75.

Perhaps not surprisingly, DeLuise died of high blood pressure and diabetes.

There are lots of reasons to love him, but mine will always be for his work in the Cannonball Run series of movies. These Burt Reynolds vehicles had great ensemble casts, but DeLuise's star was always seemed the biggest.

I'll give the final word to Gene Wilder, who wrote of DeLuise: "He was the funniest man, in person, that I've ever known."