He'd be one of the legion stars whose passing caused me to pause and realize that I had for the longest time assumed they were already dead. He was a decent comedic actor, not brilliant but dependable. He always seemed like he'd be a decent addition to a party guest list.

I was hardly a fan, but he made me laugh (most times) when I did see him. He was in a short-lived TV series that came out in 1973 called "Lotsa Luck" that I thought was absolutely hysterical, but I was a kid. He seems to have made his "mark" in Burt Reynolds movies, which I figure had to be something of a mixed blessing. I'm sure it proved to be financially lucrative, but Reynolds movies went from moderately entertaining (the first "Smokey and the Bandit", which owed a lot...a whole lot...to Jackie Gleason) to abysmally puerile garbage in a NY minute, and DeLuise was along for the nose-dive ride down into the career toilet ("Smokey and the Bandit Part II"-- awful; "The End"-- had its moments, but not enough of them; "Cannonball Run"-- pathetically awful fare for inbreds that played at practically all drive-in theatres south of the Mason-Dixon line). Funny story-- My biological uncle, who considered modeling in his younger years, shared an airplane ride with DeLuise once a few years ago, and DeLuise was overt in his attempts to "seduce" my uncle--- not that that came as any great surprise to me when I heard the story, as DeLuise always seemed a bit "sweet" to me anyway (my "gay-dar" was always pretty acute). Of course, not being a homophobe, it wasn't any big deal to me, although my uncle still seemed a bit repulsed as he related the story. Still, all Dom ever tried to do in his life, based on what little I know about him, was to entertain people, and when he wasn't working with Burt Reynolds, he did it more than competently. R.I.P., Dom.

Rest in Peace, Dom! You were a comedic genius! Best movie: The Twelve Chairs (Mel Brooks)....I will watch it again in Dom's honor.