[AshSimmonds]

Was wondering why I'm getting so many hits to my excerpt of "the goodest bits" of Cannonball Run on youtube that I uploaded a couple years ago which only includes the stuff with cars in it - and occasional abuse for saying the rest of the movie is crap...

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25436913-5012980,00.html

American comedian Dom DeLuise dies aged 75

May 06, 2009 07:00am

DOM DeLuise, the portly American actor-comedian whose affable nature made him a popular character actor for decades, has died. He was 75.

His son, Michael DeLuise, said his father died Monday night.

The actor, who loved to cook and eat almost as much as he enjoyed acting, also carved out a formidable second career later in life as a chef of fine cuisine.

As an actor, he was incredibly prolific, appearing in scores of movies and TV shows, in Broadway plays and voicing characters for numerous cartoon shows.

Writer-director-actor Mel Brooks particularly admired DeLuise's talent for offbeat comedy and cast him in several of his films, including The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, History of the World Part I and Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

DeLuise was also the voice of Pizza the Hutt in Brooks' Star Wars parody, Spaceballs.

The actor also appeared frequently in films opposite his friend Burt Reynolds. Among them, The End, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Smokey and the Bandit II, The Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II.