The Associate Press obituary of Dom DeLuise doesn’t mention his greatest movie performance — as Dominick DiNapoli in Fatso (1980, co-starring and directed by Anne Bancroft). The film (trailer here) begins with a classic Italian in-the-living-room wake for poor hyper-obese cousin Sal (his distraught mama crying over the wide coffin “Salvatooore, figlio mio!” while weepy Dom is in the kitchen battling grief with a loaf of bread and pot of spaghetti sauce), ends with amore, and is bridged by a number of classic scenes. Two favorites: the diet doctor’s nurse reciting an endless list of favorite foods Dom can no longer mangia; and a meeting of the twelve-stepping “Chubby Checkers” that turns into an apartment-demolishing feeding frenzy (“Get the honey!”). Thanks for the many laughs, Dom, and rest in peace.

About the Author
Jack Fowler is a contributing editor at National Review and a senior philanthropy consultant at American Philanthropic.
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