The Dom DeLuise-Orson Welles Connection

[Harvey Chartrand]

I didn't realize the late comedian Dom DeLuise worked with Orson Welles so many times until I checked the joint ventures feature on IMDB... there were all those Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts in which the two hefty entertainers shared the dais, but also Magic with the Stars (a 1982 TV special hosted by Welles); Baryshnikov in Hollywood (TV 1982), in which DeLuise played a producer trying to lure the Russian ballet dancer to Tinseltown and Welles was the unseen narrator; The Muppet Movie (1979) [although I'm not sure if DeLuise and Welles shared any screen time] and Mel Brooks' 1981 bomb History of the World: Part 1 (in which DeLuise was cast as the mad Emperor Nero and Welles once again served obediently as the off-screen narrator]. Sad to think that for DeLuise, it really is The End this time. Of course, Welles never had the opportunity to direct DeLuise in anything... Welles was just busy making a living and keeping himself in the public eye, much to the chagrin of the European intelligentsia who were appalled at his appearances in such "lowbrow" American entertainment. Welles would have preferred serving up caviar for the masses, but they preferred hot dogs and hamburgers.