vc318

Leslie Nielsen dies at 84; went from dramatic 'Forbidden Planet' to comic 'Airplane!' - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Despite decades spent playing sober commanders and serious captains, Leslie Nielsen insisted that he was always made for comedy. He proved it in his career's second act.

"Surely you can't be serious," an airline passenger says to Nielsen in "Airplane!," the 1980 hit that turned the actor from dramatic leading man to comic star.

"I am serious," Nielsen replies. "And don't call me Shirley."


The line was probably his most famous — and a perfect distillation of his career.

Nielsen, the dramatic lead in "Forbidden Planet" and "The Poseidon Adventure" and the bumbling detective Frank Drebin in "The Naked Gun" comedies, died on Sunday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 84.

The Canada native died from complications from pneumonia at a hospital near his home, surrounded by his wife, Barbaree, and friends, his agent John S. Kelly said in a statement.

"We can be grateful that his most famous performances are preserved on film and will delight audiences for years to come," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement which noted that Nielsen had received one of that nation's highest honors, The Order of Canada.

Critics argued that when Nielsen went into comedy he was being cast against type, but Nielsen disagreed, saying comedy was what he intended to do all along.

"I've finally found my home — as Lt. Frank Drebin," he told The Associated Press in a 1988 interview.

Comic actor Russell Brand took to Twitter to pay tribute to Nielsen, playing off his famous line: "RIP Leslie Nielsen. Shirley, he will be missed."

Nielsen came to Hollywood in the mid-1950s after performing in 150 live television dramas in New York. With a craggily handsome face, blond hair and 6-foot-2 height, he seemed ideal for a movie leading man.

Nielsen first performed as the king of France in the Paramount operetta "The Vagabond King" with Kathryn Grayson.

I didn't even know he was sick. Wow. He will surely be missed.

sunnykerr

There's a decent chance he wasn't sick very long. I had a great-uncle who died that way. He fell, broke a few ribs, went to the hospital, developped pneumonia from the reduced lung capacity and died.

It's been a while since we'd seen him out and about, so I'm not about to speculate on his general state of health, but it doesn't take much when you're 84. Unless, of course, you persist with treatment after treatment, which possibly lessens your quality of life...

Anyway, "stars" have been paying their tribute via twitter:

Source

I seriously don't know who half these people are. But it goes to show that he touched a lot of people.

sunnykerr

I've added tags to the thread.