Comic actor Leslie Nielsen, star of a string of madcap spoof movies including Airplane! and The Naked Gun, died of complications from pneumonia in Florida yesterday. He was 84.
Nielsen is probably best known for playing the bumbling cop Lt. Frank Drebin in the Naked Gun franchise, but enjoyed a movie and television career spanning more than 60 years.
A spokesman said Nielsen died in a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, surrounded by his family yesterday evening.
Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, the son of a Canadian mounted policeman, Nielsen served stints as an aerial gunner in the air force and as a radio disc jockey before studying acting in Toronto and then in New York City.
He got his first big break in 1950 with a Studio One television appearance, and came to Hollywood in 1954 to star in the film The Vagabond King.
For the first 30 years of his career, he built his reputation playing authority figures such as the captain of the ill-fated cruise ship in The Poseidon Adventure. But later generations got to know the silver-haired actor primarily for his deadpan performances in comedies such as 1980's "Airplane!" and the Naked Gun trilogy, which ran from 1988 to 1994.
As Dr Rumack in Airplane!, Nielsen was won fans among the younger generation for inane non sequiturs delivered with a straight face. "Can you fly this plane, and land it?," he asks a passenger. "Surely, you can't be serious," is his answer. "I am serious, and don't call me Shirley," Rumack replies.
Nielsen also appeared in the 1996 spy spoof Spy Hard as Agent WD-40, and in 1998's Wrongfully Accused, a parody of The Fugitive. More recent acting roles included the 2003 Hollywood parody Scary Movie 3 and its 2006 sequel.
Agencies