Posted on 11/28/2010 6:47:37 PM PST by KevinDavis
Actor Leslie Nielsen, best known for his film roles in "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun" series, died Sunday of complications from pneumonia, his family said.
Nielsen, 84, died in a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, surrounded by his wife and friends.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.blogs.cnn.com ...
Forbidden Planet - a cheesy, but groundbreaking, SciFi movie based on Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’, no less. I loved that movie as a kid!
Forgot to add - I’m old.... sigh....
and his half-uncle was another famous actor- Jean Hersholt.
Bummer. I´ll always remember ¨Forbidden Planet¨ & ¨Swampfox¨.
Leslie Nielsen, RIP.
In 1956, a $5-million budget was not considered cheap. The most ever spent on a SciFi movie up until that time.
RIP Leslie Nielsen.
God Bless him, and his family. He started out in dramatic roles, but he found his niche in comedy, later in life.
RIP Leslie!
“Ahh yes, I had the Lasagna” Love that scene.
Col. Buzz Brighton-MASH (guest)
“I know this is my tent cause that is my milk!” A real ringknocker.
Hey wait a minute, whutchyoucallin cheesy there...
Forbidden Planet is classic!
RIP! Thank you for making me laugh out loud EVERY time I see that scene in the Naked Gun where you stab Ricardo Montalbon’s prize fish!
A beautiful and heartfelt statement that I am in complete agreement with.
Police Squad was my favorite of his comedies. A precursor to the Naked Gun movies, it only lasted 6 episodes and was cancelled for low ratings. Viewers flipped past the channel thinking it was a serious police show.
Leslie brought a lot of happiness.
[ Shirley you cannot be serious? ]
I am serious, and don’t him Shirley his name is Leslie!
RIP, Leslie, you make life funny!
I had recently watched both “Police Squad” and “The Naked Gun” on DVD and they both came with an audio commentary by the writer/producers. Nielsen was signed to do Airplane! because he’d done so many serious roles (much like Peter Graves and Lloyd Bridges) and it turned out he loved being a ham. So when the Airplane! producers were looking for a lead for Police Squad, they went to Leslie who was thrilled to do more of the comedy spoof genre.
What was funny was that when the producers tried to cast The Naked Gun, the studio did not want Peter Lupus in the role of Nordberg (he was Nordberg on Police Squad) because they thought he looked too nice - more like a male model than a cop. So they suggested O.J. Simpson. The studio told the producers that Simpson “looked like someone who could be violent if he had to”. Little did they know then...
Do you like gladiators?
I loved this man. What other actor spent many years as the “heavy”, only to show up in his later years as one heck of a comedic actor?
RIP, Leslie...
BTW, pneumonia is the old person’s friend.
The master of deadpan humor. He’ll be missed.
I loved his latter days on film.
The master of deadpan humor...as a senior citizen, I might add.
“Good-night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”
I shall miss his humor that always made a lot of sense even when being serious:
"I'm in command of 18 competitively selected super-perfect physical specimens with an average age of 24.6 who have been locked up in hyperspace for 378 days. It would have served you right if I hadn't... and he... oh go on, get out of here before I have you run out of the area under guard - and then I'll put more guards on the guards!"
And when not:
"I'm sorry I can't be more optimistic, Doctor, but we've got a long road ahead of us. It's like having sex. It's a painstaking and arduous task that seems to go on and on forever, and just when you think things are going your way, nothing happens."
So, see ya, Shirley. It has been quite a party!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.