I think I now understand how he transitioned from “serious drama” into comedy:
Most people are already familiar with his work on Naked Gun, Airplane, and the like. But this one was so obscure to me and ridiculous, I had to go with it.
RIP:
Shirley, he will be missed. Leslie Nielsen, who made audiences laugh with his ridiculous seriousness and deadpan deliveries in the absurd scenes of comedy films like Airplane! and The Naked Gun, has died. He was 84.
His agent, John. S. Kelly, confirmed that the actor died Sunday near his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., surrounded by his “lovely wife and friends” at 5:34 p.m. ET, due to complications of pneumonia.
That was painful to watch. LOL…no stunt doubles and fighting at the speed of molasses in January running uphill.
He was a non-traditional comedy legend. Strangely enough his comedy acting was not that different from his serious acting. I will miss him. Rest in peace Leslie…aka Frank Drebben.
Loved Leslie Neilson. Admired his older brother Erik, who was a deputy prime minister and a very strong conservative. Honest as the day was long. Both were tremendous Canadians.
His version of The National Anthem dressed as Pavarotti cracks me up every time.
“Lots of bombs in the air!”
His deadpan facial expressions were classic. RIP
LESLIE NIELSON, A GENUINE ARTIST ,MADE ME LAUGH MANY TIME,EVEN JUST BY LOOKING AT THE CAMERA STRAIGHT FACE WOULD MAKE YOU CRACK A LAUGH,
WELL LIKE BY MANY FOR SURE,
My earliest memory of the guy dates back to the 1950s–the science fiction classic Forbidden Planet. Nielson was 30 at the time. The movie was way ahead of its time.
The funniest scene in any movie ever, is the one when, instead of using the hallway, he goes from one hotel room to another, window to window, via the ledge many, many stories up, saved only by a gargoyle who gets an erection just in the nick of time, and Drebbin comes within a pubic hair of giving it a BJ, and then denudes it. I wish someone would post a pix of him hanging from the penis of the gargoyle. That’s how he should be remembered.
He was a one-of-a-kind. My absolute fav. Canada’s greatest gift to American movie-goers.
RIP