Academy pays tribute to star of Airplane! and the Naked Gun series Leslie Nielsen who died in November aged 84
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The late Leslie Nielsen was ushered off on a ripple of laughter at the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles, as the event paid tribute to the famously deadpan actor.
Nielsen's career boasted some 60 screen credits, including roles in The Plainsman and The Poseidon Adventure, though he was most fondly remembered for his late-blooming comedic antics in the likes of Airplane! and the Naked Gun series.
Nielsen died last November, aged 84, in a Florida hospital. As the man himself might have said, "it's a big building with patients. But that's not important right now."
Leslie NielsenOscars 2011OscarsAwards and prizesUnited StatesXan Brooks
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
Follow our Oscars 2011 live coverage here
The late Leslie Nielsen was ushered off on a ripple of laughter at the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles, as the event paid tribute to the famously deadpan actor.
Nielsen's career boasted some 60 screen credits, including roles in The Plainsman and The Poseidon Adventure, though he was most fondly remembered for his late-blooming comedic antics in the likes of Airplane! and the Naked Gun series.
Nielsen died last November, aged 84, in a Florida hospital. As the man himself might have said, "it's a big building with patients. But that's not important right now."
Leslie NielsenOscars 2011OscarsAwards and prizesUnited StatesXan Brooks
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
- 2/28/2011
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
Canadian actor whose reputation was transformed by his deadpan comic persona in Airplane! and the Naked Gun series
Few people watching the career of the tall, husky and fair-haired Leslie Nielsen, who has died aged 84, could have predicted that the stolid actor who specialised in authority figures would become known as a comedy star after two and a half decades in show business. His reputation was transformed by playing Dr Rumack on board the threatened airliner in Airplane! (1980) and Frank Drebin, the hilariously inept plain-clothes cop, in three Naked Gun films.
What the writer-directors Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker saw in Nielsen, silvery grey and in his mid-50s, was his previously po-faced persona. "They spotted me for being what I really was, a closet comedian," he said. "And how lucky can you get? It's like they said to me, 'Leslie, come out and play.' Thank God for them.
Few people watching the career of the tall, husky and fair-haired Leslie Nielsen, who has died aged 84, could have predicted that the stolid actor who specialised in authority figures would become known as a comedy star after two and a half decades in show business. His reputation was transformed by playing Dr Rumack on board the threatened airliner in Airplane! (1980) and Frank Drebin, the hilariously inept plain-clothes cop, in three Naked Gun films.
What the writer-directors Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker saw in Nielsen, silvery grey and in his mid-50s, was his previously po-faced persona. "They spotted me for being what I really was, a closet comedian," he said. "And how lucky can you get? It's like they said to me, 'Leslie, come out and play.' Thank God for them.
- 11/29/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Leslie Nielsen, whose long Hollywood career includes the comedy classics "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun," has died.
Nielsen died late Sunday afternoon (Nov. 28) of complications from pneumonia at a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., his family says. His wife and "dear friends" were by his side.
Nielsen's career spans some six decades, beginning with appearances in live TV dramas in the early 1950s. He made his feature film debut in the 1956 sci-fi classic "Forbidden Planet" and worked steadily through the 1960s and '70s in both film and television. His movie credits from that time include "Tammy and the Bachelor" (1957), "The Plainsman" (1966) and "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972), and he appeared on numerous TV shows ranging from "Peyton Place" to "The Streets of San Francisco."
Prior to "Airplane!," the bulk of Nielsen's work had been in dramas, but directors Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker wanted someone who...
Nielsen died late Sunday afternoon (Nov. 28) of complications from pneumonia at a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., his family says. His wife and "dear friends" were by his side.
Nielsen's career spans some six decades, beginning with appearances in live TV dramas in the early 1950s. He made his feature film debut in the 1956 sci-fi classic "Forbidden Planet" and worked steadily through the 1960s and '70s in both film and television. His movie credits from that time include "Tammy and the Bachelor" (1957), "The Plainsman" (1966) and "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972), and he appeared on numerous TV shows ranging from "Peyton Place" to "The Streets of San Francisco."
Prior to "Airplane!," the bulk of Nielsen's work had been in dramas, but directors Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker wanted someone who...
- 11/29/2010
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
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