RIP, Leslie Nielsen

[lazypadawan]

Leslie Nielsen passed away this evening at the age of 84 from complications due to pneumonia.

For Gen-Xers, he was the funnyman who starred in "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun" movies, as well as the short-lived t.v. series "Police Squad." I was a big fan of "Police Squad," a hilarious spoof of '60s/'70s cop dramas:

"Police Squad" didn't last long on t.v., but it succeeded as the Naked Gun movies. Yes, those movies with O.J. Simpson:

Here's the clip from "Airplane" featuring his most famous line:

But he was in his younger days a serious actor, including in the 1956 sci-fi classic, "Forbidden Planet." Say, that yellow crawl looks familiar:

And here's the trailer for "Tammy And The Bachelor" with Debbie Reynolds from 1957:

Comments

[darth-pipes.livejournal.com]

RIP, Leslie Nielsen.

Thanks for posting the vids, lp. I always liked Nielsen. The guy never seemed to change even when he got to be in his eighties. Saw him in a few of the Scary Movie films, he was working till the end.

Big fan of Forbidden Planet, which is a great sci-fi film. He was the total straight guy in that movie, seldom laughing or smiling and he pulled that off well. His forays into comedy were terrfic. Definitely count him as an actor I will miss.

[a-blue-moon-cat.livejournal.com]

I really liked him as the Commander in Forbidden Planet. And yes, Roddenberry did acknowledge Star Trek's debt to FB.