Actor Leslie Nielsen Dies at 84 167
An anonymous reader writes "Famous actor Leslie Nielsen died of pneumonia at a Florida hospital Sunday evening. Leslie was renowned for his comedic roles in dozens of films and TV shows, such as The Naked Gun and Police Squad. His characteristic style and humor was always enjoyable, and he will be sorely missed." Of course you might also remember him from The Forbidden Planet, which is classic sci-fi by any measure.
Stop calling him Shirley! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Typecasting (Score:2)
I guess I'm just old, but after all these years, I still find it jarring to see him doing comedy.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Typecasting (Score:5, Interesting)
When you are a dramatic actor, it isn't too hard to transition into the "straight man" in a comedic routine. The reason it was so funny is exactly because he was a serious actor and had not done comedy before.
Oh my, you've never acted, have you?
Comedy - good comedy - is incredibly difficult to do. Far more difficult than straight drama. Ask yourself why De Niro has never done a good comic part. Now, one has to give full credit to the directors of Airplane and The Naked Gun series (remember: the movies themselves were funny), but Nielsen did an incredible job. Deadpan (sorry, Les) comedy is the hardest of all.
There's a good reason why people like Bob Newhart and Leslie Nielsen are so well-respected in their craft. It's because they were phenomenally good at what they did.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Great comment. I think the amazing thing about LN was that he could take really lame jokes and make them funny. The "Shirley" joke was old when I was a kid (LONG ago) and typically is worth a muted groan at best, but LN made it genuinely funny.
It's nice to see almost nothing but positive remarks about the man and his work.
Re:Typecasting (Score:4, Insightful)
Nielson wasn't a "straight man". The "straight man" sets up the joke or is someone that the joke reflects off of and the "straight man" doesn't make the jokes. Nielson was the comedian with the funny lines so I don't really buy your assessment. His delivery was deadpan and serious but that again did not make him the "straight man".
It also is condescending to say he was funny only because it was unusual to see him in a comedy role. I think he had great comedic timing and delivery.
I would agree that his extensive dramatic acting experience helped him to play his comedy roles with skill and discipline, which in turn helped make him very funny. Absolutely, LN had a natural talent for comedy.
But that's not important right now. (Score:5, Interesting)
One of things that made Nielsen so good as a comedic actor was his long history as a serious, dramatic actor. Especially in his comedic debut (Airplane!) the gravitas that he brought to his deadpan delivery is what made his performance work, something a more traditional "funny man" actor couldn't have pulled off. He then leveraged his new-found reputation as a comic actor to branch out into more overt buffoonery, which is something that most other "serious" actors couldn't have pulled off.
Re: (Score:2)
Surely... (Score:5, Funny)
you can't be serious?
Re:Surely... (Score:5, Funny)
I am serious, and don't call me Shirley.
Re: (Score:2)
The first thing I did this morning after hearing about his death on the radio was to change my sig.
I was pleased to see that the Wikipedia article about him mentioned Police Squad. That short-lived TV show was funnier than the movie sequels. I have them on tape, and plan on watching them tonight.
Re:Surely... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
My kingdom for mod points!
But seriously, he was a funny funny guy. And Now I'm going to have to have a Police Squad/Naked Gun/Airplane movie marathon. There goes the week!
Re: (Score:2)
And a marching band will play at his funeral.
It was pneumonia sadly... (Score:5, Funny)
the doctors said it was 50/50, but there was only a 10% chance of that.
Re:It was pneumonia sadly... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It was pneumonia sadly... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:It was pneumonia sadly... (Score:5, Funny)
He must have had the fish.
Re: (Score:2)
Oblig ... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I had the lasagna.
Looks like he picked the wrong week to quit breathing.
Re:It was pneumonia sadly... (Score:4, Funny)
Rumack (Nielsen): You'd better tell the Captain we've got to land as soon as we can. This woman has to be gotten to a hospital. Elaine Dickinson: A hospital? What is it? Rumack (Nielsen): It's a big building with patients, but that's not important right now.
Ah we'll miss him.
Re: (Score:2)
Sad... (Score:1, Redundant)
His characteristic style and humor was always enjoyable, and he will be sorely missed."
Yes, it was. And don't call him Shirley.
He's Dead? (Score:5, Funny)
Let me know when his condition improves.
Re:He's Dead? (Score:5, Funny)
He's dead?
and loving it!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Cheer up, Ed. (Score:1, Interesting)
This is not goodbye. It's just I won't ever see you again.
Keep on your toes, and RIP.
Nice Beaver! (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe he had his Turkey stuffed.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Ties for first place with "Shatner on the Moonbase videoscreen" for funniest sight-gag ever.
RIP Leslie.
It's not Leslie Nielson (Score:5, Funny)
It's Enrico Pallazzo !
I promise you; whatever scum did this..... (Score:1)
No. (Score:2)
It's Enrico Pallazzo !
It's Weird Al Yankovic!!
Re: (Score:2)
It's Enrico Pallazzo !
No, it's Phil Donahue throwing up in a tuba!
A dramatic actor (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Dead pan is a lot harder to do than a lot of folks realize. Getting the timing right and having all that stuff going on around you is definitely a challenge.
Personally, I'll miss him. His work definitely helped me out when I was serious
Re: (Score:1)
I hope you kept away from the fish.
Re:A dramatic actor (Score:4, Funny)
Getting the timing right and having all that stuff going on around you is definitely a challenge.
First post!
Re: (Score:2)
Airplane! gave a lot of dramatic actors the chance to do comedy. Some got the joke immediately (like Robert Graves and Leslie Neilsen). Some spent the entire shoot very confused (like Lloyd Bridges and Robert Stack).
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
peter graves...
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Yes, him too.
Re: (Score:2)
Airplane! gave a lot of dramatic actors the chance to do comedy.
Like Kareem Abdul Jabar.
Re: (Score:2)
Airplane! gave a lot of dramatic actors the chance to do comedy.
Like Kareem Abdul Jabar.
Don't forget Mrs. Cleaver!
Re: (Score:2)
Locksmith (Score:5, Funny)
Dutch Gunderson: Who are you and how did you get in here?
Frank Drebin: I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.
-Police Squad
Bullshit. (Score:2)
Pneumonia? He's not dead. He's gonna come back any moment now, synthetic lungs, three years in secret underwater ops.
Re: (Score:2)
Leslie Nielsen: Dead and Loving It
I would have memorialized him earlier, (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I just hope his family didn't wait until the last minute to fill out those organ donor cards.
We're all risking death every day (Score:5, Funny)
You take a chance getting up in the morning, crossing the street, or sticking your face in a fan.
Re: (Score:2)
Even worst, you could wake up dead tomorrow!
Last meal (Score:3, Funny)
Time for a re-watch... (Score:3, Informative)
Time to re-watch Forbidden Planet.
If you haven't seen it, do so! It's a true classic of sci-fi.
Re: (Score:2)
^^ Recently watched Due South again. It's a shame that his recurring character actually started out quite serious, but later episodes turned him into Drebin's Canadian cousin ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s9eV2ZBaO8 [youtube.com] ).
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It didn't help that the show had been canceled after the 2nd season. And by the time the show was renewed through international investors one of the main actors had already committed himself to a project elsewhere.
Re: (Score:2)
This is so sad... (Score:2)
... now who will I watch gladiator movies with?
R.I.P., Mr. Nielsen.
Re: (Score:2)
D'Oh! You're right.
Now I feel stupid... er...
Prophylactic (Score:2)
Ahhh, the man who introduced me to the full-body condom, which I still use to this day.
Re: (Score:2)
Ahhh, the man who introduced me to the full-body condom, which I still use to this day.
You mean... your personality ?
Looking up the ladder. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
My favorite Leslie Nielsen scene (Score:5, Funny)
Leslie Nielsen walks into a bar...
(to the waiter) "Give me the strongest thing you got."
(In walks a body builder)
"On second thought I'll have a black russian."
(waiter turns to walk away, then turns toward the camera, looks at the audience, and shakes his head.)
Re:My favorite Leslie Nielsen scene (Score:4, Interesting)
I just want to tell you Leslie... (Score:2, Interesting)
George Zip said that? (Score:2, Insightful)
Whaddaya think killed him? (Score:2)
(BTW, these UL-lists look like crap.)
Dear Mr Nielson in heaven, (Score:5, Funny)
I just want to wish you good luck, we're all counting on you.
That random coincidence. (Score:4, Interesting)
Dunno why i was reminded of it, i didn't even remember what his name was, and when i remembered i wondered if he was still alive. And now i find out he died approximately when i was reminded of it.
If i was paranormally inclined i'd claim to have psychic powers, but i guess it's just coincidence. It's a loss either way, he was my childhood comedy hero.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If i was paranormally inclined i'd claim to have psychic powers, but i guess it's just coincidence.
Or the Golden Child effect [youarenotsosmart.com]
Finally (Score:2)
What a great guy! (Score:3, Informative)
I was honored to meet him at a SciFi show a couple years ago, he was very pleasant and seemed to really enjoy the fact that he still had so many fans. He will be greatly missed!
I Need To Take My Mind Off This (Score:2)
Watched Naked Gun last night... (Score:4, Insightful)
I was sad to hear that his death did not involve a banana peel, a wheelchair, and eight flights of stairs.
Re-watched Naked Gun last night. A very funny movie. The man really was brilliant. Also of interest to people who enjoyed it, "Repossessed", an Exorcist parody which uses the same actor that was the possessed girl in the original, and a few other similarly silly movies. Great use of sight gags and silly dialogue.
I think a lot of people underestimate the positive effects comedians have on our world. I've got a nasty cold, but while I was watching that movie, I was happy and not particularly bothered by the cold.
God Bless & Thanks For All The Laughs Leslie! (Score:2)
But I will always remember you most for your portrayal of Commander J.J. Adams in Forbidden Planet [imdb.com]. You and Robbie rocked!
Turn in your geek card (Score:2)
Of course you might also remember him from The Forbidden Planet, which is classic sci-fi by any measure.
It is Forbidden Planet . There is no "The" in front of it.
Leslie Nielsen farted on Morning show (Score:2)
Name one person who has purposely farted on a morning show to get a laugh....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5egaR4WvLPY [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Ever had pneumonia?
You can barely breathe, your coughing mucus from your lungs, and you feel the life disappearing from you.
It's not a sleeping disease, unless you've been put to sleep by meds.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
had it for 2 or 3 months one time. it redefined 'sickness' all before then and all after then, as well, for me. worst time in my life and hope I never get another of those. I should have been in the hospital since I could not breathe well (fighting most of the time to breathe). doctors could not do anything and just cycled antibiotics almost like going down a search-list, just serially trying things hoping something would work.
I hope it was not painful for him. fighting to breathe is not a pleasant way
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Neither do I, but 5 minutes googling will tell you that we do have such machines, but you can't use them for more than a few hours at a time. Fine for surgery, pretty useless for pneumonia.
(A bit further reading will suggest that there do exist machines which aren't as limited - I wonder if you're getting to the edges of what is possible and what is very much post-doctoral research stuff at this point?)
Re:Sleepy way to go (Score:4, Informative)
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is probably what you're looking for. That being said, it not for any length of time and has very serious risks. Much safer to be intubated and put on a ventilator for a couple weeks.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Sleepy way to go (Score:5, Interesting)
Both of my parents died from pneumonia, or complications therefrom, and I was there when they went, too. My father simply slept very heavily for a couple of days, then the nurses turned him over, waking him up of course; he gasped for about a minute with his eyes wide open, then expired. As ways to die, relatively peacefully. This was just last month.
My mother died last year, and that was much harder to watch - she was heavily disabled from a stroke in 2005 and could never sit still, so was constantly pulling her oxygen mask away. Her condition grew worse and worse, finally the doctor said she had no chance of recovery, and said they could administer morphine so she could simply pass away in her sleep. It was left up to me to tell her what we were going to do, as neither of my brothers or father seemed up to it. That was about the most upsetting thing I've ever had to do, and she continued to fidget as long as possible, too.
That was in March '09; my father subsequently became more than a bit at sea mentally, which seemed to lead to swallowing difficulties and reoccurring bouts of pneumonia. Those started after a hospital stay in Dec '09, though, for an operation on his prostate; perhaps he wouldn't have picked it up otherwise. They say hospitals are good places to become sick, paradoxically. My Dad made it to age 82. We did have some good times in the last year and a half, despite his problems with dementia. He really enjoyed watching Airplane! one night, too. My whole family was nuts about the movie when it came out, and loved Police Squad! too - for years we kept telling people about this great TV show which, of course, was ignominiously canceled after far too short a run.
Frank Drebin: "It took me two weeks to find Stella's apartment...she had neglected to give me her address."
Re: (Score:2)
I used to get something that we named the "Powell Plague" (after its original vector). It recurred annually, three to eight weeks of invalidity. Four years ago I talked a nurse into giving me the pneumonia vaccine, et voila, I haven't had it since.
Re: (Score:2)
and nothing of value was lost.
Indeed, at least not much was lost, since he wouldn't have made many movies in any case any more, and his existing work will endure time, much like, say... Charlie Chaplin's work.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Please, nobody make a Naked Gun 40-Fores with Frank Drebin's son played by Andy Dick.
Re: (Score:2)
...back in 1980, unfortunately I was too young to realise that plays had intermissions, so left after the first half thinking it had finished. I hope he didn't notice - his performance was very good! I missed a chance to see it again a few years ago when he toured the UK, and now I'll never see it. At least, being a historical play, I know how it turned out...
Awww, dude, you walked out?!? The fight scene with the chimpanzee in the 2nd Act is the best part!