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Actor Leslie Nielsen Dies at 84
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.
you can't be serious?
the doctors said it was 50/50, but there was only a 10% chance of that.
Let me know when his condition improves.
Who run Barter Town?
"Thanks, I just had it stuffed!"
It's Enrico Pallazzo !
Before the movie "Airplane", he had always been seen as a dramatic actor. It was because of his deadpan seriousness that he was able to be so funny. Also, his role as the captain of the starship in "Forbidden Planet" was a prototype for Captain Kirk.
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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
You take a chance getting up in the morning, crossing the street, or sticking your face in a fan.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
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.)
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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.
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I just want to wish you good luck, we're all counting on you.
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."
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.
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