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Leslie Nielsen, RIP
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — Leslie Nielsen, the handsome leading man of the 1950s who, in the 1980s and ’90s discovered a new career as a comic actor, died of complications from pneumonia Sunday, Nov. 28, at a hospital near his home here. He was 84. MSTies will remember his performance as the corrupt mayor in episode K16 – CITY ON FIRE. Read his L.A. Times obituary here. 54 Replies to “Leslie Nielsen, RIP”Commenting at Satellite News
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when I first heard the news I could hardly comprehend it. Leslie Nielsen-dead? The star of my childhood favorite movies Forbidden Planet, Airplane, Naked Gun 1, 2, and (to a lesser extent) 3 ?Impossible! It’s hard to believe that he’s gone, and he’s not coming back. RIP, Leslie, along with Peter Graves, and Barbara Billingsly, the other two “Airplane” stars to die this year.
*bursts into tears* =(
I couldn’t believe it when I read it yesterday.My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.I enjoyed all the movies he was in,even with the later ones like Spy Hard because he was always the funniest one in it.Thanks Leslie for all the laughs and I promise I won’t call you Shirley.
very sad, indeed. :( RIP, Mr. Neilsen. And don’t call me Shirley!
Leslie Nielsen – Died sunday 11/28/2010. Appeared in “City on Fire”. He had a stunning 236 entries as actor on IMDB. What a great actor and commedian we lost. He starred in what I concider the best scifi film of the 50?s decade with “Forbidden Plane”. RIP
The man was responsible for quite a few belly laughs over the years. Loved him in “Creepshow” too!
He was also responsible, via Forbidden Planet, for the
sober captain, helped by a cerebral fellow officer when
bravely going where (almost) no humans had gone before.
(There was that skinny dipping daughter of Morbius). :)
Btw, from Anne Francis to Priscilla Presley, Shirley (I mean Leslie)
did all right with the ladies.
This totally sucks. :(
I bet he went to Heaven, saw God, and said “I just want you to know good luck, we’re all counting on you.”
I remember him on SNL saying that he had become so identified with his Zucker comeback, he couldn’t deliver any serious line anymore without people thinking it was comic deadpan:
Imagine Nielsen as a doctor saying “Well, Billy, I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you…”, and you’re just waiting for the punchline.
“These people have to go to the hospital.”
“A hospital? What is is?”
“It’s a big building with windows but that’s not important right now!”
I must have known he was going to pass on- last night I watched Pod People, and it’s one man show- Leslie Nielsen, Leslie Nielsen, Leslie Nielsen. I have the Police Squad 6 episode disc. In tribute tonight, I will view these.
Irvin Kershner, the director of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ also died today. Too bad he couldn’t save us from the prequels.
“What did we have for dinner?”
“Well there was a choice between steak or fish.”
“Yes, I had lasagna.”
“I didn’t catch that, could you repeat it? But this time don’t fire your gun while you talk!”
“I know the problems of two people don’t amount to a hill of beans. But, this is our hill, and these are our beans!”
Damn shame he died. R.I.P. :(
In spite of the grief, I did read one line in a Yahoo! News article:
Comic actor Russell Brand took to Twitter to pay tribute to Nielsen, playing off his famous line: “RIP Leslie Nielsen. Shirley, he will be missed.”
J/P=?
When Police Squad was on I would watch it with my Mom and we would cry from laughing so hard. The movies had the same effect, and even seeing him in Mr.Magoo was cool. It was a movie we saw with our friends (that had kids at the time) it was goofy but he had a certain way about him when he was on screen. I don’t think I would have watched that film with anyone else in it. We have lost so many funny people, but the films they’ve made will always remind us who we had and how much they’ll be missed. Thank you Mr.Nielsen for making us laugh and leaving behind so may films/ T.V. for us to remember you buy. You will be missed.
A very funny man.
He will be missed.
Alta, about a million years from now the human race will have crawled up to where the Krell stood in their great moment of triumph and tragedy. And your father’s name will shine again like a beacon in the galaxy. It’s true, it will remind us that we are, after all, not God.
Farewell Commander John J. Adams
He was great in the Disney Swamp Fox series about the Revolutionary War general Francis Marion. They’re out on DVD now so check them out if you get a chance.
In addition to his acting ability, Nielsen was highly adept at making realistic “palm fart” sounds with his hands and those who know him say he loved to do this in a crowded elevator followed by a sheepish “pardon me”.
Now I am offically old.
“Excuse me ,sir, are you a doctor?”
“That’s Right.”
R.I.P. Leslie, one of my favorite comedy actors, this actually hit me pretty hard because he brought so much joy to me in his movies.
A sad day indeed. You’ve got to respect Leslie Nielsen just for the pure fact that he went from doing very serious roles to one of the funniest actors in the history of comedy. Another true legend is gone. R.I.P.
It was a stroke of genius for the ZAZ team to hire guys like Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges, and Robert Stack and tell everyone (except Stephen Stucker) to play it completely straight. Their dead seriousness was more effective than any amount of goofy mugging (although Stucker’s manic energy is still brilliant–all the more so for the contrast.) Now all of them, along with Peter Graves and Barbara Billingsley, are gone. I hope Mr. Nielsen didn’t mind people going on and on about Airplane!, but it’s really one of the greatest comedies I and many other people have seen. Tell them to go out and win just one for the Zipper!
While I find it difficult to watch the “Naked Gun” trilogy due to the presence of an acquitted two-time murderer, I do have “Airplane!” and the “Police Squad!” series to fondly remember Mr. Nielsen. They will soon be watched with a new appreciation for a man who turned deadpan comedy into an artform.
“Good luck, we’re all counting on you.”
I’d have to agree with the statement #11 had. In fact I found it tough to watch his non-comic films retroactively because I’d always have it in the back of my mind that he’s playing everything tongue in cheek. Creepshow is a good example for this, but The Poseidon Adventure and Forbidden Planet are both good for that too. I remember him from the first season of MASH as the ringbanger that they drive crazy to prevent him from going back to the front. And let’s not forget Prom Night. Nah nevermind forget Prom Night, but at least he’s good in it. But in the ZAZ films he truly shined and even in those non-ZAZ parody films like Spy Hard and Reposessed he came out definitely better than the actual material. My favorite thing he ever did was in Airplane! in the scene he had talking to Peter Graves, which forgive my memory was something like this:
“Captain, how soon can you land?”
“I can’t tell.”
“You can tell me, I’m a doctor.”
“No I’m just not sure”
“Can’t you take a guess?”
“Well, not for another 24 hours.”
“You can’t take a guess for another 24 hours?”
A great comedian, a great actor, a childhood favorite that followed along with me into an immature adulthood that his work helped encourage, I know I will miss him.
And I just watched City On Fire again on Sunday. RIP Mr. Nielsen.
Another one-liner tribute by Wil Wheaton on Twitter:
Leslie Nielsen’s in a better place. “A better place? What is it?” A construct to help cope with grief, but that’s not important right now.
R.I.P. Leslie, you were a great comedian.
What else is there to be said, Leslie I will miss you !!!!!!!
Truth hurts. Maybe not as much as jumping on a bicycle with the seat missing, but it hurts.”
@6: yeah, he was awesome in Creepshow!
I will rewatch the Naked Gun flicks again tonight as I haven’t seen those in AGES. R.I.P. Mr. Nielsen.
It’s sad to hear when anyone dies, even at age 84. I love the “Police Squad” series, having watched it when it first aired and not understanding why the show didn’t continue past six episodes. “Airplane” is one of my favorite comedies, the “Naked Gun” series … not so much (too much of the same thing over and over again after the first one). I completely forgot he was in an episode of “M*A*S*H*” & I (unfortunately) always overlook his role in “The Poseidon Adventure”, and somehow I missed the episode of “Scrubs” that he was in (and I’m a fan of that show!).
I always thought he was a great actor, and I felt bad for his career that he was stuck doing “goofy comedies” (I’m actually being polite there in what I think of them) towards the end.
He will be missed
#14 Irvin Kershner has a MST3K indirect connection.
From:
http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=614190
“He was a director and cameraman for a television documentary series called “Confidential File” in Los Angeles before getting his first movie break in 1958 when Roger Corman helped finance his first feature, “Stakeout on Dope Street,” which Kershner wrote and produced with colleague Andrew Fenady, said longtime friend and Hollywood publicist Dick Guttman.”
R.I.P.
#36 He was in Scrubs?! When?!
Also, don’t feel sorry for him. He enjoyed doing comedies more than he liked doing serious films.
He had two full careers. Longtime respected serious actor and a long time respected comedic actor. Not many in the business can say that.
Remember seeing one of Nielsen’s last roles doing US celebrity voices for some cheap kiddy-animated import, where he played the villain, with Robert Hays voicing the henchman:
“Quick, that way, it’s our only chance–”
“Surely you can’t be serious!”
“Ah-ah, we don’t do THAT anymore…”
That’s no way for a man to die.
A parachute not opening, that’s a way to die. Getting caught in the gears of a combine. Having your nuts bit off by a laplander, that’s the way I want to go.
He’ll be sincerely missed and forever remembered.
My first memory of Leslie was back in the late 70’s in one of his “serious roles”. He played one of the stranded campers in “Day of the Animals”. It was one of those “nature strikes back” movies. Here people are trapped at a campsite after it’s shut down by the government due to the wildlife going crazy from a low ammount of ozone. Soon Leslie’s character goes crazy killing off a camper after the guy stuck up for his girlfriend (I think) who was about to be raped by nutso Leslie! He later on tried to fight a grizzly bear! Now we know how he stayed in shape for all those “Naked Gun” movies! He is a legend & will be missed!
He will be missed. I love all movies.
There are times when I am very proud of the MST3K community.
Seeing this tribute is one of those times.
You have all done yourself proud.
Leslie got what he deserved here.
Bravo gang. Bravo.
i watched Airplane! last night. it was my wife’s first time to ever see it.
when he walks out of the cockpit and says, “And stop calling me Shirley…” i lost it.
it was obvious to me long ago… that this great man was here to make us laugh. He just did it too well.
So long, Leslie. You were one of the greats.
#40 – I should know better, but Nielsen’s Wikipedia entry states that, in an uncredited role, he played a cross-dresser in 2001 (the show’s 1st season). I don’t see it listed on IMDB and I don’t recall seeing him on the show, so either my memory is faulty or the Wikipedia entry is just plain wrong (which never happens, right?).
I enjoyed Mr. Nielsen in everything in which he appeared, from Forbidden Planet to Airplane, Police Squad and Naked Gun and his many TV appearances on shows like Hawaii Five-O, Cannon, etc. He will be missed.
I was struck hard, like a lot of other people, when I heard about his death. Mr. Nielsen was one of the funniest people to ever walk the earth. It was always a joy to watch him perform, both as a comedian and a heavy. I loved his appearances everywhere, and shall watch his performance as the victim of Patrick McGoohan in Columbo (it’s a shame that he never played the villain. That would have been fun.) I would also recommend anyone who loves Nielsen to try and track down his autobiography, The Naked Truth (which is 100% fiction).
Farewell, Mr. Nielsen. You were the only Nielsen worth rating…