Dead at 84, according to news reports today. I saw people on Facebook quoting from Airplane before I'd heard the news.
It seems fitting to remember him here, as an actor and comic. His deadpan responses in the Police Squad series were priceless:
- "Why was he in the red light distrinct?"
"Sex, Frank?"
"Um--no thanks, George, maybe later."
or
- "Is this some kind of a bust?"
"Yes, it's very impressive, but I'm just here to ask you a few questions."
So surely this thread is a good place for anyone to post memories of their favorite moments in his work--
- "And don't call me Shirley."
I remember hearing him hosting At the Improv, saying that some woman saw him and said, "Oh, I know who you are, don't tell me, I know--you're Lloyd Bridges."
"No, I'm not, but you're right, I am a famous actor. I'm Leslie Nielsen."
"Oh, right--but you play Lloyd Bridges."
Interesting, he, Lloyd Bridges, and Peter Graves each made a joke about being mistaken for one of the others. His was, I think, the best.
--M. J. Young
Let's not forget his serious work. Forbidden Planet, he was the captain of the starship. Excellent role, and one of the classic sci fi movies of all time. He played a rapist in the movie Nuts. (Barbara Streisand is on trial for the self-defense murder of the character he played.) Any others?
(Doing Therapy)
He will be missed.
And... They don't make actors like they used to.
It's the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girl dies in a tragic blimp accident above the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.
I don't know if this is true, but I remember hearing that Leslie Nielsen had some manner of record for being extremely well-endowed. If anyone looks that up to confirm, let me know.
(Doing Therapy)
doublepost
"Goodyear?"
"No, it was a terrible one."
I liked him.
I remember only one episode of the series Due South, and I remember it because he was in it. (Turns out it was a two-parter.) He played an elderly Mountie who seemed a bit confused and had little problems like falling off his horse, but who got the job done and was a legend among the Mounties. Added a spot of humor to the show without going over the top.
In SpyHard he is talking to the girl about his memories of her mother, holding the last picture he has of her--which is her plummeting in mid air as she falls from the cliff.
I had the entire Police Squad series on DVD, but I think someone in the family laid claim to it and I haven't seen it around for a few years.
I had forgotten he was the captain in The Poseidon Adventure (just scanning his IMDB bio), but as soon as I saw it listed I remembered that.
He was a handsome leading man type back in the '50s, and by the '60s he was the kind of reliable actor they needed for murder mysteries and crime dramas. (I once read an article that said that the best known guest actor in Murder, She Wrote and similar mysteries will be the murderer, because it takes a good actor to play the role and not give it away.) He then did well in comedy, and it looks like he was involved in something when he died.
I hope they can finish it with what they've got.
--M. J. Young