It figures that it would take the death of someone whom I idolized as a child (and an adult) to get me to post a new blog entry. The death of actor Leslie Nielsen has hit me pretty hard. I find myself thinking about his movies and comedic roles often these past few days. His is a story of two acting lives. First, in the 50's, 60's and 70's, he was almost exclusively a dramatic actor, taking on serious roles, such as in "Forbidden Planet" and "The Poseidon Adventure". However, he had always wanted to do comedy, and in 1980, the Zucker brothers and Jim Abraham gave him the opportunity to do so in "Airplane!", which is one of the funniest movies ever. His role as Dr. Rumack is priceless and he had some LMAO dialogue that still gets laughs to this day. For instance:
Dr. Rumack: Can you fly this plane, and land it?
Ted Striker: Surely you can't be serious.
Rumack: I am serious... and don't call me Shirley!
One-liners like that are just brilliant in their simplicity.
But before I had seen Airplane, I fell in love with The Naked Gun movies. His portrayal of bumbling policeman Frank Drebin remains one of the seminal comedic roles in film to this day. In addition to great one-liners, Nielsen added the element of physical comedy in the Naked Gun series. The best example of this is what I call his "pillow self-smothering". In this, a bad guy would throw a pillow or a towel at Drebin's face and he would act like the pillow had attached itself to his face and is suffocating him. However, it was really just him holding the pillow to his face. He would expel muffled screams into the pillow, adding to the comedic effect. Again, silly, but brilliant in simplicity.
After the Naked Gun movies, he continued to do other movies, such as Spy Hard, the last two installments of Scary Movie, and a Mel Brooks Dracula spoof that, from what I remember, wasn't very good. But he still had great comedic dialogue in some of these movies. For instance, in Spy Hard, he has a scene where he is undercover as a doctor in an ER and has the following exchange with a nurse in regards to a patient:
Nurse: ICU, Doctor?
Nielsen: And I see you! You're doing a fine job!
Needless to say, I am going to miss Leslie Nielsen. He played a great part in the development of my sometimes offbeat and goofy sense of humor. If I was having a bad day, and happened to catch some of his work on TV, I would be instantly cheered up. That still rings true today. Though I am saddened by the death of one of the better comedic actors in recent history, I take comfort in knowing that Heaven just became a funnier place. Rest in Peace, Mr. Nielsen, and watch out for flying pillows!
