Leslie Nielson R.I.P.

Another day passes and I continue to feel older as the death roll on this blog keeps rising. By now, I'm pretty sure you will have heard that Leslie Nielson passed away over the weekend and read numerous testimonials on his life.

So you may as well read one more!

Believe it or not, I only know Leslie Nielson through his comedy movies and only realised he started his career as a serious drama actor upon reading the recent testimonials to his film career. In some ways, considering that I was born in 1975, its not a surprise that my only exposure to him was as a comedian.

Of course, all that justification flies out the window when you realise that, despite being a sci-fi fan, I had no idea that he was the lead in Forbidden Planet...

Ultimately though, films like Airplane! and The Naked Gun series are hilariously funny and remain so even to this day. Obviously, some of that success is due to the writers ability to create such quotable dialog. However, a large part is also due to Nielson's ability for deadpan acting and comedic timing.

In many ways, it was a shame that he was never able to replicate the critical and commercial success which he enjoyed with those early films. Having said that, having seen some of the later "flops", I have to admit that his antics still managed to raise a chuckle from me and the particular brand of comedy which he created, and specialised in, is the lesser for his passing.