Leslie Nielsen dead at 84

Comic titan Leslie Nielsen, famed for his insistence on not being called Shirley and for his masterly portrayal of "Sergeant Frank Drebin, Detective Lieutenant, Police Squad", has died aged 84. "With his friends and his wife by his side, he just fell asleep and passed away," his nephew Doug Nielsen told AFP. The veteran actor …

[Anonymous Coward]

funny man

The Naked Gun is where it started for me.

[Neil 13]

A sad loss but .......

.... great looking beaver!

[Anonymous Coward]

Best line? There are so many.....

...such as:

"Nice beaver!"

"Drebin, Fried Squid!"

Also never forget Les was the captain of the ship in the original Poseidon Adventure.

[Paul 172]

Sad day

...the man was a genius

[AndrueC]

Strange to say..

..I first saw him in Forbidden planet. I stayed up late one night as a kid to watch it. It wasn't until several years later that I saw him in a comic role.

R.I.P.

[Valerion]

I hope his last conversation was

"I feel ill - you need to get me to a hospital"

"A hospital, what is it?"

"A big building with patients in it - but that's not important right now".

Total legend - RIP.

[EddieD]

Forbidden Planet..

First thing I saw Leslie Neilsen in - and still surely my favourite, but that's not important right now...

The main problem with trying for a good quote is that most of his lines require context for the deadpan to work...I'll settle for this pisstake of Dirty Harry.."Yes, well when I see five weirdo's dressed in togas stabbing a guy in the middle of the park in full view of a hundred people, I shoot the bastards, that's my policy"

If the coffin doesn't fall off the catafalque at the very least, I'll be disappointed.

I think I'll dig out my Airplane and Police Squad flicks this evening.

[Christos Georgiou]

Greatest line

–Who are you, and how did you get in here?

–I'm a locksmith… and I'm a locksmith.

[ExRLCBod]

R I P

He picked the wrong week to quit breathing.

a very sad day, a loss to humour, and a man that will be missed.

gravestone because - well, that should be obvious

[Goat Jam]

Picked the wrong week to . . .

Great quote of course but that one was by Lloyd Bridges who played the stressed out head air traffic controller in Airplane! *

Leslie Neilsen played the doctor.

* aka Flying High! in Australia

[Anonymous Coward]

Favourite bit

him turning to run away from the nuclear bomb with only a few seconds to spare after failing to disarm it. Then tripping over and yanking out the mains cable that is powering it...

[Blofeld's Cat]

Forbidden Planet

Commander John J. Adams (Nielsen): We're all part monsters in our subconscious, so we have laws and religion!

RIP Leslie Nielsen

[Anonymous Coward]

Beaver

Will they have him stuffed?

[Gianni Straniero]

I guess...

... he had the fish

[BoldMan]

Add me to th elist of Forbidden Planet fans

That was a classic role when he was a straight actor. He will be missed.

[DavCrav]

One of the best lines

“We would have come earlier, but your husband wasn’t dead then.”

[Peter 66]

RIP total legend

I seem to recall that he had a part in Columbo as an unknowing accoumplice to the murderer.

+1 for a "Thank you. But, in all honesty, the last three I backed over with my car. Luckily, they turned out to be drug-dealers"

[A. Lewis]

Sad news...

I remember the first time I saw Naked Gun 2 1/2. That scene in the bar made me laugh so hard I choked.

Raises your glasses in honour...

[PsychicMonkey]

"I'm the last line

of defence between scum like you and the decent, hard working people of this city."

"Hi Frank, we've got that super strong sure grip Swedish suck machine in that you ordered"

The man was an absolute legend.

[MinionZero]

Forbidden Planet for me as well

I am sad to hear he has died. For me my earliest memories as a kid was like others have said, of him in the film Forbidden Planet, which was a major step up for scifi in both special effects and in electronic music. It pre-dates even Doctor Who for its pioneering role in electronic music, so Forbidden Planet was a major film in its day and he was the lead actor.

Its only later that I learned to appreciate and respect his great sense of humour and willingness to laugh at himself when he moved into comedy roles. Considering how so many so called celebrities these days are not willing to laugh at themselves, I consider his attitude to life very admirable.

R.I.P.

[Andy Farley]

RIP

"Is this some kind of bust?"

"Yes, ma'am, very impressive, but we need to ask you a few questions."

[Anonymous Coward]

Climbing over a warehouse...

...using a hook. No problems, except the hook got caught in a Dobberman's leash. Both reach the top of the warehouse at the same time. Classic!

A battering ram-tank with "Have a Nice Day" on it. It is rumored the actual tank has that actually these words written on it, though, but it doesn't take anything from the joke.

[LuMan]

Very Sad

But the quotes I've read here manage to keep me smiling. Like this one:

"Well... We shot a lot of people together. It's been great. But today I retire, so if I do any shooting now, it'll have to be within the confines of my own home. Hopefully, an intruder and not an in-law, like at my bachelor party."

R.I.P

[Jacqui]

Buck!

And who could forget the most brilliant mountie ever - Buck Frobisher!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt._Buck_Frobisher

FYI Due south is on BBC and available via iPlayer. Or if you have no TV get the DVD's.

Ms Bee: "ray" or "Bennie" :-)

[Scorchio!!]

Due South!

On the iPlayer no less? I will be watching that. A truly amazing piece of work. There was another one out of (I think) Canada that was also surreal and finely crafted. No sign of the Sqword Frod in there though. Heh.

[Atonnis]

It wasn't a joke just by itself...

....but the greatest line of this comedic genius was undoubtedly:

I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you.

He will be missed.

[Psymon]

I had tears of laughter when I heard

Sorry honey, but I like my sex like my basketball.

One-on-one, with as little dribbling as possible!

He will be fondly missed

[Livlondon]

30th Anniversary of Airplaine! showing in London

plus a Q&A at the Prince Charles Cinema off Leccy Square. Got my tickets a few weeks back without know Mr Nielson was going to 'leave us.' Zucker bros will be there too (hopefully still).

I think it should be done Oirish wake style, tickets are here - http://www.locofilmfestival.com/

[Graham Marsden]

Police Squad - In Color!

This show was brilliant, from the death of the famous actor "special guest" at the start to the "freeze frame" gag at the end and not forgetting the Red Rock cider ads that riffed off it years later.

[Dave Murray]

Cigarette?

Yes it is.

[George Nacht]

How can Leslie die?

I am so sad I do not even care to pick a favourite line. I am just pissed off at the fate. Some people should be awarded an exception from dying. Just saying.

Goodbye and godspeed.

[mmiied]

I am allways serious

all togeather

"AND DON'T CALL ME SURELY"

[JoanneTheTran]

Where?

A typical quote was:

"When I got home I received a call from Mimi Du Jour, she wanted me to come to the club right away. Since I had no idea where the Club Rightaway was, I suggested to go to the Club Flamingo. She agreed."

God bless you Leslie

[DZ-Jay]

Brilliant comic

Of course, Mr. Nielsen was a brilliant comic, and he will be sorely missed; but lets not forget that all those great lines, delivered with the most perfect timing by Mr. Nielsen, are actually the work of Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers. Theirs as well is the credit for the gloriously inspired decision of choosing Mr. Nielsen as the delivery vehicle of all those deadpan jokes in the original Airplane! movie. Even Leslie Nielsen himself claimed that he was surprised at the choice at the beginning.

Surely they deserve as much praise, even if they are not yet dead. But Leslie will remain Shirley.

-dZ.

[Oliver Mayes]

He'll truely be missed

My name is Sergeant Frank Drebin, Detective Lieutenant, Police Squad.

There'd been a recent wave of gorgeous fashion models found naked and unconscious in laundromats on the West Side. Unfortunately, I was assigned to investigate holdups of neighborhood credit unions.

I was across town doing my laundry when I got the call on the double killing...

[Tom 13]

One of my favorites is a visual from Police Squad:

"We have top men working around the clock," with guys working on a grandfather clock in background.

[Anonymous Coward]

That sucks.

My favourite:

Lt. Frank Drebin: That's the red-light district. I wonder why Savage is hanging around down there.

Captain Ed Hocken: Sex, Frank?

Lt. Frank Drebin: Uh, no, not right now, Ed.

[Joe H.]

Not sure which Naked Gun this was...

But the scene was the bad guy on a large military style missile crashing into a fireworks factory. Drebin gets to the site, turns his back to the conflagration and starts in with crowd control.

"Nothing to see here folks, move along, there is nothing to see here! Nothing to see here!"

Classic, he will be missed.

RIP

[Chris Seiter]

Even earlier series

Don't forget about "Swamp Fox" from Disney! We watched it in high School. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swamp_Fox_(TV_series)

[Colin 4]

favourite quote

Lt. Frank Drebin: ...blowing away a fleeing suspect with my 44 magnum used to mean everything to me, I enjoyed it, well who wouldn't?

[SImon Hobson]

Parky

I remember seeing him being interviewed by Michael Parkinson. Comic genius.

And my favourite gag ? It hard to pick just one, but the radio mic and the long toilet break gag would have to be it.

[Witty username]

Brilliance

The internal monolouges were epic.

"she asked to meet me at the club right away. I told her i didnt know where the club right away was, so i suggested the Club Flamingo. she agreed"

[Johnny Canuck]

fart machine

When not amusing us with his bon mots on the screen, he was well known to carry a fart machine around with him.

[Snapper]

Fart!

First in line to buy an iPhone, obviously!

Dead-pan genius.

[jai]

Police Squad

sadly, Police Squad wasn't at all successful when it was first shown. US Tv execs apparently claimed that it didn't work "because you had to watch it" and no one pays attention when they watch tv. But I loved the show when I saw it as a kid. However, probably a good thing, because otherwise they wouldn't have turned it into the movies.

The man was a legend who made so many people laugh so much.

[NogginTheNog]

It's not red and there's no rocks in it

That is all :-D

[asdf]

another classic quote

Lt. Frank Drebin: I'm single! I love being single! I haven't had this much sex since I was a Boy Scout leader!

[Music stops playing. Everyone stops talking and stares at him]

Lt. Frank Drebin: [to everybody] I mean at the time I was dating a lot.

[Anonymous Coward]

sad :-(

RIP and best wishes to your family along with condolences...

[John Gamble]

And While We're Mentioning Sources

Police Squad was a take-off of M-Squad (<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050035/>), right down to the big-band music theme.

Oh dear favorite line... pretty much every one-word question that made Drebin reply "Yes, I know."

"Cigarette?"

"Yes, I know."

[DJ]

Scene from The Naked Gun...

...where he and George Kennedy are sitting in a car on a stakeout and eating pistachios.

Red pistachios.

With the usual results.

Had us laughing for days.

Thank you, Mr. Nielsen and company.

[Neoc]

Wait a moment...

I thought "Airplane!" (or "Flying High!" as it's known around here) was made to spoof "Airport 75": Incapacitated pilot, the singing nun, girl in need of a kidney transfer, etc...

[Anonymous Coward]

Farewell Leslie

I'll always remember the baseball game sequence in "The Naked Gun" as being one of the laugh-out-loud funniest times I have ever had at the movies. All the way from Leslie tying up fictional opera singer Enrico Palazzo so he can get on the baseball field, to him slaughtering the American national anthem while an apoplectic, bound and gagged Enrico Palazzo watches on TV in back in the locker room, to Frank's over-the-top umpire (including a classic scene where he gets into a baseball-style confrontation with another umpire over a Drebinized out call) and ending the game saving Queen Elizabeth from assassination to cheers of "Hey, thats not an umpire" --"It's Enrico Pallazzo!!" to Frank proposing to Jane while saying things like "since I met you I notice things that I never had before, birds in the air, stop signs"

RIP Leslie

[Sleepalot]

In hospital, of pneumonia?

That's no way for a man to die. Being beaten to death by an angry mob, that's the way to go out: being shot by a jealous husband or gay lover - that's the way I want to go.

[james underhill]

parting shot

I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you.

[Gavin Burnett]

My favourite scene

Would have to be when Drebin breaks into the villain’s office in the early hours of the morning. He sits at a desk, and holds a lighter under some documents to read them, and then loses concentration and accidentally sets fire to them. Drebin then throws the burning documents into a metal bin, and tries to stamp them out. He then gets his foot caught in the bin full of flaming paper, and tries to shake it off. While jumping up from the desk, he hits the automated play button on a piano; and then dances around the office with a flaming bin stuck to his foot while a cheerful ditty plays on the piano.

I had to stop the tape I was laughing so hard.

Flame icon of course!

[Sam Therapy]

The world just became a lot less funny

Great actor and - if interviews I saw are anything to go by - a really nice bloke, too.

RIP.

[d 25]

"the Olivier of the phony fart"

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/898605--salem-leslie-nielsen-gone-with-the-wind

http://ur1.ca/2h1sp

[bugalugs]

Never

have I up-voted so many posts ! Thanks to both of you all.

Here's to Leslie Nielsen's long life of achievement on stage and screen.

What a filmography > http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000558/ < !

I am thankful that we live in times that allow us to re-visit his masterful

performances at our leisure.

RIP

[norman]

With all the Leslie Nielsen quotes....

Someone needs to fork the Fortune app to display his quotes at a user log in.