Skip to main content

Leslie Nielsen Is Remembered

Leslie Nielsen Is Remembered - If it’s true, as many claim, that showbiz deaths usually come in three's, then we should fear the worst for some living legends during the next day or so.

Why? Within the past 48 hours, we have lost two conspicuously accomplished octogenarians: Leslie Nielsen, the journeyman character actor who deftly reinvented himself as a splendidly straight-faced farceur, and Irvin Kershner, the veteran filmmaker credited by many fans as auteur of the very best Star Wars movie ever made.

Throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, Nielsen found steady employment as heroic lead or reliable guest star in a variety of TV series, often finding himself persuasively cast as a steely-eyed cop (The New Breed, The Bold Ones) or a cold-hearted villain. On the big screen, he made his biggest impact – fleetingly, but unforgettably – as the ship’s captain whose shocked response to an oncoming tidal wave (“Oh my God!”) set the shamelessly melodramatic tone for The Poseidon Adventure.

It wasn’t until 1980, however, that Nielsen got his shot at being a true pop-culture icon, when he was perfectly cast in Airplane! – the free-wheeling laugh riot that spawned an entire genre of movie-lampooning movies – as a tightly buttoned-down doctor who retains his cool during a crisis, but repeatedly warns everyone not to address him as Shirley.

It was the sort of straight-arrow role that Nielsen had previously played perfectly straight in dozens and dozens of feature films, TV-movies and series episodes. And that, of course, is what made his deadpan zaniness all the more hilarious – much like co-stars Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges and Robert Stack, he subtly satirized sobersided shtick for which he was best known, and got his biggest laughs while behaving as though he hadn’t been let in on the joke.

Nielsen reprised that formula in the classic but criminally short-lived Police Squad! TV series – which spawned the considerably more popular Naked Gun movie trilogy – and then more or less repeated himself, with varying degrees of success, for the next three decades. He was so good at self-mockery, even in comedies unworthy of his best efforts – did somebody say Repossessed? – that I’m sure many moviegoers under the age of 30 might be totally unaware that there ever was a time that Nielsen was regarded as a no-joke, dead-serious dramatic actor.

Leslie Nielsen Is Remembered
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Farm dogs maul Irish Tourist

Farm dogs maul Irish Tourist - An Irish tourist who was mauled to death by two dogs while visiting an organic farm in Penang yesterday morning had more than 50 bite wounds and lacerations all over his body. Penang Hospital Forensic Department head Datuk Dr Bhupinder Singh, who performed the post-mortem on Maurice Sullivan (pix), 50, today, said he found the wounds on the victim's head, neck, hands and legs. "The victim had died as a result of severe haemorrhage due to multiple injuries from the dogs' bites," he said, adding that there were no signs that Sullivan suffered any ailment at the time of death. Farm dogs maul Irish Tourist Bhupinder also said both Sullivan's ears and the left side of his face were gnawed off in the incident. One of the ears was recovered from the scene. Bhupinder told reporters this after carrying out the post-mortem which began at 10am. Sullivan was attacked by two mongrels at the farm while taking photographs of the gr...
6 comments
Read more

Man Hits Teen on Plane Over iPhone

Man Hits Teen on Plane Over iPhone - Police say a man on a Southwest Airlines flight from Las Vegas punched a teenager who refused to turn off his iPhone as the plane approached the Boise airport. Officers arrested 68-year-old Russell E. Miller, of Boise, on suspicion of misdemeanor battery Tuesday. He has been released from jail on bond. Witnesses told police the 15-year-old was playing games and listening to music on his cell phone when flight attendants instructed passengers to turn off their electronic devices because the plane was landing. Witnesses told police that when the teen didn't respond, Miller got angry and punched the boy in the arm. Miller says he "tapped" the teen on the shoulder after he refused to turn off the phone. He told the Idaho Statesman that he may have "overreacted," but that he did not punch the teen. Man Hits Teen on Plane Over iPhone
5 comments
Read more

Contactless Debit Cards

Contactless Debit Cards - Contactless debit cards will make their formal debut in Canada next year with the launch of Interac Flash from Acxsys Corp.’s Interac Association, Canada’s national debit network. Interac’s first two Flash issuers are Scotiabank and RBC Royal Bank, which will roll out their first contactless cards next summer. The first acquirer is TD Merchant Services, a unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank. More issuers and acquirers are on the way, an Interac spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News, though no announcements have been made yet. Interac and the banks tested Flash this summer at some high-volume, small-ticket merchants in downtown Toronto. The spokesperson expects national merchants will be making formal announcements about acceptance. “There’s a lot of excitement in the merchant community,” she says. “Merchants are looking for that faster throughput.” In a statement, the Retail Council of Canada endorsed the new card. “Interac Flash is a welcome and needed ...
Post a Comment
Read more