thatcrazycajun | In Memoriam: Leslie William Nielsen, 1926-2010

Actor Leslie Nielsen, one of the few Hollywood icons lucky enough to enjoy two successive, and successful, careers—one as a dramatic leading man in several classic films, then a second later in life as a comic actor basically parodying exactly the sort of roles he'd played in the first one—has died at 84 of pneumonia at a hospital near his Fort Lauderdale, FL home. The full story is here.

Of the films he made in his first career, two stand out for me (and probably a lot of you, too): Forbidden Planet and The Poseidon Adventure (the original, not that half-assed remake a few years back), both of which rocked my world as a newfledged teenage fanboy. (The latter was among now-legendary film-scorer John Williams' early works—though he did not write the movie's theme song, "The Morning After," which later became a hit for Maureen McGovern.) From his second, of course, it's his hilarious roles in Airplane! and the Police Squad!/Naked Gun TV and film series. He was also part of the early pioneering days of drama on TV, appearing on a CBS anthology show, Actors' Studio, in 1950 (not to be confused with the James Lipton-hosted, more recent interview series Inside the Actors' Studio).

Deepest sympathies to his widow and two daughters, as well as all his family, friends, colleagues and fans in this most difficult hour. And had I had the good fortune to meet him before he passed, I would not have even dreamed of calling him Shirley.