Leslie Nielsen Remembered
As has been widely reported, 84-year-old actor Leslie Nielsen died Sunday due to complications from pneumonia. Though the general public may identify Nielsen with his roles in comedy classic like Airplane! and The Naked Gun, the actor also starred in his share of genre flicks, like the groundbreaking sci-fi epic Forbidden Planet. There were a few horror movies on Nielsen's resume as well.
As far back as his numerous appearances on the 1950s anthology shows Tales of Tomorrow and Alfred Hitchcock Presents -- as well as Night Gallery and the premiere episode of Boris Karloff's Thriller -- Nielsen was willing to go to some pretty dark places. My generation of horror fans remember him for his turn as the ruthless Richard Vickers -- who murders Ted Danson (only to get his comeuppance in grand EC comics style) -- in George Romero's Creepshow. And the '80s also saw him feature in Prom Night and The Ray Bradbury Theater before the comedic roles took over. But even then, there was the macabre -- albeit in largely underwhelming spoofs like Repossessed, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, and Scary Movie 3 and 4.
I had the great opportunity to meet Nielsen when I interviewed him about last year's Stan Helsing. Though age had clearly taken its toll, I still found him to be happy, enthusiastic, and in love with the job of making movies. The Hollywood Reporter has a fine tribute from a man who knew Nielsen well -- filmmaker David Zucker, with whom the actor worked on Airplane! and The Naked Gun. It's worth checking out, another fond rememberance of a fellow who, no matter what genre he worked in, made us smile by hardly smiling at all.
