This Is Our Hill and These Are Our Beans

[Geee]

American Spectator:

Life became a little less funny with the passing of Leslie Nielsen over the weekend. The world lost the unlikeliest of comedic legends.
If you had asked someone to describe Leslie Nielsen prior to 1980 you might hear adjectives like "handsome leading man" or "silver haired villain." You would never hear adjectives like "funny man" or "comic genius."

But then in 1980 along came a little movie called Airplane! All of a sudden, Nielsen's career would literally and figuratively take off in a whole new direction. Now Nielsen wasn't the only actor who the triumvirate of Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker cast against type. Who knew that Robert Stack could take out Hari Krishnas and the Moonies out with one fell swoop? Who knew Lloyd Bridges had an addiction to glue? Who knew Peter Graves was so curious about Turkish prisons? And who knew Barbara Billingsley was so fluent in jive? But despite their brilliant turns Stack, Bridges, Graves and Billingsley generally weren't cast in other comedic roles.

So what made Nielsen's turn as Dr. Alan Rumack so special? Nielsen not only played him straight he was downright serious. Surely you can't be serious? Well, I am serious and don't call me Shirley. But serious or not, Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker had only scratched the surface of Nielsen's potential as a comedic actor. They would cast Nielsen as Lieutenant Frank Drebin in a television series called Police Squad, a satire of police procedurals which aired on ABC in 1982. Unfortunately, ABC never fully embraced the vision of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker and cancelled the series after only six episodes. Despite getting the axe, Police Squad would develop a loyal and enduring cult following.

[AceRimmer]

I loved the 'Police Squad' episodes where everybody but the perp froze at the end of the episode, and 'The Naked Gun' movies will always be infamous for OJ Simpson's role. But when it comes down to brass tacks, surely it will always be 'Airplane!' that I'll remember him for.

 

And don't call me Shirley...