Offscreen Notes
Leslie Nielsen: R.I.P. 1926-November 28, 2010
A very sad day for Canadians and lovers of absurd, non-sequitur (Nielson was a master) comedy, with the passing of Leslie Nielsen on November 28, 2010 at the age of 84 (born in Regina, Saskatchewan, 1926). Nielsen was in his mid-forties when he decided to take on the role of Dr. Rumack in the Zucker brothers’ Airplane! in 1980. The rest, as they say, is comic history. His nutty portrayal as Det. Frank Drebin in first the TV series Police Squad! and the Naked Gun series should be remembered as the finest example of the ‘straight-faced” comedian. I had the great pleasure of interviewing the man when he was in Montreal shooting a film that will not go done as one of his better ones, 2001: A Space Travesty, actually one of his worse, but he was ever the gentleman, relaxed, cordial, and every the professional (click below for link to the interview).
