After a long period as a dramatic actor (see him in the 50’s-era sci-fi classic, Forbidden Planet, or as the captain in The Poseidon Adventure), Leslie Nielsen found himself with that rare opportunity of achieving a second act in life. It all came together with a role in Airplane! a 1980 spoof on airliner disaster movies and one of the most successful film comedies ever made. Nielsen’s transformation continued when he starred in the Police Squad TV series as the bumbling detective Frank Drebin, a role that let him work his flat, deadpan delivery at the edges, smudging the distinctions between the TV and movie dramas of his past and the comedies that would make him a legend.
He went on to revive the memorably doofus Drebin in the Naked Gun movie franchise, and he worked steadily in other movies and television series, and even did work in the theater. When he died Sunday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., at the age of 84, Nielsen had starred in more than 100 films and 1,500 television programs, portraying more than 200 characters over the span of his 60-year career. When serious dramatic movie roles eluded him, or he eluded them, Leslie Nielsen reinvented himself as an actor. Rarely was the process of reinvention so irreverent, so indelible or so much fun to watch.
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