I get a text message this morning (from my brother Colin) at 6:15 am!!! (like yeah, I'm awake and downing 'raw eggs' before my morning run!) , with a cryptic remark stating "Rest In Peace Leslie"..........No surname, nothing (My brother can be annoying like that!)
At first i thought...Leslie Phillips (no offence to Mr Phillips, or his family....but the guy is 123 year old!) So i checked the morning news on TV................Ziltch, nothing, Nada (if it's not Snow reports or X-Factor results, it's not deemed important in the UK) So out of bed in got, booted the hamster wheel in my PC, and kick started the 'interweb'....wish i hadn't now!
News that legendary funnyman Leslie Nielsen has passed away, is another sad loss (in a year that's seen some great icons leave us)
Nielson, already clocked up a 100+ appearances in various TV shows and radio plays, before landing the role of Commander J.J. Adams in the 1956 sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet.
His roles in other classic genre movies/Tv shows followed (The Poseidon Adventure, Day Of The Animals, Columbo) before hitting the jackpot with AIRPLANE (in 1980) in which he took 'deadpan' to a new level (whilst still having the occasional 'straight' role in Prom Night, Creepshow and Nuts, to name a few) before having his own bonafide Box-Office hit with THE NAKED GUN in 1988.
He continued with many more 'comedy' roles (and a couple more successful 'Naked Gun' sequels) as well as numerous other spoofs (I laughed out loud throughout SPY HARD) and he continued working pretty much non-stop (with future projects still unreleased for next year)
Nielson died from complications with pneumonia, and by all accounts was praised by everyone he ever worked with, as a "kind, warm and genuinely funny man"
He will be sadly missed (like you needed to be told that)At first i thought...Leslie Phillips (no offence to Mr Phillips, or his family....but the guy is 123 year old!) So i checked the morning news on TV................Ziltch, nothing, Nada (if it's not Snow reports or X-Factor results, it's not deemed important in the UK) So out of bed in got, booted the hamster wheel in my PC, and kick started the 'interweb'....wish i hadn't now!
News that legendary funnyman Leslie Nielsen has passed away, is another sad loss (in a year that's seen some great icons leave us)
Nielson, already clocked up a 100+ appearances in various TV shows and radio plays, before landing the role of Commander J.J. Adams in the 1956 sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet.
His roles in other classic genre movies/Tv shows followed (The Poseidon Adventure, Day Of The Animals, Columbo) before hitting the jackpot with AIRPLANE (in 1980) in which he took 'deadpan' to a new level (whilst still having the occasional 'straight' role in Prom Night, Creepshow and Nuts, to name a few) before having his own bonafide Box-Office hit with THE NAKED GUN in 1988.
He continued with many more 'comedy' roles (and a couple more successful 'Naked Gun' sequels) as well as numerous other spoofs (I laughed out loud throughout SPY HARD) and he continued working pretty much non-stop (with future projects still unreleased for next year)
Nielson died from complications with pneumonia, and by all accounts was praised by everyone he ever worked with, as a "kind, warm and genuinely funny man"
(Gotta crack open the DAY OF THE ANIMALS dvd tonight.....R.I.P. Mr Nielson)
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