Leslie Nielsen, RIP


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Surely the news can’t be serious. Sadly, it is. And don’t call me Shirley.

Leslie Nielsen, the comedy great behind movies such as Airplane!, The Naked Gun and Dracula: Dead and Loving It, died on Sunday of pneumonia.

The Canadian actor got his start in the 1950s, with his first major role in 1956’s The Forbidden Planet. He continued playing serious roles throughout the 1970s, including the ship’s captain in the original Poseidon Adventure.

But everything changed with 1980’s comedy Airplane!. Nielsen was the go-to comedy actor, able to bring a serious deadpan to even the most absurd of scenes. He became known for his work in spoofs, like 1998’s Fugitive-parody Wrongly Accused.

To younger audiences, he’s probably best remembered as the titular Mr. Magoo in the ’90s version of the cartoon.

Nielsen was taken to a hospital – a big building with patients, but that’s not important right now – on Nov. 20, but his condition did not get better.

The world is a less funny place with him gone.