Leslie Nielsen Has Died

Leslie Nielsen, the funnyman who Roger Ebert once referred to as the “Laurence Olivier of spoofs,” has died of complications from pneumonia.

The news was reported on Canadian radio station CJOB Sunday. TMZ has confirmed the news.

Nielsen’s nephew told CJOB that the actor had been in the hospital in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for 12 days and that with family and friends by his side at 5:30pm Sunday “he just fell asleep and passed away.”

The Canadian-born Nielsen came to Hollywood in the mid-1950s after performing in 150 live television dramas in New York. With a craggily handsome face, blond hair and 6-foot-2 height, he seemed ideal for a movie leading man.

Nielsen was indeed a lead actor for decades in Hollywood, appearing the 1956 sci-fi classic ‘Forbidden Planet’ as well as ‘The Poseidon Adventure.’ But his turn in 1980′s classic comedy ‘Airplane!’ as a deadpan doctor on a doomed flight, changed his career forever as he switched gears to become one of Hollywood’s top comic talents.

His turn as detective Frank Drebin in ‘The Naked Gun’ was a smash and was followed by two sequels. The role in the comedy actual was born in the short lived TV series ‘Police Squad’ which had followed on the heels of Nielsen’s success in ‘Airplane!’

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