Canadian-born actor, Leslie Nielsen died earlier today (November 28) at the age of 84 in Florida from complications of pneumonia.
Although his acting career started out with him in more serious dramatic roles, he became best known for the comic roles he took on later in his career, such as the Doctor in the 1980 movie Airplane and as Lt. Frank Drebin from the Police Squad TV series and later The Naked Gun movie franchise.
Initially the comic roles played off Nielsen's established serious acting persona as he delivered his lines with a deadpan approach. As he became more known for humorous roles, the performances did evolve into a lighter, more "bumbling fool" type of delivery.
Leslie Nielsen grew up in Canada, primarily in the far north regions of the country, before establishing his acting career in the U.S. His late brother, Erik was a Conservative MP during the time that Brian Mulroney was Prime Minister of Canada.
As a tribute, here is the famous scene from Airplane that established Nielsen as comic actor:
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