REMEMBERING LESLIE NIELSEN
Died on this day, November 28, 2010.
“I’ve been called the Laurence Olivier of spoofs. That would make Laurence Olivier the Leslie Nielsen of Shakespeare.”
Leslie Nielsen, the son of a Mountie, was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and raised in Tulita (formerly Fort Norman), Northwest Territories. One of his two brothers, Erik, became the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada.
Nielsen studied at the Academy of Radio Arts in Toronto before moving to New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse. He starred in over fifty films and many more television films.
He has been called the first “Trekkie” — ‘Star Trek’ was partially inspired by Nielsen’s classic ‘Forbidden Planet,’ according to ’Star Trek’ editor and screenwriter D.C. Fontana.
Leslie Nielsen died at the age of 84 and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.