So long, Shirley

WIth Julie Hagerty and Robert Hays in Airplane!, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker, 1980.

To me the funniest thing about Leslie Nielsen's career was that even after definitively sending up his stolid screen persona in the above, and ostensibly ensuring that he'd never be taken seriously as a straight thespian again, he was nevertheless cast as the psycho john who gets offed by La Streisand in the risible Nuts, and apparently played the role with such conviction that he managed to genuinely scare the crap out of the leading lady on set. Weird.

It is this blog's bailiwick to unearth the cult-appeal nerve centers of many cinematic career, but in this case to cite Nielsen's portrayal of the world's squarest, most stolid space captain in the groundbreaking Forbidden Planet would be too...obvious. No, for a certain stripe of weirdo Nielsen's most iconic portrayal such as it was, was of Colonel Francis Marion, The Swamp Fox, in the eponymous Disney television adventure mini-series. Much like the Patrick McGoohan-starring Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, the episodes of this piece are remembered almost as movies, not least because they had a genuine cinematic "scope" and feel, at least to growing lads of the day. 

As the pose above implies, Nielsen did not exactly bring a whole lot of variety to his portrayal of noble stalwarts, which was one major reason he worked so well in the sendups from Airplane! onward. I don't intend an insult when I say that he made the easy look easy. And while the makers of Airplane! frequently said in interviews that Nielsen and the other old-timers whose images and styles were used for parody in such films didn't quite "get" what was going on around them, I rather doubt that Nielsen was any kind of Margaret Dumont. He certainly proved quite adept (not to say relentless—I had the misfortune of having had to sit through Repossessed) at re-commodifying himself after that film gave a new lease to his career's life. He will be missed.

Comments

[lipranzer]

Everyone remembers the "Don't call me Shirley" line, but I think Nielsen's at his funniest in this exchange with Peter Graves:

"Captain, how soon can you land?"
"I can't tell."
"You can tell me. I'm a doctor."
"No, I mean I'm just not sure!"
"Well, can you take a guess?"
"Well, not for another couple of hours."
"You can't take a guess for another couple of hours?"

R.I.P

[Shawn Stone]

The deadpan delivery--by Nielsen and, well, everyone--on POLICE SQUAD is spectacular. I can't except he wasn't in on the joke.

Until I read his NY Times obit, didn't realize he knew Lorne Greene in Canada when they were starting out. Makes Greene's memorable POLICE SQUAD cameo that much richer.

[Partisan]

The really strange thing about Nielsen was that he was that he was also the brother of the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, Eric Nielsen. E. Nielsen was first elected from the Yukon in 1957 as a Conservative, and during the party's long stint in opposition from 1963 to 1984, he acquired a reputation as a formidable parliamentary player. So it's not surprising that he became Deputy Prime Minister when the Tories returned to power in 1984. As a cabinet minster he was less impressive, and quit two and a half years later. Oddly, both brothers died when they were 84.

[Michael Adams]

In one of the Forbidden Planet extras, Nielsen describes himself as “a stalwart, disciplined, strong leading man,” perhaps hinting at his awareness of his limitations. Nevertheless, as a child I found him riveting in The Swamp Fox.

[Steve Simels]

And apparently Jean Hersholt -- as in the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award -- was his uncle. I had no idea.

[Castle Bravo]

Sexual assault with a concrete dildo...

[Jose]

"Nice beaver!"
"Thank you. I just had it stuffed."

I must've around 10 years old when I first saw Naked Gun at my cousin's house, and his older brothers kept rewinding that scene and howling while I kept wondering what was so funny.

Leslie Nielsen will certainly be missed.

[Charlie R]

I'd known her for years. We used to go to all the police functions together. Ah, how I loved her, but she had her music. I think she had her music. She'd hang out with the Chicago Male Chorus and Symphony. I don't recall her playing an instrument or being able to carry a tune. Yet she was on the road 300 days of the year. In fact, I bought her a harp for Christmas. She asked me what it was.