The Celebrity Obituary Thread

[KC]

R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen ... 

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=12262403

[Christopher]

I just saw some mention of this elsewhere and was looking for a news story!

[The Schofield Kid]

Sad news indeed.

The one thing that always comes to my mind when I hear his name mentioned isn't any of his films he made but his appearance in the TV Series MASH.

The episode The Ringbanger is one of my favorites. They way they were confusing him, always changing the tent he was staying in and Frank Burns coming in and asking to feel his leg. Doesn't matter how many times I see it, it's a riot.

RIP Leslie. 

[Lin Sunderland]

So sad Leslie Nielsen was a brilliant comedy actor.

[KC]

Here's the New York Times obit for Leslie Nielsen:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/nyregion/29nielsen.html

As the article reminds us, Nielsen's career began with dramatic roles, and before he changed course 180° with 1980's Airplane, his best-known role may have been as the earnest hero of the 1956 sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet.

Here's a couple of excerpts:

In keeping with his adopted comic persona, when Mr. Nielsen in 1993 published an autobiography, “Naked Truth,” it was one that cheerfully, blatantly fabricated events in his life.

They included two Academy Awards, an affair with Elizabeth Taylor and a stay at a rehabilitation center, battling dopey-joke addiction.

In real life he was nominated twice for Emmy Awards, in 1982 as outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for “Police Squad!” and in 1988 as outstanding guest actor in a comedy series for an episode of “Day by Day,” an NBC sitcom about yuppies and day care.

Off screen, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor, in 2002.

In a 1988 interview with The New York Times, Leslie Nielsen discussed his career-rejuvenating transition to comedy, a development that he had recently described as “too good to be true.”

“It’s been dawning on me slowly that for the past 35 years I have been cast against type,” he said, “and I’m finally getting to do what I really wanted to do.”

[TWOMULES]

R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen.

He will be sadly missed.

[Doug]

I get home, turn on the computer, and see this sad news.

R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen

That's my policy.

[KC]

Thanks for finding that, Doug.

"You killed five actors! Good ones!"

[Aline]

I get home, turn on the computer, and see this sad news.

R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen

That's my policy.

Oh no...
Thank you for the laughs, Mr. Nielsen.

[Richard Earl]

I get home, turn on the computer, and see this sad news.

R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen

That's my policy.

I love that one Doug!
Leslie will be missed.

[higashimori]

 R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen .   

[The Schofield Kid]

Star Wars fans will be saddened to hear of the passing of Director Irvin Kershner. Kershner directed The Empire Strikes Back, which some critics label the best sequel ever made.


http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/movies/news/n43040.htm

[Jed Cooper]

I don't think this has been mentioned yet, but Leslie Nielsen was in an episode of Rawhide.

Incident Below the Brazos (1959) … Eli Becker  Leslie Nielsen/IMDB

For those interested here's more to read about him:  Leslie Nielsen/Wikipedia

A truly good actor with great comedic timing.  RIP, sir. 

Also, RIP to all those recently departed. 

[KC]

Star Wars fans will be saddened to hear of the passing of Director Irvin Kershner. Kershner directed The Empire Strikes Back, which some critics label the best sequel ever made.

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/movies/news/n43040.htm

Also, Kershner was the director originally hired to direct Dirty Harry (back when Frank Sinatra was supposed to play the lead).

Here's a link to the New York Times obit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/movies/30kershner.html

R.I.P.

[Jed Cooper]

Star Wars fans will be saddened to hear of the passing of Director Irvin Kershner. Kershner directed The Empire Strikes Back, which some critics label the best sequel ever made.


http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/movies/news/n43040.htm

RIP Mr. Kershner.

Although, I'd argue director Nicholas Meyer's "Wrath Of Khan" is right up there, too    Both are great movie sequels.

[LCat]

I thought Superman II was an excellent sequel. I think the Matrix series and the Bourne movies were great as well.

RIP all of the great people by which we've had the pleasure of being entertained...

LCat.

[KC]

Further tributes to Leslie Nielsen in the New York Times. One features a clip from the original Naked Gun that's even funny (perhaps funnier, if that's possible) with the dialogue dubbed into Italian:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/a-patriotic-farewell-to-leslie-nielsen/

The other is a thoughtful essay on Nielsen's career and its meaning in popular culture, by chief Times film critic A.O. Scott:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/movies/05scott.html

It includes a couple of pictures showing Nielsen in his original, leading-man persona:



Somehow, in hindsight, he looks funny to me in that picture, too!

[Doug]

One of the most significant tributes comes from David Zucker:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/airplane-naked-gun-s-david-49908

At least audiences had heard of the first three, but this guy -- it was true, when it came time to select an actor to play Dr. Rumack, my brother Jerry, Jim Abrahams and I remembered: "This one guy, he's been in hundreds of television shows, and I think he played the captain of the Poseidon. What's his name … ?" Our research revealed that the actor's name was Leslie Nielsen. Jim, Jerry and I were thrilled when he agreed to meet, not because he was "funny" but because of his long résumé of serious films and TV. To us, he was hysterical. The long list of straight dramatic acting roles demonstrated to us that he would be perfect. When we watched those movies, we laughed.

At our first meeting, he mentioned proudly that he had done an episode of M*A*S*H*.

We assured him we wouldn't count this brief comedy experience against him. But when he read the Airplane! script, he "got" its unconventional nature and offbeat style. We heard later that he told his agent, "Take whatever they offer; I'd pay them to do this." 

[KC]

^ Thanks for posting that, Doug. I liked this, at the end:

Leslie was grateful for everything in his life (most especially his wife Barbaree), almost as though he didn't feel he deserved any of it. Maybe that's why he was so happy.

And maybe that's why he was so good at making everyone else happy.

[Jed Cooper]

I thought Superman II was an excellent sequel. I think the Matrix series and the Bourne movies were great as well.

RIP all of the great people by which we've had the pleasure of being entertained...

LCat.

Rocky II was very good, too.  What made Nicholas Meyer's "The Wrath Of Khan" so great is that it made up for a completely horrible, tedious, boring start and came back with a bang!  What made Irvin Kershner's "The Empire Strikes Back" so great is that it continued on from a great start and left off with an awesome cliff-hanger, something that's taken for granted these days.  More often than not you hear yourself saying, "Oh yeah, there'll be a sequel..."   

To stay on topic I just looked up Mr. Kershner on IMDB and sad to say I'm not very familiar with his work.  I don't remember liking Never Say Never Again or Robocop 2 when I saw them but would like to see Eyes Of Laura Mars.  I remember the ads for this on tv way back when but haven't seen the film.