Actor Leslie Nielsen, who starred in the Airplane! and Naked Gun film comedies, has died aged 84.
.He died on Sunday at a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was being treated for pneumonia, his agent John S Kelly said.
The Canadian star enjoyed a film and television career spanning more than 60 years but is probably best remembered for playing the bumbling cop Lieutenant Frank Drebin in the Naked Gun franchise.
Nielsen went to Hollywood in the mid-1950s after performing in 150 live television dramas in New York.
With a craggily handsome face and blond hair, he seemed ideal for a movie leading man.
He quickly became known as a serious actor, although behind the camera he was a prankster.
That was an aspect of his personality never exploited, however, until Airplane! was released in 1980 and became a huge hit.
In The Naked Gun in 1988, a deadpan Nielsen delivered a string of one-liners like "nice beaver" as his girlfriend, played by Priscilla Presley, stood above him on a ladder clutching a stuffed animal.
His character also beat up the Ayatollah Khomeini and scrubbed the birthmark from Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's head.
Nielsen went on to star in two sequels, The Naked Gun 2-1/2: The Smell Of Fear and The Naked Gun 33-1/3: The Final Insult.
But he also had a serious side, shown in Darrow, a one-man drama about the legendary "attorney for the damned" Clarence Darrow.
"I didn't want to go ahead and be pegged for doing only comedy, although comedy is burgeoning," he said in an interview in 1996.
"I'd like to see how far I can stretch and keep on doing 'dumb and stupid' (comedy) and drama and if possible be accepted at both.
"There's a line with an audience you can't always cross over. Sometimes, they only want to see you being funny."
Nielsen's wife Barbaree and friends were at his bedside when he died, his agent said.
.He died on Sunday at a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was being treated for pneumonia, his agent John S Kelly said.
The Canadian star enjoyed a film and television career spanning more than 60 years but is probably best remembered for playing the bumbling cop Lieutenant Frank Drebin in the Naked Gun franchise.
Nielsen went to Hollywood in the mid-1950s after performing in 150 live television dramas in New York.
With a craggily handsome face and blond hair, he seemed ideal for a movie leading man.
He quickly became known as a serious actor, although behind the camera he was a prankster.
That was an aspect of his personality never exploited, however, until Airplane! was released in 1980 and became a huge hit.
In The Naked Gun in 1988, a deadpan Nielsen delivered a string of one-liners like "nice beaver" as his girlfriend, played by Priscilla Presley, stood above him on a ladder clutching a stuffed animal.
His character also beat up the Ayatollah Khomeini and scrubbed the birthmark from Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's head.
Nielsen went on to star in two sequels, The Naked Gun 2-1/2: The Smell Of Fear and The Naked Gun 33-1/3: The Final Insult.
But he also had a serious side, shown in Darrow, a one-man drama about the legendary "attorney for the damned" Clarence Darrow.
"I didn't want to go ahead and be pegged for doing only comedy, although comedy is burgeoning," he said in an interview in 1996.
"I'd like to see how far I can stretch and keep on doing 'dumb and stupid' (comedy) and drama and if possible be accepted at both.
"There's a line with an audience you can't always cross over. Sometimes, they only want to see you being funny."
Nielsen's wife Barbaree and friends were at his bedside when he died, his agent said.
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