How do you even begin to examine the life and career of Leslie Nielsen? Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back to this (Monday) morning and talk about my experience with the death of Leslie Nielsen.
So, this morning I got up to get ready to lifeguard at one of the schools I work at as a substitute. While I was doing my typical morning Facebook checks, I saw several status updates that talked about Leslie Nielsen passing away. I guess I haven't kept up with the news as much as I should because I had no idea there was any concerns about Leslie. In fact, the last I'd heard about him, was a movie I made sure to avoid: Mr. Magoo.
Don't get me wrong, I love Leslie Nielsen and most of the comedy work that he's done, but there were definitely some mistakes in his later career. Again though, I should admit that I haven't seen most of the movies I thought weren't going to be any good. I like to know my comedy will be more than just a string of jokes with no delivery. No, I don't doubt Leslie, but I do have some doubts about the people with him in the movie.
The interesting thing that I learned since this morning is that Leslie Nielsen had an entire career long before he stepped on the set of "Airplane." Even more interesting is that he was actually working as a serious actor in some pretty impressive roles. In fact, he was supposed to have a serious part in "Airplane" rather than comedy gold according to some of the reports I've heard.
So one last thought from tonight's story about this comedic superstar. "Leslie Nielsen didn't make jokes, he made indelible comic moments." ABC Nightly News.
So that's my opinion, and if you don't agree with it, then you don't know comedy.
I heard today on NPR that Leslie grew up in a genuine log cabin with dirt floor, and went on to study modern dance.
ReplyDelete