"Who are you, and how did you get in here?"
"I'm the locksmith. And... I'm a locksmith."
-
I remember when Peter Graves died, I thought, 'maybe I should do obituarites on the blog' and I thought of Leslie Nielsen, his co-star in one of the best comedy films ever made, 'Airplane!'
I remember suddenly being hit by the mortality of the cast of the movie I had grown up on and studied, and wondering how I'd ever do justice to an actor as funny as Nielsen in an online obit. Very sad memory today.
He was an actor who truly mastered deadpan delivery, like Buster Keaton but sterner and with a sexy voice. He made very fine straight heroes and villains in his other movies, for the record.
Here's one of his best moments.
****
Knight here. Don't mean to hijack Buch's post, but I just wanted to toss in a bit of my own grief.
My first "Nielsen Experience" was during a little movie called The Poseidon Adventure. If you've never seen it, the film has been hailed as one of the greatest disaster films of all time. It's about a cruise ship out in the Atlantic that is struck by a rogue wave and capsizes. Mister Nielsen played the captain of that cruise ship, in one of the most serious roles you'll ever see him play. His reactions completely sold me on the horror of that situation, which is why it's so funny that he would eventually become, to me, one of the greatest comedy actors ever filmed.
Airplane is a masterpiece, in no small part because of Nielsen's contribution to it. As Buch pointed out, his complete deadpan delivery is masterful. The bit where the stewardess asks him if he's a doctor and he responds with a serious "That's right" with a stethoscope in his ears...I still crack up at that.
And he never really lost that ability to make you laugh no matter what role he played, and he was doing what he did best all the way up to his death. His performances made me laugh like no others have, and his good humor made me a fan for life.
So, I just wanted to tell you, "Thank You, Mister Nielsen," we're all counting on you.
No comments:
Post a Comment