Goofball Actor Leslie Nielsen Dies at 84

Canadian actor Leslie Nielsen died on Sunday evening in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. at the age of 84. He died in a hospital near his home from complications from pneumonia.

Nielsen, though broadly acclaimed for his comic roles, began his career in the 1950s with a variety of dramatic roles. He starred in the science fiction film Forbidden Planet as a spaceship captain and in The Poseidon Adventure as a sea captain. But it was his 1980 role in the comedy Airplane! that revived his career as a comedic actor. Nielsen was perhaps best known for the four-film Naked Gun franchise, in which he played Lt. Frank Drebin.

Nielsen was born in 1926 in Regina, Saskatchewan, one of three sons to an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. After the war, where he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force, he worked as a disc jockey in Calgary before going to New York and beginning his career in live television. Nielsen was married four times and had two daughters with his second wife, Sandy Ullman. His last wife, Barbaree Earl, survives him, as do daughters Maura and Thea. –AMY LEE