Hollywood actor Leslie Nielsen, who traded in his dramatic persona for inspired bumbling as the accident-prone detective Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun comedies, has died, aged 84.
The Canadian-born comic died from complications from pneumonia at a hospital near his Florida home at 5.34pm, surrounded by his wife, Barbaree, and friends, his agent John S. Kelly said in a statement.
"We are saddened by the passing of beloved actor Leslie Nielsen, probably best remembered as Lt. Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun series of pictures, but who enjoyed a more than 60-year career in motion pictures and television," said Kelly.
Neilsen's nephew, Doug Nielsen, told Canadian radio station CKNW the star had been ill for nearly a fortnight.
"Leslie's been in the hospital now for a number of days, approximately 12 days and just in this last 48 hours the infection has just gotten too much," Doug Nelsen said.
"Today at 5.30 with his friends and wife Barbaree by his side he just fell asleep and passed away."
Nielsen came to Hollywood in the mid-1950s after performing in 150 live television dramas in New York. With a craggily handsome face, blond hair and 6-foot-2 height, he seemed ideal for a movie leading man.
Drebin, it Looks like his cows have come home to roost.
Drebin, it Looks like his cows have come home to roost.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
