Tag Archives: nielsen

‘Airplane!’ and ‘Naked Gun’ producer/writer/director pays tribute to the actor, who died Sunday. By Gil Kaufman Leslie Nielsen Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/ Getty Images Relationships of Hollywood movie sets tend to be shallow, short-lived and mostly a put-on. But when producer/writer/director David Zucker, his brother, Jerry, and their partner Jim Abrahams cast Leslie Nielsen in their 1979 disaster spoof “Airplane!,” they had no idea that they would not only provide a second life to a hard-working actor’s career, but gain a true friend in the process. (For photos of the late actor throughout his career, click here.) David Zucker penned a loving tribute to Nielsen — who died on Sunday at age 84 due to complications from pneumonia — for the Hollywood Reporter on Monday, paying homage to a man he said he was barely aware of when he cast him in the classic comedy, but who came to be one of his favorite people. “It was summer 1979, a full three weeks before the start of shooting for ‘Airplane!’ and our casting director had finally had enough. Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, Peter Graves and now Leslie … who?” Zucker said of the career actors who’d been tapped to lampoon their on-screen personas for the film. “At least audiences had heard of the first three, but this guy — it was true, when it came time to select an actor to play Dr. Rumack, my brother Jerry, Jim Abrahams and I remembered: ‘This one guy, he’s been in hundreds of television shows, and I think he played the captain of the Poseidon. What’s his name?’ Our research revealed that the actor’s name was Leslie Nielsen. Jim, Jerry and I were thrilled when he agreed to meet, not because he was ‘funny’ but because of his long r