I’m a locksmith and I’m a locksmith

You cannot deny that when you heard the news of Leslie Nielsen’s death, you turned to whoever was beside you and said: ‘Surely you can’t be serious.’ Of course your partner in crime turned back to you and said, ‘I am, and don’t call me Shirley.’

I reckon the mark of true hilarity and genius is endless quotability… and that must surely be one of the most quoted lines ever.

I’m not sure if you knew he grew up in a fairly remote part of town, his dad was a Mountie and his ma was Welsh.

Anyway, the only other comic parts I can think of that are quoted as much are Napolean Dynamite and Anchorman.

So why was Leslie Nielsen so funny? Was it his background as a “serious actor?” He was in the Poseidon Adventure dontchaknow and even did a screen test for Ben Hur…

That surely (ha) came in handy for his hugely succesful comic career – when he brought those same serious characters attributes but delivered them with a knowingness that made it so hilarious.

So even though he made a few turkeys, (who hasn’t?) it’s easy to see why he’ll always be remembered as a comic legend. Here’s a few select quotable moments:

As the show stealer Dr. Rumack in Airplane!

A great anecdote I heard over the past few days was how fans used to approach him and say Leslie, a cigarette? ‘yes, I know.’ As the hapless Frank Drebin from Police Squad, he constantly gets a bit confused…

And of course that spawned the Naked Gun movies, which I watched over and over…

But more than that, he gives one of The Greatest Comic Lines and Delivery. Ever.