Remembering Leslie Nielsen

We lost another legendary actor earlier this week. Comedic actor Leslie Nielsen passed away Sunday of pneumonia at the age of 83.

In seeing tributes to him earlier in the week, I was surprised to see that he had done multiple serious roles. In fact, he had many roles of such a nature before the classic comedy Airplane! and the Naked Gun movies came along, which evolved from the short-lived Police Squad!. Roles on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Bonanza, and Hawaii Five-O.

Leslie also appeared on many game shows over the years, including Match Game, Beat the Clock, Password All-Stars, and Celebrity Bowling. The final game show appearance was on the Game Show Marathon in 2006. I really enjoyed his playing of Press Your Luck on that.

My favorite television role of Leslie’s hands down has to be his role as Blanche’s uncle and soon to be Dorothy’s love interest Lucas Hollingsworth on the series finale of The Golden Girls. That was a really great casting choice; he and Bea Arthur really clicked in their scenes.

Surely he’ll rest in peace. Oh, sorry, I couldn’t call him Shirley. Rest in peace, Leslie.