The most serious comedian...

This post is a tribute to one of the most talented comedian of our times, Leslie Neilsen, who passed away last day, leaving a lot of hearty laughs unlaughed forever.. Leslie Neilsen was appearing on screen since 1956, since five and a half decades, and was known for his serious roles till 1980, when he appeared in Airplane!, a spoof comedy, the first of its kind, and went on to appear in numerous roles mostly in movies of same genre, like his most famous Naked Gun series, Dracula- Dead and loving it and Spy Hard.  He used to call himself a closet comedian.

A spoof movie, if you have never watched one, is a movie that parodies other popular movies of the time, even copying scene by scene and giving a comic twist to the proceeding. Airplane! was the first notable movie of this genre and although Neilsen was not the protagonist of the movie, he stole the show, making his name synonimous with spoof movie genre. Spoof movies never get critical acclaim, but always garners lot of fans. After Neilsen acheived success, many popular actors started appearing in spoofs, the most notable being Charlie Sheen, who has acted in iconic movies like Platoon and action flicks like Terminal Velocity. Both have apperaed together in Scary movie third and fourth instalments. 

The funny part about this comedian, who started his career as a serious actor, is that he never left serious acting, even in spoofs. Majority of his scenes are acted with enough seriousness to pass off for a serious movie if not for the absurdity that surrounds him. Deadpan expression is perfected by Neilsen. I would like to call him the most serious comedian.    

Check out the iconic scene in Airplane!, he is serious and don't call him Shirley.

And the funny scenes from Naked gun series:

This is a horror spoof- Dracula: Dead and loving it: