Eternally white-haired king of the spoof Leslie Nielsen passed away yesterday at the age of 84, due to complications from pneumonia. His best-known roles varied from the science-fiction classic Forbidden Planet to Airplane!, the king of all cinematic parodies; through that movie, he helped start a movement that eventually led to terrible parody-genre films like Scary Movie, along with its umpteen sequels, and Vampires Suck, but none of them have been able to capture his deadpan delivery, charming wit and undeniable charisma. Even his autobiography, Naked Truth, rivals James Frey in its truth-bending: It details an affair with Elizabeth Taylor, his "two Academy Awards" and other nonsense, but captures his persona in a way no real autobiography ever could.
5. Farts on a morning show
This scene proves once and for all that Nielsen was funny even when he didn't have a script. You have to give credit to the hosts for playing along, too, especially the gal that's out in the field at the end.
4. Enrico Palazzo sings the National Anthem - Naked Gun
It seems like a goofy spoof scene at first, until you realize that Nielsen sings the National Anthem about as well as you could.
3. "I'm a locksmith" - Police Squad!
This is the type of deadpan delivery that Nielsen was best known for. It's all about interpreting comments literally and cracking wise in the same way the best dads can.
2. Baseball scene - Naked Gun
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Baseball is a weird sport to watch if you don't really know what's going on. The above scene is like some wacky interpretation by people who've never seen the sport, all while playing into the game's penchant for cheating. Of course, the whole steroid-abuse thing had not kicked in yet, so it's filled with nods to old-school cheating methods.
1. "Don't call me Shirley." - Airplane!
It's just classic. Plain and simple. So classic that nearly every obituary has used the line somewhere.
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