A veteran of over eighty motion pictures and more than fifteen hundred television appearances, Leslie Nielsen had built a sturdy reputation portraying manly authority figures (including the Space Ship Commander in the sci-fi classic "Forbidden Planet" and the Captain of the ill-fated cruise ship in "The Poseidon Adventure") before he turned his image inside out with a hysterically funny deadpan performance as the loopy doctor in Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker's "Airplane!" (1980). He continued to team with the ZAZ comedy team on the TV series "Police Squad!," on which he originated the role of police Lt. Frank Drebin, which he re-created in Paramount Pictures' Christmas 1988 release, "The Naked Gun," in the studio's 1991 sequel, "Naked Gun 2 ," and again in "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult," released by Paramount in the Spring of 1994.
Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, the son of a Canadian Mounted Policeman, Nielsen spent his earliest years living near the Arctic Circle, coming south to Edmonton, Alberta when he and his brothers had to attend school. After graduation, he served as an aerial gunner in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Leslie made his entry into show business in a Calgary radio station where he worked as an engineer, disc jockey and announcer. He then studied acting at Lorne Greene's Academy of Radio Arts in Toronto, where he received a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. He studied there under Sanford Meisner, learned dancing with Martha Graham, and followed up with a season of summer stock and further training at the Actor's Studio.
His television career began in 1950 with a "Studio One" appearance with Charlton Heston, and he went on to act in 46 live programs that year in the very heart of what has become known as TV's Golden Age. "But there was very little gold," he maintains. "We only got about $75 or $100 per show."
Throughout the sixties and seventies Leslie was seen regularly on television in action series such as "Wagon Train," "The Fugitive," "The Virginian," "Cannon," "Kojak," "S.W.A.T." and "Vegas." He also starred in seven series of his own, including "The New Breed" (1961-62, as Lt. Price Adams), "Peyton Place" (1965-70, as Dr. Vincent Markham), "The Protectors" (1969-70, as Sam Danforth), "Bracken's World" (1970, as studio head John Bracken) and in the mini-series "Backstairs at the White House" (1979, as Ike Hoover).
The nephew of screen great Jean Hersholt, Leslie devotes much of his off-screen time to his second career as a loafer/golfer. "I have no goals or ambition," says Nielsen. "I do, however, wish to work enough to maintain whatever celebrity status I have so that they will continue to invite me to golf tournaments."
Nielsen need have no fears. In addition to an ever-growing multitude of film fans, he has become the duffer's hero, with a number of items conceived to make them feel better about themselves. Among these are Nielsen's best-selling golf videos, "Leslie Nielsen's Bad Golf Made Easier" (1993) and "Leslie Nielsen's Bad Golf My Way" (1994). In 1995 Doubleday published "Leslie Nielsen's Stupid Little Golf Book," which became a video of the same name in the summer of 1998 -- a reversal of the process by which his 1994 video became Doubleday's book version of "Leslie Nielsen's Bad Golf My Way" in June, 1996.
In the first tome, among other wisdoms, he cites his philosophy that golf is a game that can be taught. "Unfortunately," he concludes, "it cannot be learned."
Veteran of over 80 movies and thousands of TV appearances
