Canadian comic actor Leslie Nielsen, star of a string of madcap spoof movies including "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun," died of complications from pneumonia in Florida on Sunday, a spokesman said. He was 84. Nielsen is probably best known for playing the bumbling cop Lieutenant Frank Drebin in the "Naked Gun" franchise, but enjoyed a movie and television career spanning more than 60 years.
The spokesman said Nielsen died in a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, surrounded by his wife, Barbaree, and friends at 5:34 pm EST (2234 GMT). Born on February 11, 1926, in Regina, Saskatchewan, the son of a Canadian mounted policeman, Nielsen served stints as an aerial gunner in the air force and as a radio disc jockey before studying acting in Toronto and then in New York City. He got his first big break in 1950 with a "Studio One" television appearance, and came to Hollywood in 1954 to star in the film "The Vagabond King" for "Casablanca" director Michael Curtiz.