Canadian actor Leslie Nielsen died yesterday of complications from pneumonia at the age of 84.
According to a family member he had recently been hospitalized in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the condition and passed away quietly Sunday afternoon surrounded by friends and family.
Having been too young to have seen Airplane! in theaters when it had been released, I had become a fan since the release of Naked Gun.
Though I was aware of him as an actor on television, most of the rolls I had known him for while growing up was for his dramatic portrayals of top ranking police officers and military brass. And Police Squad had been canceled within a few episodes in 1982 so this series basically flew below my radar until the release of the Naked Gun film in late 1988.
I of course now own all of the series on DVD, television episodes included. But I still occasionally watch Naked Gun on American television for the hilarious deleted scenes that have yet to have been released on DVD.
This series has unfortunately not been released on blu-ray and it appears that only The Naked Gun – From the Files of Police Squad!
has decided to have both a Black Friday sale and Cyber Monday sale. 