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Leslie Nielsen
| Biography |
Born in Western Canada, Leslie Nielsen spent his early childhood in the isolated Yukon Territories where his father, an officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, was stationed at Fort Nelson. When it came time for Leslie and his brother Eric to attend school, the family left the Territories for Edmonton, Alberta. Leslie graduated, then joined the Royal Canadian Air Force just at the close of World War II and ended up serving only for a year as an aerial gunner but the war ended before he went overseas. After his service, he found work as a disc jockey at a Calgary radio station and discovered that he had a flair for show business. But Leslie knew instinctively he had more to offer than just his voice and decided to move to Toronto where he enrolled in The Lorne Greene Academy of Radio Arts. It was here that he learned he had a real talent for acting. He was only in his early twenties when he left Toronto after receiving a scholarship to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. There, he took lessons in theatre and music, and performed in summer stock until 1948, when he landed his first television role in an episode of Studio One.
His next few years were busy as Leslie found roles in numerous live television programs. His television work brought him to the attention of Paramount Studios and he was soon signed to star in the 1954 film, The Vagabond King. At this time Leslie wanted to be a serious actor and he achieved success in films like 1956's Forbidden Planet, which also starred Walter Pidgeon, or, Tammy and the Bachelor a year later in 1957. Leslie Nielsen continued his serious work on both the big screen, 1965's Harlow comes to mind, as well as on the small screen turning up as guest star in series like Wagon Train, Kojak, or Peyton Place.
This serious phase lasted until 1980 when he signed on to play Doctor Rumack in the hilarious feature, Airplane! The world discovered Leslie Unbound. Behind all those years of serious work was a comic genius and he became known for his over-the-top characters in a series of films like 1990's Repossessed, or, Dracula: Dead and Leslie NielsenLoving It in 1996 and Spy Hard also in 1996.
Leslie had his own hit TV series when he starred as Frank Drebin in Police Squad, which earned him an Emmy nomination in 1982. He would go on to play the clueless detective three more times in the popular cop show parody The Naked Gun and its sequels. He received UCLA's Jack Benny Award for his comedic talents in 1995.
His latest television project, Liography is a spoof of the far too serious TV series, Biography. Leslie's biography includes the fact he has been married and divorced three times, and has two children from his second marriage.
Leslie Nielsen published his autobiography, The Naked Truth in 1993.
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