When I was doing mornings at CISL I interviewed Leslie Nielsen, who was in town promoting his latest Naked Gun movie. He asked me to sit down and suddenly I discovered that I was making a loud noise provided by Leslie’s famous whoopee cushion.

I found him to be a warm and engaging man. He had a remarkable speaking voice which commanded attention on the big screen and over 1500 television appearances.

My first awareness of the actor came when I took in the sci-fi movie Forbidden Planet, loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Another Canadian from the Maritimes, the incredible Walter Pidgeon, played Morbius in the movie.

Leslie made the jump from dramatic roles to comedy in 1980’s Airplane! His deadpan doctor helped propel the movie to success and cult status. Here’s Leslie Nielsen at his best:

What makes this particularly personal is the fact that Leslie’s nephew, named after the star, has been a friend for 20 years. Les worked in radio for most of his career and we became friends at CISL when I was on the air and he was the number one sales person. My sympathy to the entire family. Leslie Nielsen was a special Canadian.