which defined his career from when he starred in 1980's Airplane! to his passing in 2010 at 84. Celebrate the life of the master of deadpan by looking back on the most uproarious Leslie Nielsen ...

perhaps the most famous of which hails from “Airplane!”: “Surely, you can’t be serious.” “I am serious … and don’t call me Shirley.” ZAZ also spurred Leslie Nielsen’s rise to fame.

After the success of Airplane!, Nielsen stayed on with the directors ... As a testimonial to his comedic abilities, Leslie was the eighteenth recipient of UCLA's Jack Benny Award in 1995.

Leslie William Nielsen, OC (February 11 ... his deadpan delivery in Airplane! (1980) marked a turning point in his career, one that would make him, in the words of film critic Roger Ebert ...