Beloved Canadian actor Leslie Nielsen has died at 84 from complications due to pneumonia, according to various news reports.
Nielsen, who was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, but was raised in the Northwest Territories, might be best known for his spoof comedies that started with “Airplane” in 1980 and continued with “The Naked Gun” series as well as other oddball comedies. These earned him the nickname “the Olivier of Spoof,” as Roger Ebert once pegged him.
Nielsen’s signature timing and double entendres were unforgettable and he’ll be sorely missed. According to Wikipedia, work had begun on a fourth installment of “The Naked Gun,” which was supposed to be released in 2012. Nielsen told the BBC in May that he’s “heard about” plans for the fourth film in the franchise but that he was “not involved in it.”
Nielsen began acting in the 1950s and has more dramatic roles in “Forbidden Planet” and “The Poseidon Adventure” before turning to comedy.
He remained active until very recently, performing on stage and voicing animated characters.
“I’m afraid if I don’t keep moving, they’re going to catch me … I am 81 years old and I want to see what’s around the corner, and I don’t see any reason in the world not to keep working,” Nielsen told the Vancouver Sun in 2007 (according to Wikipedia). “But I am starting to value my down time a great deal because I am realizing there might be other things to do that I am overlooking.”
Here are a couple of our favorite Nielsen moments:
Another American icon who was actually born in Canada passed this week when the legendary Art Linkletter died at 97.
No caused of death was released, according CBC.ca, but Linkletter did suffer a stroke in 2008. The former host of “House Party” and “People Are Funny” became known for his trademark segments that became known as “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” Check one out below:
Linkletter was born July 17, 1912, in Moose Jaw, Sask., to an unwed mother who put him up for adoption. At the age of 7 he moved to San Diego, Calif., with his adoptive family and his broadcast career began when he got a part-time radio job while attending San Diego State University.
Canada and Hollywood lost one of its ’80s heroes this morning when 38-year-old Corey Haim was pronounced dead in the early morning hours after an apparent drug overdose.
I have to admit, I’ve spent a few weekend afternoons watching self-made marathons of “The Two Coreys” On Demand, and it was at once entertaining, uncomfortable and heartbreaking to watch Haim — who his longtime friend and occasional foe Corey Feldman called a “tortured soul” — try to regain his footing in life and in acting.
The Toronto native was just about 15 years old when he starred with Winona Ryder and Charlie Sheen in “Lucas,” and “The Lost Boys” followed the next year, setting off a string of movies with Feldman for which Haim would forever be known.
For more on Haim and a wonderful, complete obituary, visit CBC.ca.
The world lost renowned Canadian folk singer Kate McGarrigle on Monday, after she lost her three-year battle with sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that affects connective tissue.
McGarrigle was most famous for performing with her sister Anna as the McGarrigle Sisters, whose hits included “Heart Like a Wheel,” and was the mother of musicians Rufus Wainright and Martha Wainright, whom she had with her ex-husband Loudon Wainright III.
Some fantastic tributes to McGarrigle have already been written, including this thorough obituary from CBC.ca.
Check out the videos below to watch the McGarrigle sisters perform “Heart Like a Wheel,” and to watch Rufus Wainright sing “Beautymark,” a song about his mother.
Beloved Canadian actor Leslie Nielsen has died at 84 from complications due to pneumonia, according to various news reports.
The world lost renowned Canadian folk singer Kate McGarrigle on Monday, after she lost her three-year battle with sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that affects connective tissue.
