He started as a square-jawed, straight leading man and morphed into the unparalleled lord of deadpan comedy, demonstrating that you could be funny simply by not cracking a smile. His body of work is one of the oddest and most charming career reversals in movie history—to go from noble space captains to the most lovably misguided sorts conceivable. If you ever wondered how he managed to do what he did, the following is a countdown of ten performances that illustrate Nielsen at his best.
10. Viva Knievel! (1977)
Before the trademark silver mane and comedy stardom, Nielsen showed up in his fair share of bad-guy roles. Here, in this raunchy Evel Knievel stunt film, he’s a dope-dealing heavy who gets up to his brand of high-octane shenanigans against the daredevil himself. The film is straight-up ’70s spectacle—bombastic, splashy, and a little bit absurd—with Nielsen scenery-chewing the thing to Gene Kelly.
9. The Reluctant Astronaut (1967)
Here in this Don Knotts sitcom, Nielsen is the straight man opposite Knotts’s bumbling wannabe astronaut. It’s a gentle, silly romp and an early glimpse of Nielsen’s comedic tastes before he became a full-fledged genre hound. He doesn’t deliver punchlines—he lays them up perfectly.
8. Prom Night (1980)
Yes, before Airplane! Getting his life back on track, Nielsen was still acting serious roles—like the strict high school principal in this horror classic. The movie itself is a cult classic and not necessarily a straight-up classic, but it is intriguing to see him in completely drama mode just before he started doing comedy.
7. Repossessed (1990)
A no-holds-barred spoof of The Exorcist, this includes Nielsen as Father Mayii—an unwilling demon-slayer forced into battle with Linda Blair’s devil-possessed housewife. The jokes are wild, irreverent, and not quite subtle, but Nielsen is fully committed to the goofiness in his fashion.
6. Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
Teaming up with Mel Brooks, Nielsen enters the cape of Dracula with a wink and a flourish. He crosses over classic vampire threat with slapstick, making the Count a masterclass of campy humor. It’s silly, yes—but that’s the point.
5. Wrongfully Accused (1998)
As concert violinist-turned-fugitive Ryan Harrison, Nielsen spoofs The Fugitive and practically every ’90s thriller in one go. Packed with rapid-fire gags, blink-and-you-miss-it sight jokes, and movie references, it’s a love letter to the parody genre he helped define.
4. Creepshow (1982)
Surprise—Nielsen could be menacing as easily as he could be comedic. In the “Something to Tide You Over” segment, he is a ruthless husband with icy deliberation. No pratfalls, no goofy faces—just a cold-blooded bad guy who shows Nielsen’s range was more than we recall.
3. Forbidden Planet (1956)
Here’s Nielsen as Hollywood initially cast him: the straight-laced sci-fi hero. Commander Adams commands one of the most groundbreaking science fiction films ever made. With its groundbreaking special effects and ominous electronic soundtrack, it’s a vintage movie hit—and Nielsen plays it straight.
2. Airplane! (1980)
One film. One role. Career reinvention. As Dr. Rumack, Nielsen forgoes corny one-liners straight-faced, rendering silliness into laugh gold. It’s the performance that made him a legend and provided the benchmark for all parody characters that subsequently came his way.
1. The Naked Gun Series (1988–1994)
Frank Drebin is not an actor—a cultural reference point. Throughout three movies (and the ill-fated Police Squad! TV series), Nielsen honed the formula for the clueless-but-totally-confident hero. The gags never cease, the parodies cut to the quick, and his unapologetic deadpan is the secret ingredient that makes them classic.
From space travelers to slapstick comedic detectives, Leslie Nielsen transformed himself in ways that few other actors ever have. Whether he was delivering a creepy menace or a perfectly timed one-liner, he played it deadpan—and for some reason, that made him one of the greatest comedic men to ever appear on screen.