Mr. Speaker, Canada's pantheon of world-renowned comedic actors lost one of the great ones yesterday with the passing of Leslie Nielsen, brother of 30-year Yukon MP and deputy prime minister Erik Nielsen.
Born in Regina, Leslie Nielsen lived in Fort Norman, which is now known as Tulita, NWT, where his father was an RCMP officer, and later in Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto.
At 17 he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and trained as an aerial gunner.
Nielsen's acting career began in dramatic roles, including Forbidden Planet, The Swamp Fox and The Poseidon Adventure.
His real fame came later when he switched to comedy roles, including in the movies Airplane!, Police Squad, The Naked Gun, and as RCMP Sergeant Buck Frobisher on Due South.
Film critic Roger Ebert put it succinctly when he called Nielsen “the Laurence Olivier of spoofs”.
Nielsen appeared in over 100 films and 1,500 television programs, portraying 220 characters.
He was always deeply proud of his Canadian roots, once saying, “There's no way you can be a Canadian and think you can lose it”.
Leslie Nielsen was rightfully honoured with the Order of Canada in 2002.
Surely the world of cinema is greatly diminished with the loss of Leslie Nielsen, but as he would say, “don't call me Shirley”.