Leslie Nielsen

He married four times in his lifetime. His partners include Monica Boyar, Alisande Ullman, Brooks Oliver and Barbaree Earl. In his four marriages, he fathered two daughters.

He was an avid fan of golf and loved playing the sport.

In 2010, he was hospitalized for treatment of pneumonia at the Florida hospital. A few days later, it was announced that he died in his sleep due to complications from pneumonia. He was interred at Fort Lauderdale's Evergreen Cemetery

Leslie Nielsen was born to Ingvard Everson Nielsen and Mabel Elizabeth in Regina, Saskatchewan. While his father was Danish, his mother was a Welsh immigrant. He had two brothers.

The ruthless attitude of his father, who was a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, led young Nelson to long for freedom right from his childhood. As such, right after completing education from Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts in Edmonton, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force.

At the Royal Canadian Air Force, he was trained as an aerial gunner during the latter part of World War II. Relieved from his duties, he took too working as a disc jockey in Alberta radio station in Calgary.

He then took up a course at the Lorne Greene Academy of Radio Arts in Toronto. It was while studying there that he received a scholarship to Neighborhood Playhouse.

Completing his course at the Neighborhood Playhouse, he studied at the Actor Studio. Subsequently he launched himself as an actor.

He made his television debut with an appearance in an episode of the tele-series, Studio One, alongside Charlton Heston. Thereafter, he was seen in the television show, Battleship Bismarck.

The decade of 1950s was a progressive period for him as he was seen in a number of live programs and shows. He appeared in more than 50 live shows and narrated several documentaries and commercials.

In the mid-1950s, he moved to Hollywood to make his mark on the big screen. Year 1956 proved to be an important one in his career graph as he launched himself in the film fraternity with the film, ‘The Vagabond King’. Though the film was barely successful, it earned him a role in the sci-fi film ‘Forbidden Planet’.

The success of ‘Forbidden Planet’ led him to sign up a long term contract with MGM. Other films that he was a part of the same year include ‘Ransom!’ and ‘The Opposite Sex’.

The following year, he was cast in the film, ‘Hot Sumer Night’. He then bagged a lead role opposite Debbie Reynolds in the romantic comedy ‘Tammy and the Bachelor’. The film broadened new horizons for him as he was considered both a dramatic actor and a romantic lead.

He received various awards in his lifetime for his contribution to cinema. Some of those include, UCLA’s Jack Benny Award, ACTRA Award of excellence and so on.

He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Furthermore, he was inducted into the Canada Walk of Fame.

In 1997, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.

In 2002, he was conferred with the title of Officer of the Order of Canada. The same year, he was named honorary citizen of West Virginia and an ‘Ambassador of Mountain State Goodwill’.

The following year, Grant MacEwan College named its School Of Communications after him.