Tony Earnshaw: Timing and delivery – the star qualities of Leslie Nielsen

The master of the sophomoric punch line with the deadpan delivery is no more.

Yet while Leslie Nielsen has gone to that giant sound stage in the sky, I can't help but smile at the mere memory of his crumpled, gormless face.

Nielsen was a serious actor with 30 years' experience of movies and TV series when he was cast against type as Dr Rumack in Airplane! Initial doubts aside, it was an inspired choice and gave Nielsen, then 54, an entirely new career.

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The 84-year-old star died on Sunday. In tribute David Zucker, one third of the trio behind the Airplane! movies and others of that ilk, recalled with warmth and fondness his frequent collaborator in anarchy, madness and on-screen lunacy.

"Just like the scenes we put him in, he never broke character, never let on that he knew he was being funny," said Zucker.

It's been difficult these last few days saying farewell to an eclectic cast list of moguls, sex symbols, actors and directors. The sad roll call has included producer Dino De Laurentiis, scream queen Ingrid Pitt, Star Wars director Irvin (The Empire Strikes Back) Kershner and now Leslie Nielsen.

Even the thought of him takes me back to some seriously goofy, seminal modern comedy. Airplane! may have been the beginning but from that tight-knit ensemble of veteran stars – Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves and Nielsen – only Nielsen segued seamlessly into an entirely new (and unique) career.

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After Airplane! there followed the television series Police Squad! in 1982. The Naked Gun emerged in 1988, along with two sequels. There was the Exorcist spoof Repossessed in 1990, Surf Ninjas, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Spy Hard, Scary Movie 3 (and 4) and Superhero Movie.

Nielsen also cropped up in turkeys like 2001: A Space Travesty, and Stan Helsing. Often he'd lend a hand for a couple of days. Generally, his cameo appearance became the stand-out moment in the film.

As Zucker said, Nielsen played comedy with a straight face. It was an effortless part of his actor's toolkit and gave modern cinema some of its iconic lines of dialogue. This exchange between Rumack and Ted Striker (Robert Hays) in Airplane! is the one everyone quotes, and with good reason:

Rumack: "Can you fly this plane and land it?"

Striker: "Surely you can't be serious?"

Rumack: "I am serious. And don't call me Shirley."

Simple, effective and brilliant, and made all the more so by Nielsen's precision timing and delivery. It became a trademark in an incredible Indian summer that lasted three decades.

As Eric Morecambe would quip: "You'll miss me when I'm gone." And we will, Mr Nielsen, we will.