Leslie Nielsen passed away on November 28th.
He starred in two Kraft Suspense Theatre episodes - One Step Down (# 1.06) and The Green Felt Jungle (# 2.20).
The online eulogies discuss many of his roles over the decades, including The Forbidden Planet, but I have seen none that mention KST. (Click here to see the connection between Forbidden Planet and KST.)
For today's writers to ignore KST in this way is consistent with my post almost six months ago, in which I identified numerous KST actors whose biographies ignore KST while focusing on less consequential roles on Star Trek. Click here for more discussion of KST's relative obscurity.
Nielsen achieved tremendous fame in his career. It is my hope that fame of the type that Nielsen and other KST actors achieved will eventually shine a brighter spotlight on KST.
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Better late than never for this: I've seen both Leslie Nielsen Kraft Theater entries and enjoyed them. The Green Felt Jungle seemed the better, more suspenseful of the two. Nielsen was totally serious in it and one would never guess his comic potential from his performance as a hard driven public prosecutor in this one. It was work at the level of many of the better young or youngish actors of the period,--Robert Lansing and Mark Richman are two names that spring to mind--and Nielsen, while not so charismatic as Lansing was in his way just as good a dramatic actor.
ReplyDeleteOne Step Down was rather a soaper with some tense moments, though decent for what it is. It had less suspense than the other one; and I got the impression that, given the subject matter (adultery) it was geared more to female viewers. Gena Rowlands was good as Nielsen's wife, though quite frankly, and with all due respect, while I find her a capable performer, and highly attractive, she's never wowed me as an actress. There were some good supporting players in the episode, too, although no actor and no one scene really impressed me all that much. Okay, but, as the saying goes, nothing to write home about.