Update: The Vancouver Sun has confirmed Nielsen passed away due to complications of pneumonia.

One of the funniest men in showbizness passed away today, Mister Leslie Nielsen. Like many of you reading this article, I first saw Nielsen in the NAKED GUN series where he played Lt. Frank Drebin. According to Fox News, first news of Nielson passing away today broke on twitter. The cause of death hasn’t been confirmed, but the rumor is that it was due to complications of pneumonia.

From Fox News:

His nephew Doug Nielson, told CJOB that Leslie had been in the hospital in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for 12 days and that with family and friends by his side at 5:30pm Sunday “he just fell asleep and passed away.”

I met Nielson two years ago at Comic-Con when he was there promoting STAN HELSING. As expected, he was a very nice man, full of smiles and jokes. Hopefully we’ll meet again where I will, in fact, call him Shirley.