Forbidden Planet
Back in his serious leading man days, Nielsen played spaceship captain John J. "J.J." Adams, leading a rescue expedition to a colony on Altair IV. Sure, he had to deal with robots and invisible monsters, but there were moments of levity in his interactions with the uninhibited teenage daughter of the colony's sole survivor.

Airplane
The role that changed the course of his career, Nielsen was lampooning his own serious roles, like that of the ship's captain in The Poseidon Adventure, with his performance as the deadpan Dr. Rumack. So, so many great quotes. "I am serious, and don't call me Shirley." "I just wanted to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you."

Police Squad!
Before the Naked Gun films, Police Squad! was a short-lived TV series on ABC. Many of the jokes were recycled for the films, but the show's half-hour lampooning of 1960s crime procedurals was sheer brilliance, so naturally it only lasted six episodes. Ain't that always the way? Nielsen's clueless, tactless Frank Drebin may be a movie icon now, but he should have been a TV icon years before.

Repossessed
As the stand-in for Max Von Sydow in this parody of The Exorcist (starring original exorcism recipient Linda Blair), Nielsen plays Father Mayii, lured out of retirement for a televised rematch with the Devil, Rocky-style. Classic Nielsen, and much more worth your time than Dracula: Dead and Loving It.

Scary Movie 3 and 4
I know, I know, there's only so much Anna Faris and Charlie Sheen one can take, but you'd do well to just fast-forward over the non-Nielsen parts to see him as a Drebin-esque president who punches people he thinks might be aliens and refuses to abandon a children's book in the face of an emergency.

What's your favorite Leslie Nielsen movie? It's Spy Hard, isn't it? I knew it. Let us know below, then check out our holiday movie preview!