Comedian returning home to host fundraiser It may be only fitting that the man who portrays bungling cop Lieut. Frank Drebin on the big screen, will guest-host a fundraiser for an aptly named charity called the Odd Squad. Leslie Nielsen, the 79-year-old Canadian-born actor who portrays Drebin in Hollywood's Naked Gun franchise, did not hesitate when he was asked to guest host Through a Blue Wall. The event, a fundraiser for Vancouver's Odd Squad, runs Thursday night at the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel. The Odd Squad is a non-profit society made up of five Vancouver Police officers dedicated to creating awareness about issues affecting the community through multimedia materials. "I feel very proud to be a part of it because I think it's such a wonderful step forward," Nielsen told The Record over the telephone from his Arizona home. "I came to help because I believe in what they are doing. You can believe a police officer, but this is above and beyond the call." In March 1998, seven Vancouver Police Department members, all working the Downtown Eastside beat, decided to make an educational video for youth on drug abuse and educate the public about issues affecting the community. The National Film Board came on board and the result was an educational video called Flipping the World. The NFB also decided to produce a one-hour documentary entitled Through a Blue Lens, profiling the unique relationship between the police and addicts. Nielsen watched the documentary, was touched by what he saw and believes in the importance of the work the police officers are doing. "You just end up thinking," said Nielsen of the impact of the film. "One of the things that crossed my mind was how these guys pitched in their own money to buy a camcorder and record what was happening on the street." Nielsen said he has nothing but admiration for the five police officers who crossed the Thin Blue Line to raise awareness about the life on the streets on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. "I consider it a privilege to have a chance to talk to these guys. They are doing something that is so highly commendable, in my mind," said Nielsen. "There's always the gap (the Thin Blue Line) between the police department and the citizens, but these guys have served the people by going out to find you and seeing who you are." Nielsen believes that that sense of caring is what's missing in the lives of many of the people who live a life of addiction on the streets. As well, he said that kind of caring can mean the difference between a continued life of drug abuse, death and a new life. "If you treat people with respect, they finally get the idea that you might actually like them and that you might care about them," he said, adding, "the ultimate cure for pain is death." Nielsen comes from a long line of law enforcers. His father was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, one brother, Gordon, served in the Vancouver Police Department and his brother, Erik, held posts as minister of national defence and deputy prime minister. As well, he has a niece who serves as an RCMP member in Ottawa. "Conducting police work is familiar to all of us," said Nielsen. "But none of them did it the way I do it." Nielsen first played Drebin in the cult TV series Police Squad and later reprised the role in Naked Gun in 1988, Naked Gun 2: The Smell of Fear, 1991, and Naked Gun 33: The Final Insult, 1994. While he doesn't recommend fumbling and bumbling as the key to good police work, he does believe having a good sense of humour can only help. "I don't think you can be a good police officer without a sense of humour, because when you laugh at things together, you become brothers, you become family," said Nielsen. Nielsen was born in Regina but, because his father was an RCMP member, he had the opportunity to live all over the country, including much of his childhood in Tulita (formerly Fort Norman) in the Northwest Territories. A naturalized U.S. citizen, Nielsen has lived in Arizona fulltime for the past four years and "on and off" before that for 15 years. However, he still considers himself a Canadian. "There's no way you can be a Canadian and think you can lose it," said Nielsen. "There's an old saying that you can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy. "Canadians are a goodly group. They are very aware of caring and helping." Nielsen continues to remain busy in the film industry, Currently he's working towards a TV reality show and is looking into the possibility of another Naked Gun movie. The Through a Blue Wall gala event is slated for 6 p.m. Thursday (June 16) at the Wall Centre Hotel, 1088 Burrard St. in Vancouver. Individual tickets are $150, a gala table for 10 is $1,500, a corporate blue table is $5,000 and a royal blue table is $10,000. For more information, or for tickets to the fundraiser, visit www.odd squad.com or phone 604- 408-9945. posted on 06/16/2005 |
