Frank Drebin
| Frank Drebin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First appearance |
A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise) |
| Last appearance | Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult |
| Created by | Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker |
| Portrayed by | Leslie Nielsen |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Locksmith |
| Aliases |
Tony De'Wonderful[1] Locksmith Bob Kelly[2] Enrico Pallazzo Nick "The Slasher" McGuirk |
| Occupation | Police officer |
| Title | Sergeant Frank Drebin, Detective Lieutenant Police Squad |
| Spouse(s) | Jane Spencer-Drebin |
| Children | Unnamed boy, with Jane[3] |
Frank Drebin is a fictional character in the Police Squad! series and the Naked Gun movies played by Leslie Nielsen.[4] In December 2013, it was announced that Ed Helms would star as the character in a reboot of the Naked Gun film franchise. In 2008, Drebin was selected by Empire Magazine as one of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.[5] In 2000, TV Guide named him to its list of the 25 greatest TV detectives, ranking him # 23.[6] He was also named by UGO.com as one of The 100 Best Heroes of All Time.[7]
Character overview
Frank Drebin is a member of Police Squad, a special department of the police force, where he served for many years. In the original TV series, he is a competent (although extremely strait-laced) police officer, who plays the straight man to the wacky comedy going on around him. In the subsequent films, he is changed to a more comic figure; he is known for being a bumbling fool, causing lots of problems, often more than he solves, but being entirely oblivious to it all. In the TV Series, he treats his colleagues and people that he helps with respect and shows pity for the latter, although he sometimes unintentionally causes them a bit of grief. In the film unlike people such as his friend who he works under, Captain Ed Hocken (Alan North/George Kennedy), he is a very indiscreetly and unsympathetically outspoken man, therefore tending to appear cold and insensitive towards people, not to mention cynical. He just as well lacks having pity and compassion towards struggling individuals when they need it, and having any of it when conversing with officials who confront him about his mistakes. While he works under Ed, in Police Squad, he works with Norberg (Peter Lupus). In the Naked Gun series, he works with Nordberg (O.J. Simpson). Drebin has held the rank of Sergeant and Lieutenant Detective.
He and Ted Olson are the only characters that appeared in both Police Squad! and the Naked Gun films and were portrayed by the same actor.[8]
References
- ↑ "Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh)". Police Squad!. Season 1. Episode 6. 1982-07-08. ABC.
- ↑ "Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment)". Police Squad!. Season 1. Episode 2. 1982-03-11. ABC.
- ↑ Last scene from "The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult"
- ↑ Vincent Canvy, Peter M. Nichols, and A. O. Scott, The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made (Macmillan, 2004), 687.
- ↑ "Empire's The 100 Greatest Movie Characters". Empire Magazine. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
- ↑ TV Guide Book of List. Running Press. 2007. p. 219. ISBN 0-7624-3007-9.
- ↑ "UGO's 100 Best Heroes of All Time". UGO.com. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
- ↑ In the films Ed was portrayed by George Kennedy and Nordberg by O.J. Simpson, Johnny and Lincoln both didn't return in the films
External links
- Frank Drebin at the Internet Movie Database
- Police Squad! at the Internet Movie Database
- The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! at the Internet Movie Database
- The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear at the Internet Movie Database
- The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult at the Internet Movie Database
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