| Frank Drebin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First appearance | |
| Last appearance | |
| Created by | Jerry Zucker,Jim Abrahams, andDavid Zucker |
| Portrayed by | Leslie Nielsen |
| In-universe information | |
| Alias | Tony De'Wonderful[1] Bob Kelly[2] Enrico Pallazzo Nick "The Slasher" McGuirk "Weird Al" Yankovic Phil Donahue |
| Title | |
| Occupation | Police officer |
| Spouse | Jane Spencer-Drebin |
| Children | Frank Drebin Jr. |
Frank Drebin is a fictional character in thePolice Squad! television series andThe Naked Gun movies played byLeslie Nielsen.[3]
The character of Frank Drebin was introduced in "A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)", the first episode of the 1982 comedy seriesPolice Squad! that aired onABC. Drebin is a police officer with the rank of detective lieutenant and is a member of the Police Squad task force. The show was cancelled after four episodes, though two more were broadcast later.[4][5]
Liam Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr. inThe Naked Gun, released in August 2025.[6] The late Frank Drebin Sr appears in a photograph at Police Squad and later in the form of an owl to help his son.
Leslie Nielsen features in 1990TV adverts for the Englishcider producerTaunton Cider Company'sRed Rock Cider brand playing a character identified in at least one as "Lt. F. Drebin".[7]
Leslie Nielsen had mostly serious roles until the movieAirplane! (1980). DirectorDavid Zucker preserved this by having Nielsen play thestraight man. Zucker based his character onLee Marvin andClint Eastwood, while scriptwriterPat Proft wrote all of Drebin's lines with nothing being improvised.[8] The character's surname Drebin was picked randomly by Zucker from a phonebook.[9]Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker felt that Leslie Nielsen would be perfect for the role, as he had previously acted in many of the types of serious roles that the trio were parodying.[10]
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Frank Drebin has been described as a "detective with a heart of gold and a brain of wood" and as "an anachronism, a detective who's unaware of how out of time (and out of his depth) he really is."[11] Frank Drebin is a member of the Police Squad, a special department of thepolice force, where he served for many years. In the original TV series, he is a competent police officer who plays thestraight man in the unique comedy going on around him. He is transformed into a more comical character in the subsequent films. He is renowned for his inept nature, which results in numerous issues, frequently more than he resolves, despite his complete ignorance of them. He consistently demonstrates respect for his associates and those he assists in the television series, despite occasionally inadvertently causing them some distress. In the film, unlike people such as his friend under whom he works, 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, and cynical. He just as well lacks having pity and compassion towards struggling individuals when they need it. Also having any of it when conversing with officials who confront him about his mistakes. All of this may be due to the news Frank receives from Ed in the first film: His dedication to police work has caused his wife to leave him for an Olympic gymnast, and she is now having "the best sex she's ever had."[12] While he works under Ed, in thePolice Squad, he works with Norberg (Peter Lupus). In theNaked Gun series, he works with Nordberg (O. J. Simpson). Drebin has held the ranks of Sergeant and Lieutenant Detective.
In 2008, Drebin was selected byEmpire magazine as number 55 onThe 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time,[13] as well as 74 on their newer 2019 list.[14] In 2000,TV Guide named him to its list of the 25 greatest TV detectives, ranking him #23.[15] He was also named by UGO.com as one ofThe 100 Best Heroes of All Time.[16] Ryan Lambie onDen of Geek argues that, "Nielsen's performance is so perfect because he plays the role of the clumsy, clueless detective almost entirely straight; the situations in which Drebin finds himself may be absurd, but the character at the center of them is entirely serious" and that with his deadpan portrayal, Nielsen's character could very well have been taken straight out of one of the more serious 1960s or 1970s television series.[11]
| Police Squad! | |
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| Films | |
| Related | |
