Franklin "Frank" Drebin is a
fictional character
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...
in the ''
Police Squad!
''Police Squad!'' is an American television crime comedy series that was broadcast on the ABC network in 1982. It was created by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, starring Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin. A spoof of police procedural ...
'' series and ''
The Naked Gun
''The Naked Gun'' media franchise, also known as ''Police Squad!'', consists of several American crime spoof-comedies, based on an original story written by the comedy filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. The installments include one te ...
'' movies played by
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen (11 February 192628 November 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters.
Nielsen was bo ...
.
Appearances
Television
The character of Frank Drebin was first introduced in the six episodes that were aired of the 1982 ''Police Squad!'' series on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
, starting with the episode "
A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)". In the show which parodied other television series about the police, as with the later films, he was written to be a police sergeant and detective lieutenant of the Police Squad task force. Due to the network's complaints that the episodes were written in a linear way which required some knowledge of events of previous episodes instead of being akin to a
procedural drama
A procedural or procedural drama is a cross-genre type of literature, film, or television program involving a sequence of technical detail. A documentary film may also be written in a procedural style to heighten narrative interest.
Television pro ...
where episodes are generally written to be self-containing, the show was cancelled after merely four episodes, though two more were broadcast later.
Film
* ''
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!'' (1988)
* ''
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear'' (1991)
* ''
Naked Gun : The Final Insult'' (1994)
Miscellaneous
Leslie Nielsen, playing the role, featured in 1990
TV adverts for the English
cider
Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and the Republic of Ireland. The UK has the world's highest per capita consumption, ...
producer
Taunton Cider Company
The Taunton Cider Company was a cider producer, based in Norton Fitzwarren, north west of the county town of Taunton, Somerset, England. The company is best known for being the developer and producer of Blackthorn Cider, now produced by Gaymer Cid ...
's
Red Rock Cider Red Rock Cider was an alcoholic beverage produced by Taunton Cider Company and sold in the UK during the late 1980s and early 1990s. This brewery grew significantly after WWII due to an increase in inventory orders from other brewing industries who ...
brand.
Conception
Leslie Nielsen had, up until his role in ''
Airplane!
''Airplane!'' (alternatively titled ''Flying High!'') is a 1980 American parody film written and directed by the brothers David and Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams in their directorial debuts, and produced by Jon Davison. It stars Robert Hay ...
'' (1980), been an actor known for doing serious roles throughout his lengthy career; director
David Zucker
David Samuel Zucker (born October 16, 1947) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Associated mostly with parody comedies, Zucker is recognized as the director and writer of the critically successful 1980 film ''Airplane!'' ...
preserved this by having Nielsen continue to act serious as Drebin with all the humour happening around and behind him. Zucker based his character on
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin (born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr.; February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and premature white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Alth ...
and
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
, while scriptwriter
Pat Proft
Pat Proft is an American comedy writer, actor, and director. Born in Minnesota in 1947, Proft began his career at Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis in the mid 1960s. He went on to perform as a one-man comedy act in the late 1960s. ...
wrote all of Drebin's lines, with nothing being improvised. The character's surname Drebin was picked randomly by Zucker from a phonebook.
Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker
Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker (abbreviated to ZAZ) were an American comedy filmmaking trio consisting of Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker who specialized in writing slapstick comedy films during the 1980s.
History
David Zucker, Jim ...
felt that Leslie Nielsen would be perfect for the role, as he had previously acted in many of the type of serious roles, in shows such as ''
The Bold Ones: The Protectors'' and ''
S.W.A.T.
In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...
'', that the trio were parodying.
Characterization
Frank Drebin has been described as a "detective with a heart of gold and a brain of wood" and "an anachronism, a detective who's unaware of how out of time (and out of his depth) he really is".
Frank Drebin is a member of Police Squad, a special department of the
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
force, where he served for many years. In the original TV series, he is a competent police officer, who plays the
straight man
The straight man is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically, the straight man is expected to maintain composure. The direct contribution to the ...
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 many 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 under whom he works, Captain Ed Hocken (
Alan North
Alan North (December 23, 1920 – January 19, 2000) was an American actor.
Early life
North was born in Bronx, New York, and joined the United States Navy during the Second World War.
Career
After the war, he became a stage manager and made ...
/
George Kennedy
George Harris Kennedy Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" opposite Paul Newman in ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), winning the Academ ...
), 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. 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". While he works under Ed, in ''Police Squad'', he works with Norberg (
Peter Lupus
Peter Nash Lupus Jr. (born June 17, 1932) is an American bodybuilder and actor. He is best known for his role as Willy Armitage on the television series '' Mission: Impossible'' (1966–1973).
Personal life
Lupus was one of three siblings born ...
). In the ''Naked Gun'' series, he works with Nordberg (
O. J. Simpson). Drebin has held the rank of Sergeant and Lieutenant Detective.
Reception
In 2008, Drebin was selected by ''
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' magazine as number 55 on ''The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time'', as well as 74 on their newer 2019 list. In 2000, ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' named him to its list of the 25 greatest TV detectives, ranking him #23. He was also named by UGO.com as one of ''The 100 Best Heroes of All Time''.
Ryan Lambie on ''
Den of Geek
''Den of Geek'' is a US and UK-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gan ...
'' 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.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Drebin, Frank
The Naked Gun
Comedy film characters
Comedy television characters
Fictional American police detectives
Fictional police lieutenants
Fictional police sergeants
Television characters introduced in 1982