Jim Abrahams, Filmmaker Behind ‘Airplane!’ and ‘Naked Gun,’ Dead at 80

Jim Abrahams, one of the creative minds behind such comedies as Airplane!, three Naked Gun movies, and the TV series Police Squad!, died November 26, 2024, at his Santa Monica, California home, Deadline reports. He was 80 years old.

Abrahams was born May 10, 1944, in Shorewood, WI. He grew up with the brothers David and Jerry Zucker, and the trio — often referred to as “ZAZ” — got their start in Hollywood with The Kentucky Fried Movie. Written by ZAZ and directed by John Landis, the film consists of a series of crude, sometimes offensive vignettes — something which, by modern standards, could never be made today. Abrahams and the Zucker brothers appeared in the movie alongside James Bond actor George Lazenby, Donald Sutherland, and The Incredible Hulk star Bill Bixby, among others.

The trio got their big break in 1980 with Airplane!, a send-up of ’70s disaster flicks like Airport and The Poseidon Adventure. Starring Leslie Nielsen, Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Robert Stack, Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and a host of hilarious cameos, Airplane! was a critical and commercial success, and it’s one of the most beloved comedies ever made. It received a BAFTA Award nomination for best screenplay, a Golden Globe nomination for best motion picture comedy or musical, and a Writers Guild Award for best comedy adapted from another medium (many don’t realize Airplane! is a loose and very silly remake of the 1957 action film Zero Hour!).

A Career Rich in Comedy

In 1982 — the same year as Airplane 2: The Sequel hit theaters — Abrahams and the Zucker brothers unleashed Police Squad! onto unsuspecting television viewers. Starring Nielsen as Los Angeles cop Frank Drebin, the series was ultimately canceled after six episodes, but it would lead to perhaps the biggest hit of all for ZAZ, the 1988 film The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! Nielsen returned for the big-screen re-imagining of the series, which also starred Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, and, infamously, O.J. Simpson. The film generated two sequels — The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear in 1991 and The Naked Gun 33⅓ in 1994 — and grossed more than $216 million globally.

ZAZ also produced Top Secret!, a spoof of spy films starring Val Kilmer and Omar Sharif, as well as Ruthless People, starring Bette Middler and Danny DeVito. On his own, Abrahams created the comedies Mafia! (a take on The Godfather and other pictures about organized crime), and the two Hot Shots films, the first lampooning Top Gun, the second Rambo. He re-teamed with David Zucker for Scary Movie 4. In a career departure in 1191, however, Abrahams directed the quirky dramedy Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael, starring Winona Ryder and Jeff Daniels.

Abrahams is survived by his wife of nearly 50 years, Nancy Cocuzzo; sons Joseph and Charlie; daughter Jamie; and three grandchildren. Rest in peace to an absolute legend and voice of a comedy generation.