By Martin Millerchip Contributing Writer IF I had to take my choice, if I was being pushed and forced between comedy and drama, T would say ‘I'll take comedy’ because I enjoy it so much and have such a good time.” Somehow it’s not surprising, that Leslie Nielsen would go for the laughs. Ever since Nielsen played the ridiculous Doctor Rumack in the 1980 movie Airplane! and followed it up with Lt. Frank Drebin in the tele- vision series Police Squad it’s hard to remember he spent 20 years playing authority figures in countless televi- sion shows and dozens of movies that included Forbidden Planet, The Poseidon Adventure and Peyton Place. “What happens with the young generation is that they’ve never seen me do anything but comedy,” says Nielsen ruefully from his hotel room in Ottawa where he is performing at the National Arts Centre. He’s in the middle of a Canadian tour of David W. Rintels’ one-man play Clarence Darrow that opens at Centennial Theatre Nov. 6 for five performances. He’s been to Vancouver before, indeed he has “nephews and nieces and brothers all over,” but he’s only crossed Lions Gate Bridge a few times and asks about the size and ambience of the Centennial. Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, the son of an RCMP officer, Nielsen spent his earliest years living near the arctic circle before moving to Edmonton when he and his brothers had to attend school. After graduation, he served as an aerial gunner in the Royal Canadian “It was always my intention to do Darrow again and do it in Canada,” says Nielsen, so last year he bought the exclusive rights to the play and has embarked on a leisurely schedule that gives him time to get home to L.A. for golf berween gigs. Nielsen is delighted that his popu- larity in Germany means a European tour of Darrow is on the cards. Asked if there are other dramatic roles he would prefer to the popular silli- ness of The Naked Gun ilk, Nielsen picks Willie Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, But he’s not looking to deny his comic reputation. “At this stage of the game I’m real- ly not trying to prove anything. “If anything, I’m maybe trying tc prove something to myself but not to anybody else. I’ve done too many serious picces.” Nielsen describes Darrow as “a remarkable man in all his shining glory” who stood for justice and clemency. In a 60-year career Darrow defend- ed 104 people facing the death penal- ty, including thrill-killers Leopold and Loeb. Not a single one was executed. He gave up a promising corporate career to defend Eugene Debs for his role in the violent Pullman Strike of 1894 and spent the rest of his life championing the cause of the hape- less, When he died in 1938 the funeral arlor where he lay was forced to stay open for 48 hours as thou-. sands of blacks, workingmen, homeless and unemployed filed past to pay their respects to the one man who = had never said no to Air Farce. : : BAe a ce i : oe Sy; them. His brother Erik rose through the Photo submitted : i For information Tory ranks to become Deputy Prime LESLIE Nielsen (above) is currently in the middle of a Canadian tour of David W. and reservations to Minister. Rintels’ one-man pley Clarence Darrow, which opens at North Van’s Centennial Clarence Darrow Nielsen saw Henry Fonda play Theatre Wednesday for five performances. Nielsen saw Henry Fonda play Darrow call the Centennial Darrow and got a brief crack at the and got 2 brief crack at the role before Airplane! and vowed he would one day do Theatre box office role before Airplane! ST. ANDREWS: The image of this old town is one of obses- sive golfers on windswept links; only partly true howev- er, for there is more to St. Andrews than meets the eye. Air shows, for example. St. Andrews is just a mile or two south of the Royal Air Force fighter base at Leuchars, The best aerobatic show Pve ever seen was by an RAF Phantom right over the beach at St. Andrews. The beaches are superb, and who can forget the epic scene from Chariots of Fire shot on the West Sands? And although the water is a little on the cold side swimmers can do laps all the way to Norway. Historians are ecstatic here. The town was founded in the 4th century, so the story goes, it again — and in Canada. by the Greek monk St. Regulus who brought with him the bones of St. Andrew, eventually to become the patron saint of Scotland. St. Andrews became the nation’s most important ecclesiastical and pil- grimage centre and a cathedral was built in 1160, followed soon after- wards by a castle for the bishop. Why a clergyman would need a castle became clear in the 16th century when the reformation swept Scotland. This was nor well received by the ruling Roman Catholics, who unsportingly burned reformers ar the stake, includ- ing George Wishart in 1546. The Protestants retaliat- ed by seizing, Cardinal Beaton as he slept with his mistress and hanged him from a tower of the castle. The most excitement the old town of 11,000 sees these days is an Open golf championship or a student Rag Week. Students say it's a wonderful place to spend a few years with a social life second only to Oxbridge. The school’s residences include Hamilton Hall, an imposing red sand- stone building overlooking the 17th green of the Old Course, built by a rich American who wanted to upstage the Royal & Ancient Golf Club after it turned him down. And then there is golf, which start- ed if not here, certainly on this coast, in the 15th Century. That’s why many a modem pilgrimage ends here, and preferably at the Old Course Hotel. There is not a hotel in the world to match the location, so close to the famous 17th “road hole” that a good drive bends over the roof. Many who don’r get the fade right end up in the horel’s lily pond. J checked in just after the King and Queen of Malay Jack Nicholson and Michael Douglas had just been here. Regardless of who you are, howev- er, there is a routine here if you want to play the Old Course (green fees See Exercise page 20 at 984-4484, rinecr ee a 9, sess Photo David Wishart OLD Course Hotel GM Patrick Elsmie stands outside the Jigger Inn in St. Andrew's. The top-floor Grill, writes David Wishart, is one of the best restaurants in Scotland.