Jim Abrahams, co-creator of Airplane! and The Naked Gun, dies aged 80 | comedy films

Jim Abrahams, the writer and director of the hit comedies Airplane! and The Naked Gun, has died at the age of 80.

According to his son Joseph, who confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter, he died of natural causes at his home in Santa Monica.

He worked with Jerry and David Zucker on a series of hit parodies, co-writing and co-directing Airplane! and co-author of The Naked Gun.

The team known as ZAZ made their film debut by writing the screenplay for 1977’s The Kentucky Fried Movie, a sketch comedy directed by John Landis.

“We started filming stuff ourselves and parodying commercials,” Abrahams said in 2023. “Nobody had cell phones back then, so we were unique – we had a video device.” We could film it and edit it and show it to other people and get their reactions. That was the school we went to.”

Then they made 1980’s Airplane!, a disaster comedy inspired by films like Zero Hour and Airport 1975. It grossed $171 million on a budget of just $3.5 million and has since been considered one of the greatest comedies of all time.

In 2020, Scott Tobias of the Guardian praised it on its 40th anniversary. “It’s strange. It’s unexpected. It’s absurd,” he wrote. “And there’s never a break for laughter, because there’s always one.”

“We saw how many things were taken seriously, especially in the media, on television and in films,” Abrahams later said. “Our instincts told us not to take this seriously.”

The team refused to take part in the sequel and instead created the 1982 television series Police Squad!, which starred Leslie Nielsen and was about police procedurals at the time. It received critical acclaim, but had poor ratings and was canceled after only six episodes were produced.

They then worked together on 1984’s Top Secret!, an action comedy starring Val Kilmer, and 1986’s Ruthless People, starring Danny DeVito and Bette Midler.

Abrahams directed Big Business, a comedy again starring Midler, before working with the Zucker brothers again in 1986 on The Naked Gun, a film based on Nielsen’s character from Police Squad!

It was a huge success, grossing $152 million on a $12 million budget, and was followed by two sequels in which Abrahams was not involved. The film is also set to be rebooted with Liam Nesson in the lead role.

Abrahams directed the Winona Ryder comedy Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael before launching another parody series in 1991, Hot Shots!, starring Charlie Sheen. It was a commercial hit and led to a successful sequel.

Since then, Abrahams has directed only one film, the 1998 Jane Austen crime spoof Mafia!, while he later co-wrote Scary Movie 4 (2006).

One of Abrahams’ children, Charlie, suffered from a severe form of epilepsy, which led him and his wife to found the Charlie Foundation to Help Cure Pediatric Epilepsy. He also directed Meryl Streep in a 1997 TV movie, First Do No Harm, which was loosely based on the experience.