Jim Abrahams, director of Airplane and the Hot Shots movies, has passed away at the age of 80

Last Updated on December 2, 2024

One of the major contributors to the comedy film world, Jim Abrahams, has reportedly passed away at the age of 80. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that his son, Joseph, confirmed that Abrahams died of natural causes at his home in Santa Monica. The renowned writer/director was best known as part of the trio Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker, which also consisted of David and Jerry Zucker. All three would produce the immensely beloved comedy Airplane! along with The Naked Gun movies.

The trio would break through by writing the sketch film The Kentucky Fried Movie, which was helmed by John Landis. The ZAZ team would also write and direct the spy film parody Top Secret!, which starred Val Kilmer in his debut film role, as well as the Bette Midler and Danny DeVito comedy Ruthless People. The team would eventually go their separate ways, but Abrahams would keep directing with his own comedies, like Big Business, that also starred Midler along with Lily Tomlin. Abrahams continued to write and direct the broad comedy parodies with Hot Shots!, Hot Shots! Part Deux and Jane Austen’s Mafia!

Abrahams and the Zuckers had tried their hands at television when they developed, wrote and directed Police Squad!, which was a parody of cop shows that wouldn’t quite take off as a series, but the trio adapted it for the big screen to become The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! starring Leslie Nielsen. The franchise would also give the formerly dramatic actor Leslie Nielsen a career revitalization as a comedic presence.

However, the movie that Abrahams and the Zuckers would be iconic for is Airplane! A near-direct parody of the black-and-white 1957 disaster movie Zero Hour! Which was likely the inspiration of using exclamation points in nearly all the titles. Paramount owned the rights to Zero Hour! and would produce Airplane! Michael Eisner, who was running Paramount at the time, told THR in 2012, “I don’t know what motivated me except that at the time everyone was making airplane movies. Films like Airport, based on the Arthur Hailey book, were as ubiquitous as superhero movies are today. And they kind of always worked.” None of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team would return for Airplane II: The Sequel.