The screenwriter and director Jim Abrahams has passed away at the age of 80, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Together with his childhood friends Jerry and David Zucker, with whom he grew up in Wisconsin, he was behind comedy classics such as "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun" during the 1970s and 1980s.
In the 1990s, he was behind the "Hot Shots" films starring Charlie Sheen in the lead role and later "Scary Movie 4" together with David Zucker.
Abrahams died of natural causes in his home in Santa Monica, California, says his son Joseph to The Hollywood Reporter.