One of the creators of some of the funniest movies of the 20th century has died. Jim Abrahams, best known as one third of the ZAZ comedy team with David and Jerry Zucker passed away on Tuesday. His son toldThe Hollywood Reporter he died of natural causes. Abrahams was 80 years old.The ZAZ team is best known for writing and directing1980sAirplane!As a team, the trio also directed 1984sTop Secret!and1986sRuthless People.They also co-wroteThe Kentucky Fried Movie(directed by John Landis) andThe Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (directed by David Zucker solo). Their signature brand of comedy was marked by chaos and absurdity, along with a go for broke, anything-is-allowed-as-long-as-its-funny attitude.ParamountParamountloading...READ MORE: The Best Comedy Movies of the Last 25 YearsAbrahams grew up in Wisconsin as a childhood friend of the Zuckers. In their 20s they all began performing together as a part of a comedy troupe they dubbed The Kentucky Fried Theater. Then the trio moved to Los Angeles and started a Kentucky Fried Theater there in the hopes of breaking into show business.Despite the success of the theater in Los Angeles, it took the trio years to finally get theirKentucky Fried Movie made and even then their script, a collection of shorts and sketches they had honed in their live comedy act, wasgiven to Landis (who already had acouple of low-budget productions under his belt) to direct.AfterKentucky Fried Movie became ansizable hit in theaters,it took several more years toconvincea studio to take a chance onAirplane!with them as first-time directors.It was Paramount that finally decided to gamble on ZAZ andAirplane! and they were rewarded with a huge hit. The movie was based on an obscure 1950s thriller calledZero Hour! and also lampooned the disaster movies that were popular during that period likeAirportandThe Towering Inferno.The film combined non-stop gags andwitty wordplay with an eclectic cast of dramatic actors playing very silly material extremely straight like TV star Peter Graves as the pilot, Captain Oveur.One ofAirplane!s breakout stars, Leslie Nielsen, thenreturned in ZAZs television seriesPolice Squad!, a cop show spoof that was years ahead of its time. The showwas canceled after only a handful of episodes but Abrahams and the Zuckers then reworked the material asThe Naked Gun, which became a successful trilogy of movies. (A remake is currently in the works with Liam Neeson in the Nielsen role.)ZAZs next feature wasTop Secret!, a spoof of Elvis movies and Cold War spy pictures. It starred a young Val Kilmer as rock star Nick Rivers. As you can see, it is quite silly.By the late 1980s, the ZAZ team began working moreas individuals. Abrams biggest hits as a solo act were the twoHot Shots!movies, which spoofedTop Gun,Rambo: First Blood Part II, and other macho 80s action movies, and starred Charlie Sheen.Abrahams other films as directorincludeBig Business,Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael, andMafia!In later years, Abrahams was also extremely proud of the work he did with his foundation devoted to pediatric epilepsy;he writes passionately about in the final pages of his recent oral history ofAirplane! that he co-wrote with the Zuckers,Surely You Cant Be Serious.Although the Zuckers and Abrahams worked together infrequently from the early 90s on, they remained close, and continued to appear together atAirplane!screenings, in documentaries about their work, and they all collaborated on that excellent oral history ofAirplane! That film continues to stand the test of time asone of the greatest and most influential movie comedies of the 20th century.Abrahams will be missed. Surely.Get our free mobile app25 Blockbuster Hits You Forgot ExistedRemember these movies? They made a lot of money at the box office!