Richard Henry Sellers, CBE (8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980), known as
Peter Sellers, was a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedianA comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and actor. Perhaps best known as
Chief Inspector ClouseauChief Inspector Jacques Clouseau is a fictional character in Blake Edwards' The Pink Panther series. In most of the films, he was played by Peter Sellers, with one film in which he was played by Alan Arkin and one in which he was played by an uncredited Roger Moore...
in
The Pink PantherThe Pink Panther is a series of comedy films featuring the bungling French police detective Jacques Clouseau that began in 1963 with the release of the film of the same name. The role was originated by, and is most closely associated with, Peter Sellers...
film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in
Dr. Strangelove, as Clare Quilty in
LolitaLolita is a 1962 comedy-drama film by Stanley Kubrick based on the classic novel of the same title by Vladimir Nabokov. The film stars James Mason as Humbert Humbert, Sue Lyon as Dolores Haze and Shelley Winters as Charlotte Haze with Peter Sellers as Clare Quilty.Due to the MPAA's restrictions at...
, and as the TV-addicted man-child Chance the gardener in his penultimate film,
Being ThereBeing There is a 1979 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby. Adapted from the 1971 novella written by Jerzy Kosinski, the screenplay was coauthored by Kosinski and Robert C. Jones. The film stars Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard A...
. Leading actress
Bette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
once remarked of him, "He isn't an actor—he's a chameleon."
Sellers rose to fame on the BBC Radio comedy series
The Goon ShowThe Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...
. His ability to speak in different accents (e.g., French, Indian, American, German, as well as British regional accents), along with his talent to portray a range of characters to comic effect, contributed to his success as a radio personality and screen actor and earned him national and international nominations and awards. Many of his characters became ingrained in public perception of his work. Sellers' private life was characterised by turmoil and crises, and included emotional problems and
substance abuseA substance-related disorder is an umbrella term used to describe several different conditions associated with several different substances .A substance related disorder is a condition in which an individual uses or abuses a...
. Sellers was married four times, and had three children from the first two marriages.
An enigmatic figure, he often claimed to have no identity outside the roles that he played, but he left his own portrait since, "he obsessively filmed his homes, his family, people he knew, anything that took his fancy right to the end of his life—intimate film that remained undiscovered until long after his death in 1980." The director Peter Hall has said: "Peter had the ability to identify completely with another person, and think his way physically, mentally and emotionally into their skin. Where does that come from? I have no idea. Is it a curse? Often. I think it's not enough, though, in this business to have talent. You have to have
talent to handle the talent. And that I think Peter did
not have."
Early life
Sellers was born in
SouthseaSouthsea is a seaside resort located in Portsmouth at the southern end of Portsea Island in the county of Hampshire in England. Southsea is within a mile of Portsmouth's city centre....
, Portsmouth, to a family of entertainers. Though christened Richard Henry, his parents always called him Peter, after his elder
stillbornA stillbirth occurs when a fetus has died in the uterus. The Australian definition specifies that fetal death is termed a stillbirth after 20 weeks gestation or the fetus weighs more than . Once the fetus has died the mother still has contractions and remains undelivered. The term is often used in...
brother, and, according to
Bryan ForbesBryan Forbes, CBE is an English film director, actor and writer.-Career:Bryan Forbes was born John Theobald Clarke on 22 July 1926 in Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, West Ham, Essex , and grew up at 43 Cranmer Road, Forest Gate, West Ham, Essex .Forbes trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of...
, "was, during his formative years, totally smothered in maternal affection". He attended the North London
Roman Catholic schoolCatholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
St. Aloysius CollegeSt. Aloysius' College is a Roman Catholic, boys-only state school in the London Borough of Islington, North London. Each year around 180 pupils are admitted to Year 7 on the basis of examination, however the local education authority also assigns students without a school to this school.St...
. His father,
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
-born Bill Sellers, was Protestant and his mother, Agnes Doreen 'Peg'
née Marks was Jewish, the daughter of Solomon Marks and his wife, Welcome Mendoza. Agnes was a first cousin, three times removed, of famous boxer
Daniel MendozaDaniel Mendoza was an English prizefighter, who was boxing champion of England 1792–95.-Success:...
(1764-1836), not, as is commonly believed, his great-granddaughter. As an adult, notes film critic
Alexander WalkerAlexander Walker was a film critic, born in Portadown, Northern Ireland. He worked for the Birmingham Post in the 1950s, before becoming film critic of the London Evening Standard in 1960, a role he held until his death in 2003...
, Mendoza was the ancestor Sellers "most revered," and he usually kept an engraving of him hanging in his office. At one time he planned on having Mendoza's image for his production company's logo.
According to Sellers' biographer Roger Lewis, Sellers was intrigued by Catholicism, but soon after entering Catholic school, he "discovered he was a Jew—he was someone on the outside of the mysteries of faith." Sellers says that teachers referred to him as "The Jew", which led to his subsequent sensitivity to anti-semitic innuendos. He was a top student at the school, and recalls that the teacher once scolded the other boys for not studying: "The Jewish boy knows his
catechismA catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...
better than the rest of you!"
Later in his life, Sellers is quoted as saying "My father was solid
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
but my mother was Jewish—
PortugueseThe Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
Jewish—and Jews take the faith of their mother." Film critic
Kenneth TynanKenneth Peacock Tynan was an influential and often controversial English theatre critic and writer.-Early life:...
noted after his interview with Sellers that one of the main "motive forces" for his ambition as an actor was "his hatred of
anti-semitismAntisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
." Tynan explained:
In scholars, lawyers, doctors and vaudeville comedians, Jewishness is tolerated. In legitimate actors, much less often. . . . Hence [Peter Seller's refusal] to be content with the secure reputation of a great mimic and his determination to go down in history as something more—a great actor, perhaps, or a great director.
Sellers was of the opinion that "becoming part of some large group never does any good. Maybe that's my problem with religion," he said during an interview. He explained:
"I wasn't baptised. I wasn't Bar Mitzvahed. I suppose my basic religion is doing unto others as they would do unto me. But I find it all very difficult. I am more inclined to believe in the Old Testament than in the New . . . .
Accompanying his family on the
variety showA variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
circuit, Sellers learned
stagecraftStagecraft is a generic term referring to the technical aspects of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes, but is not limited to, constructing and rigging scenery, hanging and focusing of lighting, design and procurement of costumes, makeup, procurement of props, stage management, and...
, which proved valuable later. He performed at age five at the burlesque
Windmill TheatreThe Windmill Theatre, later The Windmill International, was a variety and revue theatre in Great Windmill Street, London. The theatre was famous for its nude tableaux vivants...
in the drama
Splash Me!, which featured his mother. However, he grew up with conflicting influences from his parents and developed ambivalent feelings about show business. His father lacked confidence in Peter's abilities to ever become much in the entertainment field, even suggesting that his son's talents were only enough to become a road sweeper, while Sellers' mother encouraged him continually.
Sellers got his first job at a theatre in
IlfracombeIlfracombe is a seaside resort and civil parish on the North Devon coast, England with a small harbour, surrounded by cliffs.The parish stretches along the coast from 'The Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay toward the east and 4 miles along The Torrs to Lee Bay toward the west...
, when he was 15, starting as a janitor. He was steadily promoted, becoming a box office clerk, usher, assistant stage manager, and lighting operator. He was also offered some small acting parts. Working backstage gave him a chance to see serious actors at work, such as
Paul ScofieldDavid Paul Scofield, CH, CBE , better known as Paul Scofield, was an English actor of stage and screen...
. He also became close friends with Derek Altman, and together they launched Sellers' first stage act under the name "Altman and Sellers," where they played ukuleles, sang, and told jokes. They also both enjoyed reading detective stories by
Dashiell HammettSamuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...
, and were inspired to start their own detective agency. "Their enterprise ended abruptly when a potential client ripped Sellers' fake moustache off."
At his regular job backstage at the theatre, Sellers began practising on a set of drums that belonged to the band "
Joe DanielsJoe Daniels , born in Zeerust South Africa, was a British drummer and performer whose career began in the early 1920s. Daniels played with Sid Roy , and formed his own band with Max Goldberg...
and His Hot Shots." Joe Daniels began noticing his efforts and gave him some practical instructions. Sellers' biographer Ed Sikov writes that "drumming suited him. Banging in time Pete could envelop himself in a world of near-total abstraction, all in the context of a great deal of noise."
World War II period
As war broke out in Europe, Sellers continued to develop his drumming skills, which strongly impressed even his father and landed Sellers his first drumming job with a band in
BlackpoolBlackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
.
He later enlisted, and during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Sellers was an airman in the
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
, rising to corporal, though he had been restricted to ground staff because of poor eyesight. His tour included India and Burma, although the duration of his stay in Asia is unknown and its length may have been exaggerated by Sellers himself. He also served in Germany and France after the war. As a distraction from the life of a non-commissioned officer, Sellers joined the
Entertainments National Service AssociationThe Entertainments National Service Association or ENSA was an organisation set up in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes...
(ENSA), which his father had earlier also signed up with, allowing him to hone his drumming and comedy. By the end of the war in 1945, more than four out of five British entertainers had worked for ENSA, whose focus was on boosting morale of soldiers and factory workers.
He occasionally impersonated his superiors, and his portrayal of RAF officer Lionel Mandrake in the film
Dr. Strangelove may have been modelled on them. He bluffed his way into the Officers' Mess using mimicry and the occasional false moustache, although as he told
Michael ParkinsonSir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
in the 1972 interview, occasionally older officers would suspect him. The voice of
Goon Show character
Major Dennis BloodnokMajor Denis Bloodnok, IND. ARM. RTD. coward and bar is a fictional character from the 1950s BBC Radio comedy The Goon Show. He was voiced by Peter Sellers.-Basis of character:...
came from this period.
The Goon Show
After his discharge and return to England in 1948, Sellers supported himself with stand-up routines in variety theatres whose impresarios needed to legitimise their business. Sellers telephoned
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
radio producer Roy Speer, pretending to be
Kenneth HorneKenneth Horne was an English comedian and businessman. The son of a clergyman and politician, he combined a successful business career with regular broadcasting for the BBC. His first hit series Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh written with his co-star Richard Murdoch arose out of his wartime service as...
, star of the radio show
Much Binding in the MarshMuch-Binding-in-the-Marsh was the title of a comedy BBC radio and Radio Luxembourg show broadcast from 1944 to 1954, starring Kenneth Horne and Richard Murdoch as senior staff in a fictional RAF station battling red tape and wartime inconvenience...
, to get Speer to speak to him. Speer reportedly called Sellers a "cheeky young sod" for this.
As a result, Sellers was given an audition, which led to his work on
Ray's a Laugh with comedian
Ted RayTed Ray was a popular English comedian of the 1940s, 50s and 60s....
. His principal radio work was on
The Goon ShowThe Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...
with
Spike MilliganTerence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
,
Harry SecombeSir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
and (originally)
Michael BentineMichael Bentine CBE was a British comedian, comic actor and founding member of the Goons. A Peruvian Briton by heritage as a result of his father's nationality, In 1971 Bentine received the Order of Merit of Peru because of his fund-raising work for the 1970 Great Peruvian...
. Sellers followed this with television work.
Records
In the late 1950s, Sellers released two comedy records produced by
George MartinSir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
:
The Best of Sellers and
Songs for Swinging Sellers.
The Best of Sellers album cover (first released in 10" format in 1958 and his debut LP) pictured him polishing a
Rolls-RoyceThis a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...
motor car. The most popular tracks on this album were "
Balham, Gateway to the SouthBalham, Gateway to the South is comedy sketch parodying a short travel documentary about the south London suburb of Balham. It was written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden for a 1950s BBC radio series called Third Division. The sketch featured the voice of Peter Sellers narrating, in a parody of the...
" (a parody travelogue) and "Suddenly It's Folksong" where a group of people end up smashing up a pub after a row over someone playing a bum note. The
Songs for Swinging Sellers album, released in 1959, whose title parodied
Frank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
's album Songs for Swinging Lovers, contained material written by
Frank MuirFrank Herbert Muir was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wrote BBC radio's Take It From Here for over 10 years, and then appeared on BBC radio...
and
Denis NordenDenis Mostyn Norden CBE is a former English comedy writer and television presenter. After an early career working in cinemas, he began scriptwriting during World War II. From 1948 to 1959, he co-wrote the successful BBC Radio comedy programme Take It from Here with Frank Muir...
, and featured Sellers performing "Puttin on the Style" (a parody of the
skiffleSkiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
movement's performer
Lonnie DoneganAnthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
). Sellers also appeared with guest
Irene Handl-Life:Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the daughter of an Austrian banker father and French mother. She took to acting at the relatively advanced age of 36, and studied at the acting school run by the sister of Dame Sybil Thorndike...
on the track "Shadows on the Grass" where he played the part of a Frenchman befriending a lady in the park. Musical direction was by
Ron GoodwinRonald Alfred Goodwin was a British composer and conductor known for his film music. He scored over 70 films in a career lasting over fifty years....
.
In 1963, Sellers worked with
Anthony NewleyAnthony George Newley was an English actor, singer and songwriter. He enjoyed success as a performer in such diverse fields as rock and roll and stage and screen acting.-Early life:...
,
Leslie BricusseLeslie Bricusse is an English composer, lyricist, and playwright.Although best known for his partnership with Anthony Newley, Bricusse has worked with many other composers. He was educated at University College School in London and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge...
and
Joan CollinsJoan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
to produce the LP
Fool Britannia. This comprised a series of sketches satirising the British political scandal the
Profumo AffairThe Profumo Affair was a 1963 British political scandal named after John Profumo, Secretary of State for War. His affair with Christine Keeler, the reputed mistress of an alleged Russian spy, followed by lying in the House of Commons when he was questioned about it, forced the resignation of...
, in which the Minister for War was revealed to have lied about his relationship with a prostitute who was also involved with a Russian diplomat. The album was controversial, in part perhaps because of material involving the royal family, and would-be buyers in the United Kingdom found it especially hard to obtain.
A 1965 hit was a spoof spoken version of the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night", in the style of Laurence Olivier. This followed up various pieces of Olivier-style speech in the Goons.
In 1979 he released a new
gatefoldA gatefold is a type of fold used for advertising around a magazine or section, and for packaging of media such as vinyl records.- LP covers :...
album entitled
Sellers' Market (the cover shows him standing next to traders reading the
Financial Times and the
Wall Street Journal whereas Sellers is reading the
Finchley Press) which included comic singing and a feature called the "All England George Formby Finals" where he parodies the late George Formby and his
ukuleleThe ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
playing. Also featured was the
Complete Guide to Accents of the British Isles. The album was not as popular as his first two in 1958 and 1959 although it is still sought after by collectors. All of his albums exploited Sellers's ability to use his flexible voice to comedic effect.
Acting technique and preparation
In an October 1962 interview for
PlayboyPlayboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
, Sellers described how he prepared for acting roles once he agreed to play the part:
Film career
Sellers' film success arrived with
British comediesBritish comedy, in film, radio and television, is known for its consistently quirky characters, plots and settings, and has produced some of the most famous and memorable comic actors and characters in the last fifty years.-Film comedy:...
, including
The LadykillersThe Ladykillers is a 1955 British black comedy film made by Ealing Studios. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, it stars Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner and Katie Johnson...
,
I'm All Right JackI'm All Right Jack is a 1959 British comedy film directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting from a script by Frank Harvey, John Boulting and Alan Hackney, based on the novel Private Life by Hackney...
and
The Mouse That Roared. In his early film roles, he continued to exploit his ability to do accents and different voices, often in character parts and occasionally playing several distinct roles in a single film. In his second movie, he played two parts; in his third, six (see chart below).
In
The Smallest Show on EarthThe Smallest Show on Earth is a 1957 British comedy film, directed by Basil Dearden, and starring Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Peter Sellers and Margaret Rutherford. The supporting cast included Bernard Miles, Leslie Phillips, Francis de Wolff, George Cross, June Cunningham and Sid James...
, the 27-year-old actor played a doddering, drunken elderly projectionist twice his actual age. In
The Mouse That Roared, set in a small European country, he played three major and distinct roles, the elderly queen, the ambitious Prime Minister, and the innocent and clumsy farm boy selected to lead an invasion of the United States. In the United States he received considerable publicity for playing three parts, a stunt he would do again in
Dr. Strangelove.
He began receiving international attention for his portrayal of an Indian doctor in
The MillionairessThe Millionairess is a 1960 British romantic comedy film set in London, directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers...
with
Sophia LorenSophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
. The film inspired the
George MartinSir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
-produced
noveltyA novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song, performed principally for its comical effect. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music. The other two divisions...
hit single
Goodness Gracious Me"Goodness Gracious Me" is a comedy song recorded by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren, and was a top 5 UK single in 1960. It features Sellers acting the role of an Indian doctor, and Loren of his wealthy Italian patient – who fall in love....
and its follow-up
Bangers and Mash, both featuring Sellers and Loren.
Lolita
In 1962,
Stanley KubrickStanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
asked Sellers to play the role of Clare Quilty in
LolitaLolita is a 1962 comedy-drama film by Stanley Kubrick based on the classic novel of the same title by Vladimir Nabokov. The film stars James Mason as Humbert Humbert, Sue Lyon as Dolores Haze and Shelley Winters as Charlotte Haze with Peter Sellers as Clare Quilty.Due to the MPAA's restrictions at...
opposite
James MasonJames Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...
and
Shelley WintersShelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
. Kubrick had seen Sellers in his earlier films and was intrigued by his range, also demonstrated during
The Goon Show period when Sellers had done impressions of famous people, such as
Winston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, the Queen, and
Lew GradeLew Grade, Baron Grade , born Lev Winogradsky, was an influential Russian-born English impresario and media mogul.-Early years:...
.
However, Sellers felt the part of a flamboyant American television playwright was beyond his ability, mainly because Quilty was, in Sellers' words, "a fantastic nightmare, part homosexual, part drug addict, part
sadistSomeone who obtains pleasure from inflicting pain on others.Not to be confused with masochists who derive pleasure from having pain inflicted on themselves .Some subjects sadist could represent are:...
...". He became nervous about taking on the role, and many people came up to him and told him they felt the role believable. Kubrick eventually succeeded in persuading Sellers to play the part, however. Kubrick had American jazz producer
Norman GranzNorman Granz was an American jazz music impresario and producer.Granz was a fundamental figure in American jazz, especially from about 1947 to 1960...
record Sellers' portions of the script for Sellers to listen to, so he could study the voice and develop confidence.
Unlike most of his earlier well-rehearsed movie roles, Sellers was encouraged by Kubrick to improvise throughout the filming in order to exhaust all the possibilities of his character. Moreover, in order to capture Sellers at his most creative heights, Kubrick often used as many as three cameras. Sellers and Kubrick created the multiple disguises used by Sellers, such as a state trooper and a German psychologist. As filming progressed, the other actors and the crew would notice Sellers' greatly enjoying his acting and, according to Kubrick, reaching "...what can only be described as a state of comic ecstasy". The movie's cinematographer,
Oswald MorrisOswald Norman Morris OBE, DFC, AFC, BSC is a British cinematographer. Known to his colleagues by the nicknames "Os" or "Ossie", Morris' film cinematography career spanned six decades.-Early life and career:...
, further commented that, "the most interesting scenes were the ones with Peter Sellers, which were total improvisations."
Because of this experience, Sellers found that his relationship with Kubrick became one of the most rewarding of his career.
Dr. Strangelove
In Kubrick's next film,
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb he asked Sellers to be in the leading role. Sellers played three extremely different characters: U.S. President
MerkinA merkin is a pubic wig. Merkins were originally worn by prostitutes after shaving their genitalia, and are now used as decorative items, erotic devices, or in films, by both men and women.-Origin of term:...
Muffley, Dr. Strangelove, a heavily German-accented nuclear scientist, and Group Captain Lionel
MandrakeMandrake is the common name for members of the plant genus Mandragora, particularly the species Mandragora officinarum, belonging to the nightshades family...
of the
RAFThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. Sellers was initially hesitant about taking on the task, but Kubrick convinced him that there was no better actor that could play these parts.
Muffley and Dr. Strangelove appeared in the same room throughout the film, with the help of doubles mostly seen from the rear. Sellers was originally also cast to play a fourth role as bomber pilot Major T. J. "King" Kong, but from the beginning Sellers was reluctant. He felt his workload was too heavy and he worried he would not properly portray the character's Texas accent. Kubrick pleaded with him and asked screenwriter
Terry SouthernTerry Southern was an American author, essayist, screenwriter and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style...
(who had been raised in Texas) to record a tape with Kong's lines spoken in the correct accent. Using Southern's tape, Sellers managed to get the accent right, and started shooting the scenes in the airplane. But then Sellers sprained an ankle and could not work in the cramped cockpit set.This forced Kubrick to recast the part with
Slim PickensLouis Burton Lindley, Jr. , better known by the stage name Slim Pickens, was an American rodeo performer and film and television actor who epitomized the profane, tough, sardonic cowboy, but who is best remembered for his comic roles, notably in Dr...
. For his performance in all three roles, Sellers was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
. Kubrick again gave Sellers a free rein to improvise throughout the filming. Sellers once said, "If you ask me to play myself, I will not know what to do. I do not know who or what I am."
Pink Panther
From 1963, Sellers was cast as the bumbling
Chief Inspector ClouseauChief Inspector Jacques Clouseau is a fictional character in Blake Edwards' The Pink Panther series. In most of the films, he was played by Peter Sellers, with one film in which he was played by Alan Arkin and one in which he was played by an uncredited Roger Moore...
in
The Pink PantherThe Pink Panther is a series of comedy films featuring the bungling French police detective Jacques Clouseau that began in 1963 with the release of the film of the same name. The role was originated by, and is most closely associated with, Peter Sellers...
movies. This character gave Sellers a worldwide audience, beginning with
The Pink PantherThe Pink Panther is a 1963 American comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and co-written by Edwards and Maurice Richlin, starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine, and Claudia Cardinale...
and its sequel,
A Shot in the DarkA Shot in the Dark is a 1964 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and is the second installment in the Pink Panther series. Peter Sellers is featured again as Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the French Sûreté...
, in which he featured more prominently. He returned to the character for three more sequels from 1975 to 1978.
The Trail of the Pink PantherTrail of the Pink Panther is a 1982 comedy film starring Peter Sellers. It was the seventh film in the Pink Panther series, and the last in which Peter Sellers starred as Inspector Jacques Clouseau, although Sellers died before production began and the film thus contains no original material...
, containing unused footage of Sellers, was released in 1982, after his death. His widow,
Lynne FrederickLynne Maria Frederick was an English film actress. In a career spanning ten years she made about thirty films or television drama appearances, but she is best remembered as the last wife of Peter Sellers. She was married twice after his death.-Early life:Frederick was born in Hillingdon,...
, successfully sued the film's producers for unauthorised use. Sellers had prepared to star as Chief Inspector Clouseau in another Pink Panther film; he died before the start of this project,
Romance of the Pink Panther.
Being There
In 1979, Sellers played the role of Chance, a simple gardener addicted to watching TV, in the
black comedyA black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
Being ThereBeing There is a 1979 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby. Adapted from the 1971 novella written by Jerzy Kosinski, the screenplay was coauthored by Kosinski and Robert C. Jones. The film stars Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard A...
, considered by some critics to be the "crowning triumph of Peter Sellers's remarkable career," as well as a great achievement for novelist
Jerzy KosinskiJerzy Kosiński , born Józef Lewinkopf, was an award-winning Polish American novelist, and two-time President of the American Chapter of P.E.N.He was known for various novels, among them The Painted Bird and Being There...
. During a
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
interview in 1971, Sellers said that more than anything else, he wanted to play the role of Chance.
Kosinski, the book's author, felt that the novel was never meant to be made into a film, but Sellers succeeded in changing his mind, and Kosinski allowed Sellers and director
Hal AshbyHal Ashby was an American film director and film editor.-Birth and early years:Born William Hal Ashby in Ogden, Utah, Ashby grew up in a Mormon household and had a tumultuous childhood as part of a dysfunctional family which included the divorce of his parents, his father's suicide and his...
to make the film, provided he could write the script. According to film critic Danny Smith, Sellers was "naturally intrigued with the idea of Chance, a character who reflected whatever was beamed at him".
Sellers's performance was praised by some critics as achieving "the pinpoint-sharp exactitude of nothingness. It is a performance of extraordinary dexterity", and "...[making] the film's fantastic premise credible".
Sellers's experience of working on the film was both humbling and powerful for him. During the filming, in order not to break his character, he refused most interview requests, and even kept his distance from other actors. He tried to remain in character even after he returned home. Sellers considered Chance's walking and voice the character's most important attributes, and in preparing for the role, Sellers worked alone with a tape recorder, or with his wife, and then with Ashby, to perfect the clear enunciation and flat delivery needed to reveal "the childlike mind behind the words."
Critic
Frank RichFrank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...
noted the acting skill required for this sort of role, with a "schismatic personality that Peter had to convey with strenuous vocal and gestural technique. . . . A lesser actor would have made the character's mental dysfunction flamboyant and drastic. . . . [His] intelligence was always deeper, his onscreen confidence greater, his technique much more finely honed."
Being There earned Sellers his best reviews since the 1960s, a second
Academy AwardAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nomination and a Golden Globe award. A few months after the film was released,
Time magazine wrote a cover-story article about Sellers, entitled, "Who is This Man?" The cover showed many of the characters Sellers had portrayed, including Chance, Quilty, Strangelove, Clouseau, and the Grand Duchess Glorianna XII. Sellers was pleased by the article, written by critic
Richard SchickelRichard Warren Schickel is an American author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. He is a film critic for Time magazine, having also written for Life magazine and the Los Angeles Times Book Review....
, and wrote an appreciative letter to the magazine's editor."
Final projects
Sellers' last movie was
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu ManchuThe Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu is a 1980 comedy film, notable as the final film of Peter Sellers, David Tomlinson and John Le Mesurier. Pre-production began with Richard Quine as director. By the time the film entered production, Piers Haggard had replaced him. Peter Sellers handled the...
, a comedic reimagining of the classic series of adventure novels by
Sax RohmerArthur Henry Sarsfield Ward , better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr...
. In this new version, Sellers played both "Fu Manchu" and his arch nemesis, police inspector Nayland Smith. Production of the film ran into problems from the start, with Sellers' poor health and mental instability causing long delays and bickering between star and director
Piers HaggardPiers Inigo Haggard is a British film and television director, although he has worked mostly in the latter medium.He is the great grandnephew of H...
. With roughly 60% of the movie shot, Sellers had Haggard sacked and took over direction himself. Haggard later complained that the reshoots Sellers ordered added nothing to the production, and had resulted in the film being incoherent and unfocused. The movie contains references to Sellers' serious heart troubles, including scenes where Fu revives his ancient body with large electric shocks.
Sellers died shortly before
Fu Manchu was released, with his very last performance being that of conman "Monty Casino" in a series of adverts for Barclays Bank. In 1982, Sellers returned to the big screen as Inspector Clouseau in
Trail of the Pink PantherTrail of the Pink Panther is a 1982 comedy film starring Peter Sellers. It was the seventh film in the Pink Panther series, and the last in which Peter Sellers starred as Inspector Jacques Clouseau, although Sellers died before production began and the film thus contains no original material...
, which was composed entirely of deleted scenes from his past three
Panther movies, in particular
The Pink Panther Strikes AgainThe Pink Panther Strikes Again is the fifth film in the Pink Panther series and picks up where The Return of the Pink Panther leaves off...
, with a new story written around them. David Niven also reprised his role of Sir Charles Lytton in this movie. Along with what many, notably his widow
Lynne FrederickLynne Maria Frederick was an English film actress. In a career spanning ten years she made about thirty films or television drama appearances, but she is best remembered as the last wife of Peter Sellers. She was married twice after his death.-Early life:Frederick was born in Hillingdon,...
, saw as exploitation of Sellers, the manner in which Niven's cameo was handled has earned the movie a lasting unsavoury reputation. Edwards continued the series with a further instalment called the
Curse of the Pink PantherCurse of the Pink Panther is a 1983 comedy film, the eighth installment of the The Pink Panther series of films started by Blake Edwards in the early 1960s....
, which was shot back to back with the framing footage for
Trail, but Sellers was wholly absent from this film.
After
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu, Sellers was scheduled to appear in another Clouseau comedy,
The Romance Of The Pink PantherRomance of the Pink Panther was to be the seventh film in the Pink Panther series, and would have starred Peter Sellers in the role of Inspector Clouseau in his sixth Panther appearance. Herbert Lom would have reprised his role as Charles Dreyfus, with the character now working as a private detective...
. Its script, written by Peter Moloney and Sellers himself, had Clouseau falling for a brilliant female criminal known as 'The Frog' and aiding her in her heists with the aim to reform her character. Blake Edwards did not participate in the planning of this new Clouseau instalment, as the working relationship between him and Sellers had broken down during the filming of
Revenge Of The Pink Panther. The final draft of the script, including a humorous cover letter signed by "Pete Shakespeare", was delivered to United Artists' office less than six hours before Sellers died. Sellers death ended the project, along with two other planned movies for which Sellers had signed contracts in 1980. The two films—
Unfaithfully YoursUnfaithfully Yours is a 1948 American screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges and starring Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell, Rudy Vallee and Barbara Lawrence. The film is a black comedy about a man's failed attempt to murder his wife, who he believes has been unfaithful to him...
and
LovesickLovesick is a 1983 romantic comedy film. It was written and directed by Marshall Brickman. It stars Dudley Moore and Elizabeth McGovern and features Alec Guinness as the ghost of Sigmund Freud.-Plot:...
—were rewritten as vehicles for
Dudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
; both performed poorly at the box office upon release. Trade papers such as
VarietyVariety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
carried an elaborately curlicued advert for the former movie, with Sellers at the top of the cast list, in early June 1980.
Other roles
Director
Billy WilderBilly Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
hired Sellers to co-star with
Dean MartinDean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
for the ribald 1964 comedy
Kiss Me, StupidKiss Me, Stupid is a 1964 American comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Dean Martin, Kim Novak, and Ray Walston.The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on Wife For a Night , an Italian film starring Gina Lollobrigida -- which was itself taken from a play by Anna Bonacci...
, but six weeks into filming, Sellers suffered a heart attack. Wilder replaced him with
Ray WalstonRay Walston was an American stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian. In addition, he is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific , Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees , J.J...
.
Sellers was a versatile actor, switching from broad comedy, as in
The PartyThe Party is a 1968 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, starring Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet. The film has a very loose structure, and essentially serves as a series of set pieces for Sellers's improvisational comedy talents...
, in which he portrayed a bumbling Indian actor Hrundi Bakshi, to more intense performances as in
LolitaLolita is a 1962 comedy-drama film by Stanley Kubrick based on the classic novel of the same title by Vladimir Nabokov. The film stars James Mason as Humbert Humbert, Sue Lyon as Dolores Haze and Shelley Winters as Charlotte Haze with Peter Sellers as Clare Quilty.Due to the MPAA's restrictions at...
.
Sellers appeared in an episode of the American television series
It Takes a Thief in 1969. By the early 1970s he faced a downturn, however, and was dubbed "box office poison". Sellers never won an Oscar but won the BAFTA for
I'm All Right Jack.
Sellers appeared on
The Muppet ShowThe Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
television series in 1977. He chose not to appear as himself, instead appearing in a variety of costumes and accents. When
Kermit the FrogKermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, first introduced in 1955. He is the protagonist of many Muppet projects, most notably as the host of The Muppet Show, and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, in commercials and in public service announcements over...
told Sellers he could relax and be "himself," Sellers (while wearing a Viking helmet, a girdle and one boxing glove, claiming to have attempted to dress as Queen Victoria), replied, "There is no me. I do not exist. There used to be a me, but I had it surgically removed."
Personal life
Sellers was reticent about discussing his private life. He was invited to appear on
Michael ParkinsonSir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
's
eponymous chat showParkinson is a British television talk show that was presented by Sir Michael Parkinson. It was first shown on the BBC from 1971 to 2004, and on ITV from 2004 to 2007.-Background:...
in 1974, but agreed under the condition that he could appear in character. Sellers appeared dressed as a member of the
GestapoThe Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
, impersonating the
Kenneth MarsKenneth Mars was an American television, movie, and voice actor. He may be best-remembered for his roles in several Mel Brooks films: the insane Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in 1968's The Producers, and the relentless Police Inspector Hans Wilhelm Fredrich Kemp in 1974's Young Frankenstein...
character in
The ProducersThe Producers is a 1968 American satirical dark comedy cult classic film written and directed by Mel Brooks. The film is set in the late 1960s and it tells the story of a theatrical producer and an accountant who want to produce a sure-fire Broadway flop...
. After a few lines in keeping with his assumed character, he stepped out of the role and settled down for what is considered one of Parkinson's most memorable interviews.
Marriages
Sellers was married four times and fathered three children:
- Anne Hayes (née Howe, 1951–1961). They had a son, Michael
Michael Peter Anthony Sellers was a builder, car restorer, author and the son of actor Peter Sellers. He also had small parts in a couple of his father's films. He was often interviewed by the media about his relation with his father...
, and a daughter, Sarah.
- Swedish actress Britt Ekland
Britt-Marie Ekland is a Swedish actress and singer, and a long time resident of the United Kingdom. She is best known for her roles as a Bond girl in The Man with the Golden Gun, and in the British cult horror film The Wicker Man, as well as her marriage to actor Peter Sellers, and her...
(1964–1968). They had a daughter, Victoria SellersVictoria Sellers is an English model, actress, comedienne, and jewelry designer.-Early life:Sellers attended Le Lycee Francais de Los Angeles in West Los Angeles, a private school run by French immigrants that now has a number of campuses...
. The couple appeared in three films together: Carol For Another ChristmasCarol for Another Christmas, scripted by Rod Serling as a modernization of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and a plea for global cooperation between nations, was telecast only once—December 28, 1964. The only TV movie ever directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, this was the film in which Peter...
(1964), After the FoxAfter the Fox is a 1966 British-Italian comedy film starring Peter Sellers and directed by Vittorio De Sica. The screenplay is in English, by Neil Simon and De Sica's longtime collaborator Cesare Zavattini....
(1966), and The BoboThe Bobo is a 1967 British comedy film starring Peter Sellers and co-starring his then-wife Britt Ekland. Based on the 1959 novel Olimpia by Burt Cole, also known as Thomas Dixon, Sellers is featured as the would-be singing matador, Juan Bautista...
(1967).
- Australian model Miranda Quarry (now the Countess of Stockton
Miranda Macmillan, Countess of Stockton is an Australian former fashion model, married to the 2nd Earl of Stockton. She is now styled as the The Countess of Stockton....
; 1970–1974).
- English actress Lynne Frederick
Lynne Maria Frederick was an English film actress. In a career spanning ten years she made about thirty films or television drama appearances, but she is best remembered as the last wife of Peter Sellers. She was married twice after his death.-Early life:Frederick was born in Hillingdon,...
(1977–1980), who was briefly married to Sir David FrostSir David Paradine Frost, OBE is a British journalist, comedian, writer, media personality and daytime TV game show host best known for his two decades as host of Through the Keyhole and serious interviews with various political figures, the most notable being Richard Nixon...
shortly after Sellers' death.
Spike MilliganTerence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
wrote Sellers' multiple marriages into his scripts, referring in one 1972 radio show to "The Peter Sellers Discarded Wives Memorial". At the time, Sellers was married to Quarry.
Depression, substance abuse, and health problems
It has been suggested that Sellers suffered depression spurred by deep-seated anxieties of artistic and personal failure and exacerbated by
substance abuseA substance-related disorder is an umbrella term used to describe several different conditions associated with several different substances .A substance related disorder is a condition in which an individual uses or abuses a...
. It is believed that his drug use, especially
amyl nitriteAmyl nitrite is the chemical compound with the formula C5H11ONO. A variety of isomers are known, but they all feature an amyl group attached to the nitrito functional group. The alkyl group is unreactive and the chemical and biological properties are mainly due to the nitrite group...
s, contributed to
heart attackMyocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
s in 1964 (see below). Sellers' difficulties in his career and life prompted him to seek periodic consultations with astrologer
Maurice WoodruffMaurice Woodruff was an English clairvoyant and astrologer, born and raised in London. He achieved considerable fame both in his native England and internationally due to the perceived accuracy of his predictions. He presented his predictions to the public via newspapers and also via stage,...
, who seemed to have held considerable sway over his later career.
Other celebrities
Sellers had casual friendships with two of
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
,
George HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
and
Ringo StarrRichard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
. Harrison told occasional Sellers stories in interviews, and Starr appeared with him in the anarchic movie
The Magic ChristianThe Magic Christian is a 1969 British comedy film directed by Joseph McGrath and starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, with noteworthy appearances by John Cleese, Raquel Welch, Christopher Lee, Richard Attenborough and Roman Polanski. It was loosely adapted from the 1959 comic novel of the same...
, which was based on Terry Southern's novel and whose theme song was
BadfingerBadfinger were a British rock band consisting originally of Pete Ham, Ron Griffiths, Mike Gibbins and Tom Evans, active from 1968 to 1983, and evolving from The Iveys, formed by Ham, Griffiths and David "Dai" Jenkins in Swansea, Wales, in the early 1960s. Joey Molland joined the group in 1969,...
's "Come and Get It", written by
Paul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
. Starr's two-week hiatus from the Beatles during the
White AlbumThe Beatles is the ninth official album by the English rock group The Beatles, a double album released in 1968. It is also commonly known as "The White Album" as it has no graphics or text other than the band's name embossed on its plain white sleeve.The album was written and recorded during a...
recordings was spent aboard Sellers's yacht, where he wrote "Octopus's Garden". Starr also gave Sellers a rough mix of songs from the Beatles'
White AlbumThe Beatles is the ninth official album by the English rock group The Beatles, a double album released in 1968. It is also commonly known as "The White Album" as it has no graphics or text other than the band's name embossed on its plain white sleeve.The album was written and recorded during a...
; the tape was auctioned and
bootleggedA bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
after his death. Sellers recorded a
cover versionIn popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "
A Hard Day's Night"A Hard Day's Night" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles. Written by John Lennon, and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was released on the movie soundtrack of the same name in 1964...
", in the style of
Laurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
's interpretation of
Richard IIIRichard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
, as well as various versions of "
She Loves You"She Loves You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney based on an idea by McCartney, originally recorded by The Beatles for release as a single in 1963. The single set and surpassed several records in the United Kingdom charts, and set a record in the United States by being one of the...
", including as Dr. Strangelove, a
cockneyThe term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
, and an Irish dentist.
Sellers's friends included actor and director
Roman PolanskiRoman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
, who shared his passion for fast cars. Sellers had a close relationship with
Sophia LorenSophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
, but accounts differ on whether or not their relationship was consummated. Sellers was the first man on the cover of
PlayboyPlayboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
—he appeared on the April 1964 cover with Karen Lynn.
Sellers was a Freemason and belonged to Chelsea Lodge No 3098, a lodge whose membership consists of celebrities and performers, through which means he socialised with a number of other actors and comedians.
Royal Family
In her autobiography
True BrittTrue Britt was a best-selling autobiography published in 1980 by actress Britt Ekland.Ekland describes her marriage with Peter Sellers, relationships with Rod Stewart and Lord Lichfield and affairs with, among others Warren Beatty and 'Count' Ascanio Cicogna, and discovering she was nearly bankrupt...
,
Britt EklandBritt-Marie Ekland is a Swedish actress and singer, and a long time resident of the United Kingdom. She is best known for her roles as a Bond girl in The Man with the Golden Gun, and in the British cult horror film The Wicker Man, as well as her marriage to actor Peter Sellers, and her...
described Sellers' close relationship with the
Royal FamilyThe British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
.
"I was completely unaware of his (Sellers) connection with the British monarchy. One afternoon before we married he had disappeared saying that he had to do something 'important'. I was to learn he had spent afternoon tea with the
Queen MotherElizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
at
Clarence HouseClarence House is a royal home in London, situated on The Mall, in the City of Westminster. It is attached to St. James's Palace and shares the palace's garden. For nearly 50 years, from 1953 to 2002, it was home to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, but is since then the official residence of The...
." He was a close friend of Princess Margaret, who appears in one of his home movies.
Obsession with automobiles
Sellers had a lifelong obsession with cars, briefly parodied in a fleeting cameo in the short film
Simon Simon, directed by friend
Graham StarkGraham Stark is an English comedian, actor, writer and director.Stark was born in Wallasey on the Wirral in Cheshire, England. He first came to prominence on BBC Radio, making his debut in Happy Go Lucky and going on to Ray's A Laugh, Educating Archie and substitute on The Goon Show...
. His love of cars was also referenced in
The Goon ShowThe Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...
episode "The Space Age," where
Harry SecombeSir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
introduces Sellers by saying, "Good heavens, it's Peter Sellers, who has just broken his own record of keeping a car for more than a month." In "The Last Goon Show of All", announcer
Andrew TimothyAndrew Timothy was an Anglican priest and BBC Radio announcer, who is best remembered for being the original announcer of the comedy series The Goon Show. Timothy announced for the BBC Home Service from 1947 to 1959. Later he became one of the first BBC television newsreaders from July to...
cued him with "Mr. Sellers will now sell a
grossA gross is equal to a dozen dozen, i.e. 12 × 12 = 144.It can be used in duodecimal counting. The use of gross likely originated from the fact that 144 can be counted on the fingers using the fingertips and first two joints of each finger when marked by the thumb of one hand. The other hand...
of his cars and take up a dramatic voice."
Personal conflicts
Sellers' personality was described by others as difficult and demanding and he often clashed with fellow actors and directors. He had a strained relationship with friend and director
Blake EdwardsBlake Edwards was an American film director, screenwriter and producer.Edwards' career began in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon turned to writing radio scripts at Columbia Pictures...
, with whom he worked on the
Pink Panther series and
The Party. The two sometimes stopped speaking to each other during filming.
His work with
Orson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
on
Casino RoyaleCasino Royale is a 1967 comedy spy film originally produced by Columbia Pictures starring an ensemble cast of directors and actors. It is set as a satire of the James Bond film series and the spy genre, and is loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel.The film stars David Niven as the...
deteriorated as Sellers became jealous of Welles's casual relationship with Princess Margaret. The relationship between the two actors created problems during filming, as Sellers refused to share the set with Welles, who himself was no stranger to strident behaviour.
Sellers could be cruel and disrespectful, as demonstrated by his treatment of actress
Jo Van FleetJo Van Fleet was an American theatre and film actress.-Career:Van Fleet established herself as a notable dramatic actress on Broadway over several years, winning a Tony Award in 1954 for her skill in a difficult role, playing an unsympathetic, even abusive character, in Horton Foote's The Trip to...
on the set of
I Love You, Alice B. ToklasI Love You, Alice B. Toklas is a 1968 comedy film starring Peter Sellers, directed by Hy Averback and featuring music by Harpers Bizarre. The film is set in the counterculture of the 1960s. The addition cast includes David Arkin, Jo Van Fleet, Leigh Taylor-Young, in her film debut, and a cameo by...
. On one occasion, Van Fleet had declined an invitation to his house, soon followed by a misunderstanding between the two actors during filming. This prompted Sellers to launch a tirade against Van Fleet in front of actors and crew.
Sellers' difficulties to maintain civil and peaceful relationships also extended into his private life. He assaulted his then wife,
Britt EklandBritt-Marie Ekland is a Swedish actress and singer, and a long time resident of the United Kingdom. She is best known for her roles as a Bond girl in The Man with the Golden Gun, and in the British cult horror film The Wicker Man, as well as her marriage to actor Peter Sellers, and her...
, prompted by jealousy. Sellers sometimes blamed himself for his failed marriages. In a 1974
Parkinson interview, he admitted that "I'm not easy to live with".
Heart condition and death
In the spring of 1964, at age 38, Sellers suffered a series of
heart attackMyocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
s (13 in a few days) while working on the set of Billy Wilder's
Kiss Me, StupidKiss Me, Stupid is a 1964 American comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Dean Martin, Kim Novak, and Ray Walston.The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on Wife For a Night , an Italian film starring Gina Lollobrigida -- which was itself taken from a play by Anna Bonacci...
, and he was replaced by
Ray WalstonRay Walston was an American stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian. In addition, he is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific , Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees , J.J...
. Although Sellers survived, his heart was permanently damaged. Sellers chose to consult with
psychic healersPsychic surgery is a procedure typically involving the supposed creation of an incision using only the bare hands, the supposed removal of pathological matter, and the seemingly spontaneous healing of the incision....
rather than seek conventional Western medical treatment, and his heart condition continued to deteriorate over the next 16 years. In late 1977, he suffered a second major heart attack, resulting in his being fitted with a
pacemakerA pacemaker is a medical device that uses electrical impulses, delivered by electrodes contacting the heart muscles, to regulate the beating of the heart...
to regulate his heartbeat. Once again, Sellers refused to slow down, nor did he follow doctors' orders and consider open heart surgery, which could well have extended his life by several years.
A reunion dinner was scheduled in London with his
Goon Show partners,
Spike MilliganTerence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
and
Harry SecombeSir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
, for 25 July 1980. But around noon on 22 July, Sellers collapsed from a massive heart attack in his
Dorchester HotelThe Dorchester is a luxury hotel in London, opened on 18 April 1931. It is situated on Park Lane in Mayfair, overlooking Hyde Park.The Dorchester was created by the famous builder Sir Robert McAlpine and the managing director of Gordon Hotels Ltd, Sir Frances Towle, who shared a vision of creating...
room and fell into a coma. He died in a London hospital just after midnight on 24 July 1980, aged 54. He was survived by his fourth wife,
Lynne FrederickLynne Maria Frederick was an English film actress. In a career spanning ten years she made about thirty films or television drama appearances, but she is best remembered as the last wife of Peter Sellers. She was married twice after his death.-Early life:Frederick was born in Hillingdon,...
, and his three children. At the time of his death, he was scheduled to undergo heart surgery in Los Angeles on 30 July 1980.
Although Sellers was reportedly in the process of excluding Frederick from his
willA will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
a week before he died, she inherited almost his entire estate worth an estimated
£The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
4.5 million while his children received £800 each. When Frederick died in 1994 (aged 39), her mother Iris inherited everything, including all of the income and royalties from Sellers' work. When Iris dies the whole estate will go to Cassie, the daughter Lynne had with her third husband, Barry Unger. Sellers' only son, Michael, died of a heart attack at 52 during surgery on 24 July 2006 (26 years to the day after his father's death). Michael was survived by his second wife, Alison, whom he married in 1986, and their two children.
In his will, Sellers requested that the
Glenn MillerAlton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
song "
In the Mood"In the Mood" is a big band era #1 hit recorded by American bandleader Glenn Miller. Joe Garland and Andy Razaf arranged "In the Mood" in 1937-1939 using a previously existing main theme composed by Glenn Miller before the start of the 1930s...
" be played at his funeral. The request is considered his last touch of humour, as he hated the piece. His body was cremated and he was interred at
Golders Green CrematoriumGolders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000, and was opened in 1902 by Sir Henry Thompson....
in London. After her death in 1994, the ashes of his former widow Frederick were co-interred with his.
Legacy and influence
The stage play, “Being Sellers,” premiered in Australia in 1998, three years after release of the biography by Roger Lewis, “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.” The play premiered in New York in December 2010. In 2004, the book was turned into an HBO film,
The Life and Death of Peter SellersThe Life and Death of Peter Sellers is a 2004 film about the life of English comic actor Peter Sellers, based on Roger Lewis' book of the same name...
, starring
Geoffrey RushGeoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
.
The film
Trail of the Pink PantherTrail of the Pink Panther is a 1982 comedy film starring Peter Sellers. It was the seventh film in the Pink Panther series, and the last in which Peter Sellers starred as Inspector Jacques Clouseau, although Sellers died before production began and the film thus contains no original material...
, made by Blake Edwards using unused footage of Sellers from
The Pink Panther Strikes AgainThe Pink Panther Strikes Again is the fifth film in the Pink Panther series and picks up where The Return of the Pink Panther leaves off...
, is dedicated to Sellers's memory. The title reads "To Peter ... The one and only Inspector Clouseau."
In a 2005 poll to find "The Comedian's Comedian", Sellers was voted 14 in the list of the top 20 greatest comedians by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. British comedian
Sacha Baron CohenSacha Noam Baron Cohen is an English stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and voice artist. He is most widely known for his portrayal of three unorthodox fictional characters: Ali G, Borat, and Brüno...
frequently referred to Peter Sellers "as the most seminal force in shaping his early ideas on comedy". Cohen was considered for the role of the biopic
The Life and Death of Peter SellersThe Life and Death of Peter Sellers is a 2004 film about the life of English comic actor Peter Sellers, based on Roger Lewis' book of the same name...
(the role went to Australian actor
Geoffrey RushGeoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
).
Filmography
| Year |
Film |
Role |
Notes |
| 1950 |
The Black Rose The Black Rose is a 1950 20th Century-Fox film starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles, loosely based on Thomas B. Costain's book. It was filmed partly on location in England and Morocco which substitutes for the Gobi Desert of China...
|
Alfonso Bedoya |
Voice (uncredited) |
| 1951 |
Penny Points to Paradise Penny Points to Paradise is a 1951 comedy feature film. The film was the feature film debut of the stars of The Goon Show, Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers....
|
The Major/Arnold Fringe |
|
| Let's Go Crazy Let's Go Crazy is a 1951 comedy film marking an early appearance of Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers playing multiple roles.-Cast:*Peter Sellers*Spike Milligan*Wallas Eaton*Tommy Manley*Florence Austin*Freddie Mirfield*Keith Warwick...
|
Groucho/Giuseppe/Cedric
/Izzy/Gozzunk/Crystal Jollibottom |
|
| 1952 |
Down Among the Z Men Down Among the Z Men is a B/W 1952 British comedy film starring The Goons; Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Michael Bentine and Harry Secombe.-Plot:...
|
Major Bloodnok |
|
| 1953 |
Our Girl Friday Our Girl Friday is a 1953 British comedy film starring Joan Collins, George Cole, Kenneth More and Robertson Hare...
|
Parrot |
Voice (uncredited) |
| 1954 |
Orders are Orders Orders Are Orders is a 1954 British comedy film directed by David Paltenghi, and featuring Peter Sellers, Sid James, Tony Hancock, Raymond Huntley, Donald Pleasence and Eric Sykes. It was a remake of the 1933 film Orders Is Orders.-Synopsis:...
|
Private Griffin |
|
| 1955 |
John and Julie John and Julie was a 1955 British comedy film. It featured Peter Sellers and Sid James in early screen roles-Plot:John and Julie are two children who personally want to see The Queen's coronation in spite of the fact that their parents have no intention of going. The two decide to run off to...
|
Police Constable Diamond |
|
The LadykillersThe Ladykillers is a 1955 British black comedy film made by Ealing Studios. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, it stars Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner and Katie Johnson...
|
Mr. Robinson |
|
| 1956 |
The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn is a 30 minute comedy film starring Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Dick Emery. The film was made in November 1955, and released in 1956....
|
Narrator/Supt. Quilt
/Asst. Commissioner Sir Jervis Fruit/Henry Crun |
|
| The Man Who Never Was The Man Who Never Was is a nonfiction 1953 book by Ewen Montagu and a 1956 Second World War war film, based on the book and dramatising actual events...
|
Winston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
|
Voice only |
| 1957 |
Insomnia Is Good for You Insomnia is Good for You is a 1957 British short comedy film directed by Leslie Arliss and starring Peter Sellers as Hector Dimwiddle. It was made and released by Park Lane Films....
|
Hector Dimwiddle |
Short film |
| The Smallest Show on Earth The Smallest Show on Earth is a 1957 British comedy film, directed by Basil Dearden, and starring Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Peter Sellers and Margaret Rutherford. The supporting cast included Bernard Miles, Leslie Phillips, Francis de Wolff, George Cross, June Cunningham and Sid James...
|
Leslie Quill |
|
| The Naked Truth The Naked Truth is a 1957 British film comedy starring Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas and Dennis Price. Peggy Mount, Shirley Eaton and Joan Sims also appear...
|
Sonny McGregor |
|
| 1958 |
Up the Creek Up the Creek is a 1958 British comedy film written and directed by Val Guest which starred David Tomlinson, Peter Sellers, Wilfrid Hyde-White, David Lodge and Lionel Jeffries.-Plot synopsis:...
|
CPO Doherty |
|
| tom thumb Deliberately uncapitalised, tom thumb is a 1958 fantasy-musical film directed by George Pal and released by MGM. It was based on the fairy tale of the same name...
|
Antony |
|
| 1959 |
Carlton-Browne of the F.O. Carlton-Browne of the F.O. is a 1959 British comedy film made by the Boulting Brothers.-Plot:...
|
Prime Minister Amphibulos |
|
The Mouse That RoaredThe Mouse That Roared is a 1955 Cold War satirical novel by Irish-American writer Leonard Wibberley, which launched a series of satirical books about an imaginary country in Europe called the Duchy of Grand Fenwick...
|
Grand Duchess Gloriana XII / Prime Minister
Count Rupert Mountjoy / Tully Bascombe |
Three roles. |
| I'm All Right Jack I'm All Right Jack is a 1959 British comedy film directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting from a script by Frank Harvey, John Boulting and Alan Hackney, based on the novel Private Life by Hackney...
|
Fred Kite |
BAFTA Award for Best British Actor Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:...
|
| The Battle of the Sexes The Battle of the Sexes is a 1959 British comedy film starring Peter Sellers and directed by Charles Crichton, based on the short story The Catbird Seat, by James Thurber. The story was adapted by Monja Danischewsky.-Cast:* Peter Sellers as Mr...
|
Mr. Martin |
|
| 1960 |
The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film is a short film directed by Richard Lester and Peter Sellers, in collaboration with Bruce Lacey. The film was released in 1960....
|
Photographer |
Short Film
Also Writer/Producer/Director
San Francisco International Film Festival Award for Best Fiction ShortSan Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Live Action Short FilmThis name for the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film was introduced in 1974. For the three preceding years it was known as "Short Subjects, Live Action Films." The term "Short Subjects, Live Action Subjects" was used from 1957 until 1970. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate...
|
| Never Let Go Never Let Go is a 1960 British thriller film starring Peter Sellers and Richard Todd. It concerns a man's purchase, loss of, and attempt to recover a Ford Anglia car. Sellers played a London villain, in one of his rare straight roles.-Plot:...
|
Lionel Meadows |
|
| The Millionairess The Millionairess is a 1960 British romantic comedy film set in London, directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers...
|
Dr. Ahmed el Kabir |
|
| Two-Way Stretch Two-Way Stretch, sometimes titled Nothing Barred, is a 1960 British comedy film, about a group of prisoners who plan to break out of jail, commit a robbery, and then break back into jail again, thus giving them the perfect alibi – that they were behind bars when the robbery occurred...
|
Dodger Lane |
|
| 1961 |
Mr. Topaze Mr. Topaze was Peter Sellers' directorial debut in 1961. Starring Sellers, Nadia Gray, and Leo McKern as well as Herbert Lom who quarreled with Seller's Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies...
|
Auguste Topaze |
Also Director |
| 1962 |
Only Two Can PlayOnly Two Can Play is a 1962 comedy film based on the novel That Uncertain Feeling by Kingsley Amis. Sidney Gilliat directed the film from a screenplay by Bryan Forbes....
|
John Lewis |
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best British Actor Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:...
|
| Waltz of the Toreadors Waltz of the Toreadors is a 1962 film directed by John Guillermin. It stars Peter Sellers and Dany Robin. It was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 1963.-Cast:*Peter Sellers as General Leo Fitzjohn*Dany Robin as Ghislaine...
|
General Leo Fitzjohn |
San Sebastián International Film Festival Award for Best Actor The San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953...
|
| The Road to Hong Kong The Road to Hong Kong starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Joan Collins, was the last in the long-running Road to … series and the only episode not produced by Paramount Pictures, though reference to the other films in the series are shown in Maurice Binder's opening title sequence...
|
Indian Neurologist |
Uncredited |
LolitaLolita is a 1962 comedy-drama film by Stanley Kubrick based on the classic novel of the same title by Vladimir Nabokov. The film stars James Mason as Humbert Humbert, Sue Lyon as Dolores Haze and Shelley Winters as Charlotte Haze with Peter Sellers as Clare Quilty.Due to the MPAA's restrictions at...
|
Clare Quilty |
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture |
| Trial and Error |
Wilfred Morgenhall |
|
| 1963 |
The Wrong Arm of the Law The Wrong Arm of the Law is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Cliff Owen and starring Peter Sellers, Bernard Cribbins, Lionel Jeffries, John Le Mesurier and Bill Kerr...
|
Pearly Gates |
|
| Heavens Above! Heavens Above! is a 1963 British satirical comedy film starring Peter Sellers, directed by John and Roy Boulting, who also co-wrote along with Frank Harvey, from an idea by Malcolm Muggeridge...
|
The Reverend John Smallwood |
|
The Pink PantherThe Pink Panther is a 1963 American comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and co-written by Edwards and Maurice Richlin, starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine, and Claudia Cardinale...
|
Inspector Jacques Clouseau |
First in the Pink Panther series
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best British ActorBest Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:...
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1964 |
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb |
Group Captain Lionel Mandrake / President Merkin Muffley / Dr. Strangelove |
Three roles
Nominated — Academy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best British ActorBest Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:...
|
The World of Henry OrientThe World of Henry Orient is a 1964 American comedy film based on the novel of the same name by Nora Johnson. It was directed by George Roy Hill and stars Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury, Tippy Walker, Merrie Spaeth, Phyllis Thaxter, Bibi Osterwald, and Tom Bosley.Filming started in...
|
Henry Orient |
|
| A Shot in the Dark A Shot in the Dark is a 1964 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and is the second installment in the Pink Panther series. Peter Sellers is featured again as Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the French Sûreté...
|
Inspector Jacques Clouseau |
Sequel to the Pink Panther |
| 1965 |
Birds, Bees and Storks |
Narrator |
Voice |
| What's New Pussycat |
Doctor Fritz Fassbender |
|
| 1966 |
The Wrong Box The Wrong Box is a British comedy film made by Salamander Film Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was produced and directed by Bryan Forbes from a screenplay by Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove, based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne.The cast includes a...
|
Doctor Pratt |
|
| After the Fox After the Fox is a 1966 British-Italian comedy film starring Peter Sellers and directed by Vittorio De Sica. The screenplay is in English, by Neil Simon and De Sica's longtime collaborator Cesare Zavattini....
|
Aldo Vanucci |
|
| 1967 |
Casino RoyaleCasino Royale is a 1967 comedy spy film originally produced by Columbia Pictures starring an ensemble cast of directors and actors. It is set as a satire of the James Bond film series and the spy genre, and is loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel.The film stars David Niven as the...
|
Evelyn Tremble |
Also (Uncredited) Writer |
| Woman Times Seven Woman Times Seven is a 1967 Italian/French/American co-production anthology film of seven different episodes, all starring Shirley MacLaine with most based on aspects of adultery...
|
Jean |
|
| The Bobo The Bobo is a 1967 British comedy film starring Peter Sellers and co-starring his then-wife Britt Ekland. Based on the 1959 novel Olimpia by Burt Cole, also known as Thomas Dixon, Sellers is featured as the would-be singing matador, Juan Bautista...
|
Juan Bautista |
|
| 1968 |
The PartyThe Party is a 1968 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, starring Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet. The film has a very loose structure, and essentially serves as a series of set pieces for Sellers's improvisational comedy talents...
|
Hrundi V. Bakshi |
|
| I Love You, Alice B. Toklas! |
Harold |
|
| 1969 |
The Magic ChristianThe Magic Christian is a 1969 British comedy film directed by Joseph McGrath and starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, with noteworthy appearances by John Cleese, Raquel Welch, Christopher Lee, Richard Attenborough and Roman Polanski. It was loosely adapted from the 1959 comic novel of the same...
|
Sir Guy Grand KG, KC, CBE |
Also Writer |
| 1970 |
A Day at the Beach A Day at the Beach is a 1970 film based on the 1962 book Een dagje naar het strand by Dutch author Heere Heeresma. The screenplay was written by Roman Polanski, who was originally intended to be the director, although most of the direction was finally done by first-timer Simon Hesera.-Plot:Set in...
|
Salesman |
|
| Hoffman Hoffman is a 1970 British film directed by Alvin Rakoff and starring Peter Sellers, Sinéad Cusack, Jennifer Ruth Dunning and Jeremy Bulloch....
|
Benjamin Hoffman |
|
| Simon, Simon Simon, Simon is a 1970 Sound Effect comedy short film directed by Graham Stark.-Synopsis:Two handymen, cause chaos on a new crane while haphazardly trying to accomplish jobs for their ever more frustrated boss...
|
Man with two cars |
|
| There's a Girl in My Soup There's a Girl in My Soup is a 1970 British comedy film, directed by Roy Boulting and starring Peter Sellers and Goldie Hawn. Sellers appears as Robert Danvers, a vain, womanizing and wealthy host of a high-profile cooking show...
|
Robert Danvers |
|
| 1972 |
Where Does It Hurt? Where Does it Hurt? is a 1972 American comedy film directed by Rodney Amateau, and starring Peter Sellers, Jo Ann Pflug, and Rick Lenz....
|
Dr. Albert T. Hopfnagel |
|
| Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a 1972 British musical film based on the Lewis Carroll novel of the same name. It had an all star cast, and John Barry composed the score....
|
The March Hare |
|
| 1973 |
Ghost in the Noonday Sun Ghost in the Noonday Sun is a 1973 British comedy film, directed by Peter Medak, starring Peter Sellers, Anthony Franciosa and Spike Milligan. The script was written by Evan Jones and Ernest Tidyman with "additional dialogue" attributed to Spike Milligan. It was produced by Thomas Clyde & Gareth...
|
Dick Scratcher |
|
| The Blockhouse The Blockhouse is a 1973 film, based on a novel by Jean-Paul Clébert. It was directed by Clive Rees and starred Peter Sellers and Charles Aznavour. It was filmed entirely in Guernsey in the Channel Islands and was entered into the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival...
|
Rouquet |
|
| The Optimists |
Sam |
|
| 1974 |
Soft Beds, Hard Battles Soft Beds, Hard Battles is a 1974 British comedy film directed by Roy Boulting, and starring Peter Sellers....
|
Général Latour / Major Robinson / Herr Schroeder
/ Adolf Hitler / The President / Prince Kyoto |
Played six roles. |
| The Great McGonagall The Great McGonagall is a 1974 British comedy film directed by Joseph McGrath and starring Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Julia Foster. It is a humorous biopic of the Scottish poet William McGonagall.-Principal cast:...
|
Queen Victoria |
|
| 1975 |
The Return of the Pink PantherThe Return of the Pink Panther is the fourth film in the Pink Panther series, released in 1975. The film stars Peter Sellers in the role of Inspector Clouseau in his third Panther appearance, after the original The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark.Herbert Lom also reprises his role as Chief...
|
Inspector Jacques Clouseau |
Third film by Sellers in the Pink Panther series
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1976 |
Murder by Death Murder by Death is a 1976 comedy film with a cast featuring Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, Nancy Walker, and Estelle Winwood, written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore.The plot is a spoof of...
|
Sidney Wang |
|
The Pink Panther Strikes AgainThe Pink Panther Strikes Again is the fifth film in the Pink Panther series and picks up where The Return of the Pink Panther leaves off...
|
Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau |
Fourth film by Sellers in the Pink Panther series
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1978 |
The Muppet Show |
Various characters, including Inspector Clouseau, a gypsy, Queen Victoria, a masseur, and a preacher. |
Episode 43 originally aired February 27, 1978 in New York, and February 24, 1978 in Los Angeles |
| Kingdom of Gifts Kingdom of Gifts was a film made in 1978. It was an animation made in the United Kingdom. The director was Ted Kneeland. The writers were Ted and Jo Anna Kneeland.Gemma Craven was the voice for The Unhappy Princess...
|
Larcenous Mayor |
Voice only |
| Revenge of the Pink Panther Revenge of the Pink Panther is the sixth film in the Pink Panther film series. Released in 1978, Revenge of was the last entry featuring series star Peter Sellers, who died in 1980...
|
Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau |
Fifth film by Sellers in the Pink Panther series |
| 1979 |
The Prisoner of Zenda The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1979 American comedy film directed by Richard Quine and adapted from the adventure novel by Anthony Hope, first published in 1894...
|
Rudolf IV / Rudolf V / Syd Frewin |
Played three roles. |
| Being There Being There is a 1979 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby. Adapted from the 1971 novella written by Jerzy Kosinski, the screenplay was coauthored by Kosinski and Robert C. Jones. The film stars Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard A...
|
Chance |
Fotogramas de Plata for Best Foreign Performance
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
London Film Critics Circle Special Award
National Board of Review Award for Best ActorAn incomplete list of the winners of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Award for Best Actor :-1940s:-1950s:-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
Nominated — Academy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best British ActorBest Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:...
|
| 1980 |
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu is a 1980 comedy film, notable as the final film of Peter Sellers, David Tomlinson and John Le Mesurier. Pre-production began with Richard Quine as director. By the time the film entered production, Piers Haggard had replaced him. Peter Sellers handled the...
|
Dennis Nayland Smith / Dr. Fu 'Fred' Manchu |
Last film. Played two roles.
Also (Uncredited) Director |
| 1982 |
Trail of the Pink PantherTrail of the Pink Panther is a 1982 comedy film starring Peter Sellers. It was the seventh film in the Pink Panther series, and the last in which Peter Sellers starred as Inspector Jacques Clouseau, although Sellers died before production began and the film thus contains no original material...
|
Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau |
Footage of Sellers used. |
Comedy singles
Sellers released several comedy singles, many of them produced by
George MartinSir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
and released on the
ParlophoneParlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...
record label. These include the following hits:
- "Any Old Iron" (1957) UK # 17
- "Goodness Gracious Me
"Goodness Gracious Me" is a comedy song recorded by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren, and was a top 5 UK single in 1960. It features Sellers acting the role of an Indian doctor, and Loren of his wealthy Italian patient – who fall in love....
" (1960) with Sophia LorenSophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
UK # 4
- "Bangers and Mash" (1961), a follow-up also featuring Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
UK # 22
- "A Hard Day's Night" (1965) UK # 14. This consisted of him speaking the lyrics using the stereotypical voice of an actor playing Shakespeare's Richard III
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
. He also performed the song in costume on television. The recording was re-issued in 1993 and reached Number 52 in the UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
He covered several other of
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
hits, including "
Help!"Help!" is a song by The Beatles that served as the title song for both the 1965 film and its soundtrack album. It was also released as a single, and was number one for three weeks in both the United States and the United Kingdom....
" and "
She Loves You"She Loves You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney based on an idea by McCartney, originally recorded by The Beatles for release as a single in 1963. The single set and surpassed several records in the United Kingdom charts, and set a record in the United States by being one of the...
". Sellers also recorded a parody version of "
Unchained Melody"Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. It has become one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, by some counts having spawned over 500 versions in hundreds of different languages....
", which long went unreleased.
When asked in 1960 what he thought the music business would be like in ten years' time, Sellers retorted:
NMEThe New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
, November 1960.
Albums
Sellers made several albums, mostly of comedy pieces using his talent for voices.
Discography:
- The Best of Sellers (1959) UK # 3
- Songs For Swinging Sellers (1959) UK # 3
- Peter & Sophia (1960) UK # 5 with Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
- Fool Britannia (1963) UK # 10 with Anthony Newley
Anthony George Newley was an English actor, singer and songwriter. He enjoyed success as a performer in such diverse fields as rock and roll and stage and screen acting.-Early life:...
and Joan CollinsJoan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
.
- How To Win An Election (1964) UK # 20 with Harry Secombe
Sir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
and Spike MilliganTerence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
(Note: unlike The Last Goon Show Of All this release was not credited to The Goons.)
- He's Innocent of Watergate (1974) with Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
- Sellers Market (1979) his final album
Further reading
1108 pages.
Published in the U.S. via Applause Books Roger LewisRoger Lewis , a former Fellow of Wolfson College at Oxford University, is the biographer of Anthony Burgess. Lewis's book, Anthony Burgess: A Life, was published in 2002....
's biography of Sellers is very comprehensive, and includes a very comprehensive index.
- Mr Strangelove; A Biography of Peter Sellers, a book by Ed Sikov
- P.S. I Love You by Michael Sellers 1981
- A Hard Act to Follow Michael Sellers (with Gary Morecambe, 1996).
- Sellers on Sellers Michael Sellers (2000, co-written with Gary Morecambe)
See also
- The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers is a 2004 film about the life of English comic actor Peter Sellers, based on Roger Lewis' book of the same name...
(2004), HBO/BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
movie with Geoffrey RushGeoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
in the title role.
External links
Video clips