Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers is a British comedian and actor best known for his role as Inspector Clouseau in Blake Edwards' Pink Panther movies, but particularly respected for groundbreaking comedic performances in such films as Dr. Strangelove and Being There. His personal failings and turbulent relationships were chronicled in the 2004 HBO biopic The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.

Fast Facts

1. Born: September 8, 1925
2. Died: July 24, 1980
3. Birthplace: Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
4. Married four times, once to actress Britt Ekland
5. 2005: Voted by fellow comedians as one of the Top 20 Comics of All Time

Career

Sellers came from a family of stage entertainers and began his own career on the BBC radio comedy The Goon Show. As a film actor, he was known for his ability to submerge his persona in the characters he played, transforming from a mad militarist (Dr. Strangelove), to a disillusioned white collar worker (I Love You, Alice B. Toklas), to an Indian actor (The Party), to the bumbling Inspector Clouseau. His 1979 role, as the dull witted Chauncey Gardiner in Being There, has been hailed by critics as a crowning achievement.

Films

• 1955: The Ladykillers
• 1957: The Smallest Show on Earth
• 1957: The Naked Truth
• 1958: Tom Thumb
• 1959: The Mouse That Roared
• 1959: Carlton-Browne of the F.O.
• 1959: I'm All Right Jack
• 1959: Battle of the Sexes
• 1960: The Millionairess
• 1960: Two Way Stretch
• 1962: Only Two Can Play
• 1962: The Wrong Arm of the Law
• 1962: Lolita
• 1962: Trial and Error
• 1963: The Pink Panther
• 1963: Heavens Above!
• 1964: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
• 1964: The World of Henry Orient
• 1964: A Shot in the Dark
• 1965: What's New, Pussycat?
• 1966: The Wrong Box
• 1966: After the Fox
• 1967: Casino Royale
• 1967: The Bobo
• 1968: The Party
• 1968: I Love You, Alice B. Toklas
• 1969: The Magic Christian
• 1970: There's a Girl in My Soup
• 1970: Hoffman
• 1972: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
• 1974: Soft Beds, Hard Battles
• 1974: The Great McGonagall
• 1975: The Return of the Pink Panther
• 1976: Murder by Death
• 1976: The Pink Panther Strikes Again
• 1978: The Revenge of the Pink Panther
• 1979: The Prisoner of Zenda
• 1979: Being There
• 1980: The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu
• 1982: Trail of the Pink Panther

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