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A wheelchair-bound ex-Nazi scientist; a womanizing concert pianist; an Indian actor dreaming of Hollywood stardom; a childlike gardener obsessed with television; and, of course, a bumbling French police detective. These were just a few of the many diverse yet always fascinating comedic characters to spring from the manic genius of Peter Sellers. Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Oscar-nominated British actor’s birth.
Hailing from the Southsea suburb of Portsmouth, England, Sellers’ parents were both variety show performers, and his own stage debut came at the tender age of two weeks old. After serving in the RAF during World War II, Peter worked as a jazz dummer, comedian, and writer on stage, radio, and TV. His big break came when he joined fellow funnymen Michael Bentine, Spike Milligan, and Harry Secombe in what would become one of Britain’s most popular radio programs, The Goon Show. Debuting in 1951, the off-the-wall comedy gave Sellers the chance to voice such oddball regulars as military coward Major Denis Bloodnok, smooth-talking villain Hercules Grytpype-Thynne, and shrill-voiced adolescent Bluebottle (“You rotten swine, you!”).
By the time The Goon Show ended in 1960, Sellers had made a name for himself in British cinema. His versatility allowed him to shine in comedy (The Ladykillers), drama (Never Let Go), and fantasy (Tom Thumb). American audiences began to take notice of him in Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita and Dr. Strangelove, with Peter playing three parts in the latter. The role with which he would most be identified was as the maladroit Gallic manhunter Inspector Jacques Clouseau in Blake Edwards’ The Pink Panther in 1963.
After a heart attack forced him to drop out of Billy Wilder’s Kiss Me, Stupid in 1964, Sellers would star in several counterculture-themed ’60s comedies. Among them were the Woody Allen-scripted What’s New, Pussycat?; the James Bond spoof Casino Royale; opposite Ringo Starr in The Magic Christian; and There’s a Girl in My Soup with Goldie Hawn.
Recurring health issues only briefly slowed down Peter’s work pace in the ’70s. He reprised his role as Clouseau in The Return of the Pink Panther and two follow-ups; spoofed Charlie Chan as Sidney Wang in Neil Simon’s Murder by Death; and received critical acclaim and a third Academy Award nomination as Chance the Gardener in 1979’s Being There. It was on a return visit to London in July of 1980 that Sellers passed away from a heart attack at the age of 54. During a 1978 appearance on TV’s The Muppet Show, the man of countless characters told Kermit the Frog “I could never be myself…You see, there is no me. I do not exist…There used to be a me, but I had it surgically removed.”
To remember the comic genius that was Peter Sellers, this week’s poll invites you to vote for which of his films you enjoyed the most (For brevity’s sake, we combined his five Pink Panther pictures into one entry). If we’ve overlooked your favorite, please let us know in the comments.