Peter Sellers

Richard Henry Sellers (September 8, 1925 – July 24, 1980), better known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian, talented comic actor, and performer on The Goon Show (a long-running BBC radio show, 1951-1960).

Biography

Sellers was born in Southsea, Hampshire, England, to a family of entertainers. He attended a Catholic school, although his father was Protestant and his mother was Jewish.

Related Topics:
Southsea - Hampshire - England - Catholic - Protestant - Jewish

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Probably following his family in the variety circuit, Sellers learnt this popular yet difficult art and the immediate instinct of the "gag". He was an incredibly versatile artist: an excellent dancer, a skillful player of the ukulele and banjo, and a drummer good enough to tour with several jazz bands. He is known to have performed at the Windmill Theatre.

Related Topics:
Variety - Dancer - Ukulele - Banjo - Drummer - Jazz - Windmill Theatre

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During World War II, Sellers was an airman in the Royal Air Force, rising to corporal by the end of the war. During his leisure periods, he did impersonations of his superiors. This helped Sellers in his later film Dr. Strangelove.

Related Topics:
World War II - Royal Air Force - Corporal - Film - Dr. Strangelove

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His success was quite slow in coming. He phoned up a television producer pretending to be Kenneth Horne, who was currently in the show Much Binding in the Marsh, in order to get them to speak to him. Success came as one of the Goons on the radio programme The Goon Show with now-deceased fellow comedians Spike Milligan, Sir Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine and was followed by early television work.

Related Topics:
Television - Kenneth Horne - Much Binding in the Marsh - Goons - Radio - The Goon Show - Comedians - Spike Milligan - Sir - Harry Secombe - Michael Bentine

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Sellers' first film successes were in British comedy films, including The Ladykillers (1955), I'm All Right Jack (1959) and The Mouse That Roared (1959); however, he is most famous for his role as the bungling Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies, which gave him a worldwide audience. The movie The Trail of the Pink Panther was released posthumously in 1982, containing previously unused footage of Sellers. Sellers' widow Lynne Frederick later successfully sued the film's producers; it is not listed in the actor's list of "official" films on the Internet Movie Database.

Related Topics:
Film - British comedy - The Ladykillers - 1955 - I'm All Right Jack - 1959 - The Mouse That Roared - Inspector Clouseau - Pink Panther - The Trail of the Pink Panther - 1982 - Widow - Lynne Frederick - Internet Movie Database

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Sellers was the first male to appear on the cover of Playboy ? he appeared on the April 1964 cover with Karen Lynn.

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Playboy - 1964 - Karen Lynn

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Sellers was launched internationally with the hit The Millionairess. In Stanley Kubrick's ' he notably played the triple role consisting of U.S. President Merkin Muffley, Dr. Strangelove, and Group Captain Lionel Mandrake of the RAF (the first two appearing in the same room throughout the film). He was remarkably versatile, switching easily from broad comedy as in The Party, to more intense performances as in Lolita (from Vladimir Nabokov's notorious novel). Sellers' career slumped in the early 1970s but, after reviving the Clouseau character, he was able to produce his cherished project Being There in 1979, winning his best reviews since the 1960s. This, his last great film, brought Peter his second Academy Award nomination.

Related Topics:
The Millionairess - Stanley Kubrick - U.S. - President - RAF - Film - Comedy - The Party - Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov - 1970s - Clouseau - Being There - 1979 - 1960s - Academy Award

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Commonly considered a master actor and sometimes described as an "obsessive perfectionist", Sellers found in Blake Edwards a devoted director who could delicately underline and follow his comic rhythms; Edwards defined Sellers as a "mercurial clown" who could turn comedy into drama, and vice-versa, in an instant. He could also be cruel, as he demonstrated in his treatment of actress Jo Van Fleet on the set of I Love You, Alice B. Toklas, when she made a slight faux pas and offended him.

Related Topics:
Actor - Perfectionist - Blake Edwards - Director - Clown - Comedy - Drama - Vice-versa - Jo Van Fleet - I Love You, Alice B. Toklas - Faux pas

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He was nominated twice for an Academy Award, but was unsuccessful on both occasions, although he won a British Academy Award (BAFTA) for I'm All Right Jack. With Sophia Loren Sellers also recorded the top 10 UK single Goodness Gracious Me.

Related Topics:
Academy Award - British Academy Award - I'm All Right Jack - Sophia Loren - Goodness Gracious Me

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Sellers had casual friendships with two of the Beatles, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Harrison told occasional Sellers stories in interviews, and Starr appeared with him in the anarchic movie The Magic Christian, whose theme song was Badfinger's cover version of Paul McCartney's Come And Get It. Starr also gave Sellers a rough mix of songs from the Beatles' White Album, and the tape was auctioned (and bootlegged) after his death.

Related Topics:
Beatles - George Harrison - Ringo Starr - Anarchic - The Magic Christian - Badfinger - Cover version - Paul McCartney - Come And Get It - White Album - Bootlegged

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Sellers was married four times, his first to actress Anne Howe ended after she claimed he was having an affair with Sophia Loren though Loren has maintained that Sellers had become obsessed with her but it was not reciprocated. His second marriage was to the Swedish actress Britt Ekland. In 1970 he married Miranda Quarry. His wife at the time of his death was Lynne Frederick, who later married Sir David Frost. Sellers was also a close friend of Princess Margaret.

Related Topics:
Anne Howe - Sophia Loren - Swedish - Actress - Britt Ekland - 1970 - Lynne Frederick - Sir - David Frost - Princess Margaret

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Another interesting trait was his love for cars; he was believed to have owned and sold many different cars by the late sixties. This was briefly parodied in a fleeting cameo in the short film Simon Simon, directed by his friend Graham Stark.

Related Topics:
Cars - Sixties - Simon Simon - Graham Stark

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Sellers died at the age of 54 of a heart attack on July 24, 1980, survived by his last wife, English actress Lynne Frederick, in London, England, having already suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 1964 at the age of 38. At the time of his death, he was due to undergo heart surgery. He was cremated. His premature death was perhaps hastened by his belief in "alternative medicine", including psychic surgery.

Related Topics:
Heart attack - July 24 - 1980 - Lynne Frederick - London, England - Heart attack - 1964 - Heart surgery - Cremated - Alternative medicine - Psychic surgery

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In his will Sellers explicitly requested that Glenn Miller's song In The Mood be played for his funeral. The request is considered his last touch of humour; his friends knew he deeply hated the song.

Related Topics:
Will - Glenn Miller - In The Mood - Funeral

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Roger Lewis wrote about the "madness" and bizarre behavior of Sellers in his biography, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (Applause Books, 1997). Lewis' biography was adapted for the HBO movie, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), with Geoffrey Rush in the title role.

Related Topics:
Roger Lewis - Biography - The Life and Death of Peter Sellers - 1997 - HBO - The Life and Death of Peter Sellers - 2004 - Geoffrey Rush

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In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, Sellers was voted amongst the top 20 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

Related Topics:
2005 - The Comedian's Comedian - Comedians

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