Edwards, Blake (1922-2010), was an American motion-picture director best known for the “Pink Panther” series of film comedies. Nearly all the films featured the bumbling actions of an incompetent French police inspector named Clouseau. The character was played in most of the films by the English actor Peter Sellers. Edwards began the series with The Pink Panther (1963). The other films in the series were A Shot in the Dark (1964), The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978), Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), and Son of the Pink Panther (1993). Edwards wrote and produced many of his movies besides directing them. Several of them starred his wife, Julie Andrews, whom he married in 1969.
William Blake Crump was born on July 26, 1922, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He acted in several films during the 1940’s and made his debut as a director in 1955 with Bring Your Smile Along. His first recognition came as the creator of three popular action television series, “Peter Gunn” (1958-1960), “Mr. Lucky” (1959-1960), and “Dante’s Inferno” (1960-1961). Edwards had his greatest success between the late 1950’s and 1970. The major films he directed during that period include Operation Petticoat (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Experiment in Terror (1962), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), The Great Race (1965), and Darling Lili (1970). His later motion pictures include 10 (1979), S.O.B. (1981), Victor/Victoria (1982), Micki and Maude (1984), and Switch (1991). He died on Dec. 15, 2010.
