Sellers, Peter (1925-1980), was a popular English film actor known for his versatility in comic roles. He became internationally famous as the bumbling French policeman Inspector Clouseau in a series of movie comedies.
Sellers was born in Southsea, England, on Sept. 8, 1925. His real name was Richard Henry Sellers. He gained widespread recognition in England in an enormously popular radio program called “The Goon Show” (1951-1959). Sellers made his film debut in 1951 and became a leading comic actor in British films with his appearances in The Ladykillers (1955), The Smallest Show on Earth (1957), The Mouse That Roared (1959), and I’m Alright, Jack (1959).
By the early 1960’s, Sellers was an international star, working in Hollywood and Europe. He won acclaim in Lolita (1962) and the satire Dr. Strangelove (1964), in which he played three major roles. In 1963, Sellers made his first appearance as Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther. The inspector was a supporting figure in this film but became the leading character in a string of comedy hits—Shot in the Dark (1964), The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), and The Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978). Sellers’s other major films include Only Two Can Play (1962), I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968), Murder by Death (1976), and Being There (1979). He died on July 24, 1980.
