Peter Sellers

[Jerry Peterson]

My mention yesterday of the movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb got me to wondering about Peter Sellers. Sellers played Strangelove and two other characters in that 1964 Stanley Kubrick film.

Was Sellers a writer? Did he write any books?

Sadly, no.

He did write his own material in his early days as a stand-up comedian and for his records. And he was a quick wit at ad-libbing. But in radio, television, and the movies, he looked to others to provide his words. What he did with them and the characters and the scenes those writers created for him was pure Peter Sellers – laugh-out-loud, roll-in-the-aisles funny.

His Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther series of films was . . . well, all I need do is mention Clouseau and we all relive our favorite scenes. Mine were his return to his apartment to be attacked by his house boy, Cato Fong. It’s a running joke that Cato is told by Clouseau to jump him without warning, to keep Clouseau’s combat skills and vigilance sharp. Cato does, and the catastrophes that follow are slapstick genius.

Sellers’ son, Michael, also an actor, was the writer in the family. He wrote three biographies of his father: P.S. I Love You (1981), A Hard Act to Follow (1996), and Sellers on Sellers (2000).

The two did not get along well, but the younger Sellers defended his father whenever public disputes arose.

Curiously, Michael died on the same date that his father died – July 24 – only 26 years later. Both men went out with heart attacks, Sellers senior in 1980 at age 54, and Sellers junior four years ago at age 52.