Richard Henry "Peter"
Sellers, was born on 8th September 1925 and
was brought up by his parents who were both
vaudeville entertainers. Thus as a young
child he used to travel frequently with his
family. Peter became intrigued in observing
the behavior of other people he used to
meet. This helped him develop his
observational humor and skills for mimicry.
His family were musical and Peter was
encouraged to learn different musical
instruments including the banjo, ukulele and
drums. Peter picked up these instruments
quickly, demonstrating his versatile
artistic and musical capacities. At one time
he considered a career as a jazz drummer.
After the war he gained a
good reputation on the radio and Peter was
able to make his first break into Film. He
first film was the low key "Penny Points To
Paradise". But later on he appeared in
several influential and popular films such
as “The LadyKillers” (1955) (with Alec
Guinness, an actor he admired a lot) and
“The Mouse that Roared” (1959) In the Mouse
that Roared he showed his versatility by
playing a couple of characters. As an
American film, this also helped raise his
profile in Hollywood, leading to some key
roles shortly after.
In 1963 director Blake
Edwards was given the job of directing a new
series of films called the Pink Panther.
Peter Sellers proved to be an inspired
choice for the dimwitted and hapless French
police There was mutual appreciation between
Sellers and Edwards. In Sellers, Edwards
found an actor who had the initiative and
natural talent to make a character his own.
Peter Sellers also warmed to Edwards because
he was able to bring his own ideas and
suggestions to the role. The film and
subsequent follow were released to both
popular and commercial acclaim.
In 1964 Peter Sellers
starred in arguably his finest film “Dr
Strangelove” or How I Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) . The
Director of Columbia Movies insisted on
Peter Sellers on playing the lead role. In
fact Peter went on to play 3 characters in
the film including U.S. President Merkin
Muffley, Dr. Strangelove, and British RAF
officer Group Captain Lionel Mandrake. The
film was nominated for 4 Academy Awards and
3 BAFTAs. It regularly appears in lists of
the top 100 films of all time. (It was voted
to be number number 26 by the America film
institute’s 100 years 100 films)
It was also in 1964
that
Peter Sellers suffered a near fatal
heart attack. He only just survived with his
heart stopping completely. There followed a
less successful period in which many of
Peter Sellers films failed to be successful.
By the mid 1970s Peter Sellers reputation
had taken a definite fall. However another
successor to the Pink Panther series (The
Return of the Pink Panther 1974) had a
galvanising effect on his career, firmly
cementing his position as one of the all
time greats of cinema. As well as comedy it
is worth noting that Peter Sellers was very
versatile as an actor. One of his finest
films was an understated film about a simple
gardener, mistaken for an Economics Guru.
His carefully balanced role in playing the
gardener Chance, earned him a second Oscar
nomination for the film “Being There” in
1979.
