Background

Sellers was born on 8 September 1925, in Southsea, a suburb of Portsmouth. His parents were Yorkshire-born William "Bill" Sellers (1900–62) and Agnes Doreen "Peg" (née Marks, 1892–1967). Both were variety entertainers; Peg was in the Ray Sisters troupe. Although christened Richard Henry, his parents called him Peter, after his elder stillborn brother. Sellers remained an only child.

Sellers was two weeks old when he was carried on stage by Dick Henderson, the headline act at the Kings Theatre in Southsea: the crowd sang "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow", which caused the infant to cry. The family constantly toured, causing much upheaval and unhappiness in the young Sellers' life.

Sellers maintained a very close relationship with his mother, which his friend Spike Milligan later considered unhealthy for a grown man. Sellers's agent, Dennis Selinger, recalled his first meeting with Peg and Peter Sellers, noting that "Sellers was an immensely shy young man, inclined to be dominated by his mother, but without resentment or objection." As an only child though, he spent much time alone.

In 1935 the Sellers family moved to North London and settled in Muswell Hill.

Education

Although Bill Sellers was Protestant and Peg was Jewish, Sellers attended the North London Roman Catholic school St. Aloysius College, run by the Brothers of Our Lady of Mercy. The family was not rich, but Peg insisted on an expensive private schooling for her son.

Sellers became a top student at the school, excelling in drawing in particular. However, he was prone to laziness, but his natural talents shielded him from criticism by his teachers. Sellers recalled that a teacher scolded the other boys for not studying, saying: "The Jewish boy knows his catechism better than the rest of you!"

While at St Aloysius College, Sellers began to develop his improvisational skills. With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, St Aloysius College was evacuated to Cambridgeshire. Because his mother did not allow Sellers to go, his formal education ended at fourteen.

Career

World War II found him, at the age of 18 in 1943, with the Royal Air Force (RAF). He joined ENSA (the forces entertainment company) and served in Burma, India, and the Middle East in camp comedy shows, later touring with the RAF "Gang Show." Sellers enjoyed his time with ENSA entertaining troops. In 1946 he was demobilized; he said it was "like coming out of the sunshine into the shade."

The two "demob" years (1946-1948) were, in fact, doldrums for Sellers. He went the exhausting round of visits to dispirited theatrical agent, he got the seasonal job of entertainment director of a holiday camp, and he played the ukelele in comic skits at clubs. Finally, with an audition at the famous Windmill Theatre in London in 1948, his career made a turn, albeit his act was scheduled between nude performances. He began to make a name for himself in variety shows, appearing at the London Palladium. Sellers telephoned a BBC producer, effectively mimicking two radio stars, Richard Murdoch and Kenneth Horne, as if they were recommending him for a job. The producer gave Sellers his first radio spot. Radio was a successful field for him, with his uncanny mimicry of voices.

In January 1952 Sellars, Spike Milligan, and Harry Secombe launched the Goon Show on BBC radio, an irreverent, impious show where the Goons jested in dozens of voices of imaginary characters—which Goon was which voice, no one cared. The Goon Show took the British nation by storm; it was a hit for nine years. Tapes of episodes of the Goon Show were still being sold worldwide almost 40 years later. On British television Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers later produced their satires: A Show Called Fred, Son of Fred and Yes, It's the Cathode Ray Tube Show.

The motion picture debut for Peter Sellers (after a number of small films, like Down Among the Z Men) was a small part in The Ladykillers (1956), starring Alec Guiness. More films came in 1957 to 1959 including Carlton-Browne of the F. O. starring Terry-Thomas (1959, titled in America Man in a Cocked Hat). This was the first movie Sellers made with the production and direction team of John and Ray Boulting. Sellers signed a five-year contract with the Boultings, but with two films in 1959, The Mouse That Roared and I'm All Right, Jack, he established his movie career. In the former he played the multiple parts of a prime minister, a duchess, and a constable in a mythical, debt-ridden European nation that decides to declare war on the United States, to be later rehabilitated (like Germany and Japan) by the Americans. In the latter film he played a self-important shop steward in a British postwar factory, pitting his cunning against management. Both movies were instant hits.

The World of Henry Orient (1964) was the first "American" movie that Sellers made and was the official U.S. entry in the Cannes Film Festival. He played a vain and lecherous pianist being chased by two teenagers. But his visit to Hollywood was cut short, he had the first of his heart attacks in April at the age of 38.

In England the first of his Pink Panther films was opening to enthused crowds while he recuperated. As inspector Clouseau, Peter Sellers gained his biggest audience. He played the Inspector as an imperturbable Gallic blunderer, a detective who could detect without knowing what he had done. The sequel, A Shot in the Dark, was released in the same year. Subsequent Pink Panther films were Return of the Pink Panther (1975) and two movies which exceeded $100 million each in revenues, The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) and the Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978).

In contrast, also released in 1964 was the satiric film Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, in which Sellers played three parts: the mad scientist, Dr. Strangelove; the U.S. President Muffley; and RAF Group-Captain Mandrake. The 1960's were a busy time for Sellers. During this time he also made What's New, Pussy Cat? He played Fritz Fassbender, a psychiatrist with psychotic problems; it was a pure farce.

During his life, Sellers was featured in 52 movies: some were mediocre and some were a financial failure. Being There (1979) was the finest film he ever made, and he knew it. The movie, based on the novel and script by Jerzy Kosinski, concerned a strange case of mistaken identity in which a passive, harmless, and not-so-simple-minded gardener ("Chance" or Chauncey Gardiner) hooked on television was believed by the people around him to be an economic genius and oracle. Sellers (as Chance) becomes an adviser to the U.S. President, and in line for the presidency himself. Wry, understated humor marked Seller's performance in this film, in contrast with the farcical Pink Panther movies and the zany Goon Show. Without eccentric accents, multiple characters (he plays only Chance), and buffoonery, Sellers masterfully portrayed a man made illustrious by what other people detected in him, whether it was true or not. In The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980) he was co-author and director of the movie and played Dr. Fu Manchu.

Sellers had a script for a revival, called The Romance of the Pink Panther, in his possession at the Dorchester Hotel on the day of his death. His weak heart, which gave him trouble in 1964, 1977, and again in 1979, finally caused his death in 1980.

Achievements

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  One of the greatest comedy legends, Peter Sellers is best remembered for playing the role of ‘Inspector Jacques Clouseau’ in ‘The Pink Panther’. A versatile actor who was capable of portraying multiple characters, Sellers, was perhaps the only one of his kind. A genius from the start, he was described once as “the master of playing men who have no idea how ridiculous they are”, by none other than his biographer, Ed Sikov. Technically, he was perfect, making almost all of his performances impeccable.
  
  Sellers was nominated three times for an Academy Award, twice for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performances in Dr. Strangelove and Being There, and once for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959). He won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role twice, for I'm All Right Jack and for the original Pink Panther film, The Pink Panther (1963) and was nominated as Best Actor three times. In 1980 he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his role in Being There, and was previously nominated three times in the same category. Turner Classic Movies calls Sellers "one of the most accomplished comic actors of the late 20th century."

Works

More photos

• movie

  • The Pink Panther (1963)
  • Peter Sellers: 5 - Film Collection
  • Being There (1979)
  • Revenge Of the Pink Panther: Blake Edwards: Amazon Digital Services LLC
  • The Pink Panther Strikes Again: Blake Edwards
  • The Wrong Arm of the Law: Peter Sellers, Lionel Jefferies, Bernanrd Cribbins, Cliff Owen
  • The Prisoner of Zenda: Peter Sellers, Lynne Frederick, Lionel Jeffries, Elke Sommer
  • I'm All Right, Jack: Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Richard Attenborough: Amazon Digital Services LLC
  • The World Of Henry Orient: George Roy Hill: Amazon Digital Services LLC
  • The Mouse That Roared: Jean Seberg, Peter Sellers, David Kossoff, William Hartnell: Amazon Digital Services LLC
  • I Love You Alice B. Toklas: Peter Sellers, Jo Van Fleet, Joyce Van Patten, David Arkin: Amazon Digital Services LLC
  • What'S New Pussycat?: Clive Donner: Amazon Digital Services LLC
  • The Optimists: Peter Sellers, Marjorie Yates, Donna Mullane, John Chaffey: Amazon Digital Services LLC
  • Heavens Above!: Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker, Isabel Jeans, Eric Sykes: Amazon Digital Services LLC
  • Woman Times Seven: Shirley MacLaine, Peter Sellers, Michael Caine, Alan Arkin: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Religion

According to biographer Peter Evans, Sellers was fascinated, puzzled, and worried by religion from a young age, particularly Catholicism, while Roger Lewis believed that soon after entering Catholic school, Sellers "discovered he was a Jew - he was someone on the outside of the mysteries of faith." Later in his life, Sellers observed that while his father's faith was according to the Church of England, his mother was Jewish, "and Jews take the faith of their mother." According to Milligan, Sellers held a guilt complex about being Jewish and recalls that Sellers was once reduced to tears when he presented him with a candlestick from a synagogue for Christmas, believing the gesture to be an anti-Jewish slur.

His funeral service in 1980 was Anglican.

Views

He was very superstitious about everything, especially about his acting: "I have the feeling that the film character enters my body as if I were a kind of medium. It's a little frightening." For all the hype of an interview with a film star, he may have been telling the truth.

Quotations: "Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here. This is the War Room!"

"There used to be a real me, but I had it surgically removed."

"If you ask me to play myself, I will not know what to do. I do not know who or what I am."

"Finally, in conclusion, let me say just this."

"Money can't buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy."

"Contraceptives should be used on every conceivable occasion."

"All I ask is the chance to prove that money can't make me happy."

"For ten years Caesar ruled with an iron hand. Then with a wooden foot, and finally with a piece of string."

"My Father had a profound influence on me. He was a lunatic."

"Money can't buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery."

Membership

He was a member of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA).

Sellers was a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats, the same exclusive theatrical fraternity founded by Leno in 1890.

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  Grand Order of Water Rats

Personality

Apparently by temperament and personality he was a fit subject, predisposed to heart problems; he was demanding in the theater (he hated "hamming" and amateurism). He was given to temper tantrums and was restless and quixotic by nature, and he could not stand petty-minded bureaucrats, officers, landladies, and people of that sort. He had disputes with his colleagues, for instance Blake Edwards, who had directed the Pink Panther films.

Sellers struggled with depression and mental insecurities throughout his life. An enigmatic figure, he often claimed to have no identity outside the roles that he played. His behavior on and off the set and stage became more erratic and compulsive, and he continued to frequently clash with his directors and co-stars, especially in the mid-1970s when his physical and mental health, together with his continuing alcohol and drug problems, were at their worst. He never fully recovered from his 1964 heart attack because he refused to take traditional heart medication and instead consulted with 'psychic healers'. As a result, his heart condition continued to slowly deteriorate over the next 16 years.

On March 20, 1977, Sellers barely survived another major heart attack and had a pacemaker surgically implanted to regulate his heartbeat which caused him further mental and physical discomfort. However, he refused to slow down his work schedule or consider heart surgery which might have expanded his life by several years.

Quotes from others about the person

• Sellers's friend and Goon Show colleague Spike Milligan said that Sellers "had one of the most glittering comic talents of his age", while John and Roy Boulting noted that he was "the greatest comic genius this country has produced since Charles Chaplin."
  
  Irv Slifkin said that the most prominent albeit ever-changing face in comedies of the sixties was Sellers who "changed like a chameleon throughout the era, dazzling audiences."

Interests

• Sport & Clubs

  Peg Sellers was related to the pugilist Daniel Mendoza (1764–1836), whom Sellers greatly revered, and whose engraving later hung in his office. At one time Sellers planned to use Mendoza's image for his production company's logo.

• Music & Bands

  He also knew how to play drums and was a part of some jazz bands as a teenager.

Connections

Peter Sellers married four times and his first wife was Anne Howe, to whom he got married on 15 September, 1951. He had two children.

After the marriage with Anne broke in 1962, he married Britt Ekland, a Swedish actress on 19 February, 1964. The couple had a daughter in 1965 before their divorce in 1968.

On August 24, 1970, he got married for the third time to a twenty-three-year-old model, Miranda Quarry. But like his previous two marriages, this marriage also did not last long, and the couple separated in 1974.

His last marriage was to Lynne Frederick on February 18, 1977.

Father:

William "Bill" Sellers

(1900–1962)

Mother:

Agnes Doreen "Peg" Sellers

(1892–1967)

Spouse (1):

Anne Howe Peter Sellers

Spouse (2):

Britt Ekland

(b. 6 October 1942)

She is a Swedish actress and singer. She appeared in numerous films in her heyday throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including critically acclaimed roles in William Friedkin's The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968), and the British crime film Get Carter (1971), which established her as a movie sex symbol.

Spouse (3):

Miranda Quarry

(b. 1947)

She is a British socialite and former fashion model.

Spouse (4):

Lynne Maria Frederick

(25 July 1954 – 27 April 1994)

She was an English film actress, known for her classical “English rose” beauty and delicate, “fairytale princess” features.

Daughter:

Victoria Sellers

(b. 20 January 1965)

She is a British model, actress, comedian and jewellery designer.

Son:

Michael Peter Anthony Sellers

(2 April 1954 – 24 July 2006)

He was a British builder, car restorer, author and the son of actor Peter Sellers.

Daughter:

Sarah Sellers

(b. October 16, 1957)

Friend:

Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon

(7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017)

He was a British photographer and film-maker.

References

• Remembering Peter Sellers
• Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers
• The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
• Peter Sellers: The Authorized Biography
• PETER SELLERS: THE MASK BEHIND THE MASK: BIOGRAPHY OF PETER SELLERS