The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error The Life and Death of Peter Sellers ( 2004 ) Not Rated | The feature adaptation of Roger Lewis' book about the actor best remembered as Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies. Director: a list of 43 titles created 12 Feb 2013 a list of 44 titles created 15 May 2013 a list of 27 titles created 29 Jun 2015 a list of 33 titles created 05 Aug 2015 a list of 21 titles created 2 weeks ago Title: The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) 7/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 2 Golden Globes. Another 29 wins & 34 nominations.

See more awards » Videos Edit Storyline The professional and personal life of actor and comedian Peter Sellers was a turbulent one. His early movie fame was based primarily on his comic characterizations, often of bumbling and foreign-accented persons, characters which he embodied. As his movie fame rose, he began to lose his own personal identity to his movie characters, leading to self-doubt of himself as a person and a constant need for reassurance and acceptance of his work. This self-doubt manifested itself in fits of anger and what was deemed as arrogance by many. In turn, his personal relationships began to deteriorate as his characterizations were continually used to mask his problems. His first wife, Anne Howe, left/divorced him and his relationships with his parents and children became increasingly distant. His relationship with his second wife, Swedish actress Britt Ekland , was based on this mask. In his later life, he tried to rediscover himself and his career with what would become his penultimate film role, ... Written by Huggo Never judge a man by his cover.

See more » Genres: 1 October 2004 (UK) See more » Also Known As: A Vida e Morte de Peter Sellers See more » Filming Locations: Did You Know? Trivia Reunites Geoffrey Rush and Mackenzie Crook , both of whom appeared in the many films of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise. See more » Goofs When Peter is in Rome, a newspaper kiosk sells magazines that didn't exist in 1963 (i.e., "King" and "Solocase"). See more » Quotes Peter Sellers : [while changing his daughter's nappy] Those film people won't have anything to do with me, Mum. It was my fifth audition this week. Peg Sellers : What do they say to you? Peter Sellers : Same thing they always say to me, not good looking enough, not magnetic enough. "Stick to radio, dear, that's what you're good at." Keep being the ringmaster in a circus of twits. Maybe I should just be content. Peg Sellers : You simpering cow. How can you be content changing nappies in a four room flat like a woman? You want to be a failure like your ...

[...] See more » Crazy Credits The frame freezes and the end credits start. After some informations about the last part of life of Peter Sellers have scrolled up the screen, the credits stop and the camera suddenly pulls back, revealing Geoffrey Rush watching the end titles sitting in front of a monitor on a studio set. He turns toward the camera, waves, gets up, leaves the set and walks to a trailer. The camera tries to follow him inside, but he turns and says "You can't come in here". The door closes, and the camera zooms in on the sign with the name "Peter Sellers". The film again fades to black and we see the rest of the end credits. See more » Connections (New York) – See all my reviews Stephen Hopkins' "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" is a monumental film that undertook the difficult task of understanding the late Peter Sellers. This unique actor, with such a complicated personality and who lived such a turbulent life, comes alive in this HBO production based on the book by Roger Lewis, with an adaptation by Christopher Markus. Peter Sellers covered quite a lot of ground during his life.

He was one of the best actors working in the England of the fifties, working in all those charming comedies that made him a star in his native land, but alas, was not well known in America because he had not yet been hired by Hollywood until his "discovery" by director Blake Edwards, who offered him the part of Inspector Clouseau after Peter Ustinov had turned down the role. Prior to his worldwide recognition, Mr. Sellers had to work a lot in order to make ends meet. Life with his first wife Anne came to an abrupt end, when he discovered she had fallen for the interior decorator the couple had hired. Then, there is the fascinating episode with Sophia Loren, in which Mr. Sellers, in his mind, begins to think he is in love with her, only to be rebuked by Ms. Loren, a woman who was happily married to Carlo Ponti, and had no desire to become the second Mrs. Sellers. The third woman in Mr. Sellers life is the beautiful, but much younger, Britt Ekland. From the start, one can figure this union was not to last.

The age difference and the different cultures indicate these two were completely mismatched, as we get to watch in painful detail how the marriage disintegrates. Mr. Hopkins makes his star, Geoffrey Rush, assume a lot of roles in addition of the main one, Peter Sellers. Geoffrey Rush shows his versatility in playing them with great style. His biggest achievement seems to be how he captures the essence of Peter Sellers, the man, and expose him to us in all his complexity. The acting is superb. Emily Watson and Charlize Theron are seen as Anne and Britt, two women that left their mark in the life of Mr. Sellers. Both are excellent in the film. Miriam Margoyles plays Peg Sellers. John Lighgow is Blake Edwards, the man who elevated the actor to an international acclaim. The film is a documentary, as well as a biopic about this man who gave a lot of joy to movie fans through his films. Geoffrey Rush has to be thanked for bringing him to life, as well as the director, Stephen Hopkins for giving us an understanding on what it was to be Peter Sellers. 38 of 46 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes Peter Sellers - Biography - IMDb Peter Sellers Biography Showing all 77 items Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (4) | Trade Mark (5) | Trivia (48) | Personal Quotes (14) | Salary (1) Overview (4) 5' 8½" (1.74 m) Mini Bio (1) Often credited as the greatest comedian of all time, Peter Sellers was born to a well-off English acting family in 1925. His mother and father worked in an acting company run by his grandmother. As a child, Sellers was spoiled, as his parents' first child had died at birth. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force and served during World War II. After the war he met Spike Milligan , Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine , who would become his future workmates. After the war, he set up a review in London, which was a combination of music (he played the drums) and impressions.

Then, all of a sudden, he burst into prominence as the voices of numerous favorites on the BBC radio program "The Goon Show" (1951-1960), and then making his debut in films in Penny Points to Paradise (1951) and Down Among the Z Men (1952), before making it big as one of the criminals in The Ladykillers (1955). These small but showy roles continued throughout the 1950s, but he got his first big break playing the dogmatic union man, Fred Kite, in I'm All Right Jack (1959). The film's success led to starring vehicles into the 1960s that showed off his extreme comic ability to its fullest. In 1962, Sellers was cast in the role of Clare Quilty in the Stanley Kubrick version of the film Lolita (1962) in which his performance as a mentally unbalanced TV writer with multiple personalities landed him another part in Kubrick's Dr.

Strangelove (1964) in which he played three roles which showed off his comic talent in play-acting in three different accents; British, American, and German. The year 1964 represented a peak in his career with four films in release, all of them well-received by critics and the public alike: "Dr. Strangelove," for which he was Oscar nominated, "The Pink Panther," in which he played his signature role of the bumbling French Inspector Jacques Clouseau for the first time, its almost accidental sequel, "A Shot in the Dark," and "The World of Henry Orient." Sellers was on top of the world, but on the evening of April 5, 1964, he suffered a nearly fatal heart attack after taking amyl nitrites (also called 'poppers'; an early type of Viagara-halogen combination) while engaged in a sexual act with his second wife Britt Eckland. He has been working on Billy Wilder's "Kiss Me, Stupid" (1964). In a move Wilder later regretted, he replaced Sellers with Ray Walston rather than hold up production.

By October 1964, Sellers made a full recovery and was working again. The mid-1960s were noted for the popularity of all things British, from the Beatles music (who were presented with their Grammy for Best New Artist by Sellers) to the James Bond films, and the world turned to Sellers for comedy. "What's New Pussycat" (1965) was another big hit, but a combination of his ego and insecurity was making Sellers difficult to work with. When the James Bond spoof, "Casino Royale" (1967) ran over budget and was unable to recoup its costs despite an otherwise healthy box-office take, Sellers received some of the blame. He turned down an offer from United Artists for the title role in "Inspector Clouseau" (1968), but was angry when the production went ahead with Alan Arkin in his place. His difficult reputation and increasingly erratic behavior, combined with several less successful films, took a toll on his standing. By 1970, he had fallen out of favor.

He spent the early years of the new decade appearing in such lackluster B films as "Where Does It Hurt?" (1972) and turning up more frequently on television as a guest on "The Dean Martin Show" and a Glen Campbell TV special. Inspector Clouseau came to his rescue when Sir Lew Grade expressed an interest in a TV series based on the character. Clouseau's creator, writer-director Blake Edwards, whose career had also seen better days, convinced Grade to bankroll a feature instead, and "Return of the Pink Panther" (1975) was a major hit in the summer of "Jaws" and restored both men to prominence. Sellers would play Clouseau in two more successful sequels, "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" (1976) and "The Revenge of the Pink Panther" (1978), and Sellers would use his newly rediscovered clout to realize his dream of playing Chauncey Gardiner in a film adaptation of Jerzy Kosinski's novel "Being There." Sellers had read the novel in 1972, but it took seven years for the film to reach the screen.

"Being There" (1979) earned Sellers his second Oscar nomination, but he lost to Dustin Hoffman of "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979). 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.

On July 25, 1980, Sellers was scheduled to have a reunion dinner in London with his Goon Show partners, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe. However, at around 12 noon on July 22, Sellers collapsed from a massive heart attack in his Dorchester Hotel room and fell into a coma. He died in a London hospital just after midnight on July 24, 1980 at age 54. He was survived by his fourth wife, Lynne Frederick, and three children: Michael, Sarah and Victoria. At the time of his death, he was scheduled to undergo an angiography in Los Angeles on July 30 to see if if he was eligible for heart surgery. His last movie, The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980), completed just a few months before his death, proved to be another box office flop.

Director Blake Edwards ' attempt at reviving the Pink Panther series after Sellers' death resulted in two panned 1980s comedies, the first of which, Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), deals with Inspector Clouseau's disappearance and was made from material cut from previous Pink Panther films and includes interviews with the original casts playing their original characters. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Ashley G. Mackinnon Spouse (4) His ability to change his voice and appearance Often infused his comic characters with an undercurrent of deep melancholy Often worked with Blake Edwards and Stanley Kubrick . Often ad-libbed some of the most memorable lines his characters say in his films Trivia (48) Father, with actress Britt Ekland , of actress Victoria Sellers . Ranked #84 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997] Born at 6:00am-BST Interred at Golders Green Crematorium, London, England, UK.

Sellers, Spike Milligan , Michael Bentine and Harry Secombe performed on BBC Radio as "The Goon Show" in the early 1950s. Claimed to have had a near-death experience during a heart attack in 1964, in which he saw Heaven and he met an angel who told him that it was not his time to die yet. He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1966 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama. First actor to be nominated for a single Academy award (best actor) for a film in which he potrayed three different characters in the same film: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). Sellers was the first male to appear on the cover of Playboy Magazine, in April 1964 Was a vegetarian. Father, with Anne Howe, of Michael Sellers and Sarah Sellers .

His third wife, Miranda Quarry, is now "The Countess of Stockton." Turned down the role of George Webber in Blake Edwards ' 10 (1979) ( George Segal was cast instead but eventually replaced by Dudley Moore ). Sellers made a cameo appearance but it wound up being cut out. His "Goon Show" records, and other comedy recordings from the 1950s and early 1960s, were produced by George Martin , before he worked with The Beatles . He was voted the 41st Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine. Died at 12:26am - BST after being in a coma for more than 30 hours after suffering a massive heart attack. Mel Brooks considered him for - and he expressed interest in - the role of "Leo Bloom" in The Producers (1967), but nothing ever came of it, and the role eventually went to Gene Wilder . However, Sellers was instrumental in the success of the film.

After its release, he happened, almost by accident, to see a private screening of it and was so impressed that the next day he took out two full-page newspaper ads at his own expense proclaiming that it was one of the greatest comedies he had ever seen. This exposure helped promote the film at a critical time when it appeared that it was destined to sink without a trace. Is portrayed by Geoffrey Rush in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004). At the time of his death, he was due to undergo an angiography in preparation for potential heart surgery in Los Angeles on July 30. One afternoon the doorbell rang in Sellers' London flat. As he was busy in his study, his wife Anne went to the door, where she was handed a telegram. The message: "Bring me a cup of coffee. Peter". Late one night, following a disappointing day wrestling with a troublesome scene in one of the Pink Panther films, director Blake Edwards was roused by a call from Sellers. "I just talked to God!" he exclaimed, "and he told me how to do it!" The next day Edwards humored Sellers - and the result was an unmitigated disaster.

"Peter," Edwards suggested, "next time you talk to God, tell him to stay out of show business!". Died a few days after filming a "Barclays Bank" commercial, which was never aired. His performance as Dr. Strangelove in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) is ranked #75 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. His performance as Inspector Jacques Clouseau in the "Pink Panther" franchise is ranked #67 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. His performance as Chance the Gardener in Being There (1979) is ranked #49 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. At the time of his death, Sellers was set to play Inspector Clouseau again in "Romance of the Pink Panther". The script had been written by Sellers and Jim Moloney and the film was to be directed by Clive Donner . Pamela Stephenson was to have played the female lead.

Also in the pipeline were the leads in Lovesick (1983) and Unfaithfully Yours (1984). Both these roles were taken over by Dudley Moore . At the time of his death, he left the bulk of his estate - cash, cars, houses and art amounting to £4.5 million - to fourth wife Lynne Frederick . He left his son Michael and his daughter Sarah from his first marriage to actress Anne Howe only £800 each. "It was a calculated and considered act. Even his lawyers blushed when they told me," Michael said. Sellers had married Frederick, who was known primarily as David Frost 's girlfriend (and subsequently his wife after Sellers' death), in 1977. Reportedly Sellers was in the process of excluding her from his will in the time immediately preceding his death by heart attack in 1980. A drug addict and an alcoholic herself, Frederick died at age 39 and all income from Sellers' estate, including royalties from movie profit-sharing deals, was inherited by her daughter with third husband Barry Unger. Together with Nicolas Cage ( Adaptation.

(2002)) and Lee Marvin ( Cat Ballou (1965)), and José Ferrer ( Moulin Rouge (1952) Sellers is the only actor with an Oscar nomination for playing multiple characters in a film (in ( Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), he plays three characters, Group Captain (G/C) Lionel Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley and Dr. Strangelove). Marvin is the only one who actually won one for a double role. Became friends with the group The Beatles , and visited them at Abbey Road Studios. Was given a tape of rough mixes from the "White Album", which was auctioned (and bootlegged) after his death. He was one of the favorite actors of Elvis Presley who always had Sellers' Pink Panther films with him on the airplane while he was on tour. Prince Charles had been a fan of Sellers since "The Goon Show".

In 1975, after he had seen The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) in Montreal, he wrote to Sellers that he'd laughed so hard he had wet the dress of the woman in the next seat. Before his death he spoke very highly of Robin Williams and Steve Martin , both considered that a great honor. Was an amateur photographer and camera nut for most of his life. Served in the Royal Air Force during World War II. His father was Protestant and his mother was Jewish. He attended St. Aloysius College, a Roman Catholic School. He was fitted with a pacemaker in 1977 for his failing heart. Claimed in a 1980 interview with Rolling Stone that he had fathered a son by a girlfriend while serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II, and abandoned them. Shirley MacLaine said of him, "Past lives leaking through and confusing him in this life.". In addition to dubbing Alfonso Bedoya in The Black Rose (1950), he also dubs the Chinese actor Ley On .

He also provided the voice of an off-screen Winston Churchill in The Man Who Never Was (1956), and at least two other briefly-heard voices in that film. An oft-repeated rumor suggests that he also dubbed a few lines for Humphrey Bogart in Beat the Devil (1953), but this is harder to confirm. He was best known for his portrayal of the hapless, accident-prone Inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther movies. A final film in the franchise was to be called "Romance of the Pink Panther", but Sellers died before it could be made. He is the primary influence on Sacha Baron Cohen . An English Heritage blue plaque can be found at his place of birth on the corner of Southsea Terrace and Castle Road in Southsea. What was the family home is above a Chinese restaurant. Married Britt Ekland after knowing her for only 10 days. Author Jackie Collins based the character "Charlie Brick" on Sellers in her book "Sinners". He worked with Peter O'Toole , Woody Allen , Ursula Andress and Burt Bacharach on both What's New Pussycat (1965) and Casino Royale (1967).

Sellers was widely considered by industry professionals (particularly Blake Edwards ) to be mentally ill with no real personality of his own. He habitually assumed the personalities of the characters he portrayed, morphing into another one in a following role. People that knew him intermittently over years were baffled by his transformations. As an actor, Sellers could be brilliant with a strong script, but he often accepted sub-par projects and inferior roles which would wreck havoc in his personal life. Lived in Gstaad, Switzerland during the last six years of his life. He was a great friend of the British actor Jon Pertwee , who was also known for many comedy parts. Personal Quotes (14) If you ask me to play myself, I will not know what to do. I do not know who or what I am. There used to be a me behind the mask, but I had it surgically removed. To see me as a person on screen would be one of the dullest experiences you could ever wish to experience. I'm a classic example of all humorists - only funny when I'm working. Women are more difficult to handle than men. It's their minds. I writhe when I see myself on the screen.

I'm such a dreadfully clumsy hulking image. I say to myself, "Why doesn't he get off? Why doesn't he get off?" I mean, I look like such an idiot. Some fat awkward thing dredged up from some third-rate drama company. I must stop thinking about it, otherwise I shan't be able to go on working. [on Blake Edwards ' smash hit 10 (1979)] I turned down the lead role many, many times. I just didn't feel I was right for the part. I'm a very ambitious person. I don't believe by any means that I've even begun to do what's inside me. I have a burning sort of fire inside me to do certain things which I know I'm going to do. I'm going to defeat all these berks that are around me and I'm going to do it. I mean, I have a name of being very difficult, I'm not difficult at all, I just cannot take mediocrity, I just cannot take it on any level. You only know what happiness is once you're married. But then it's too late.

[on Goldie Hawn ] In the fullest possible meaning of the word, she is so nice. [on Sophia Loren ] I was never in love with any woman as deeply as I was with Sophia. [April 1969, interview in "Nova" magazine] When I look at myself I see a person who strangely lacks what I consider the ingredients for a personality. [on developing a role for the screen] I walk around, trying different accents, feeling my way to the character. I stare at my own image in the mirror every morning, waiting for the other fellow - the man I'm going to play - to emerge and stare back at me. I am waiting for the stranger to come into my life. When it happens, I have this flush of happiness. Most actors want to play "Othello", but all I've really wanted to play is Chance the Gardener. I feel what the character, the story is all about is not merely the triumph of a simple man, an illiterate. It's God's message again that the meek shall inherit the earth.

Salary (1) ‎The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) directed by Stephen Hopkins • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd Review by Alex ★★★★ Effective, captivating biopic on Peter Sellers, I thought that the film was superbly acted and directed, and it ranks among the finest biopics that I have seen. Peter Sellers was one of cinema’s most gifted talents, and his legacy is unique, here he is brought to life in a splendid and remarkable performance by actor Geoffrey Rush, who delivers one of his career defining roles as the great actor. The film chronicles the career of Peter Sellers and it shows his troubles behind the scenes. Peter Sellers was a talented actor, and Rush is perfect for the part. He really makes the role his own, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the part. Here we see key moments… Review by Karl M. Attacks ★★½ ASCENSO Y CAÍDA DE UN DOLOROSO ÍDOLO. El canal HBO parece empecinado en rebuscar debajo de la alfombra de los mundialmente conocidos para dejarles con las vergüenzas al aire.

Tal es el caso, que gente como Alfred Hitchcock (The Girl (Julian Jarrold, 2012)), Liberace (Behind the Candelabra (Steven Soderbergh, 2013)) o el drama político entre campañas electorales (Game Change, Jay Roach, 2012) o las relaciones diplomáticas entre presidentes (The Special Relationship, Richard Loncraine, 2010) han sido el objetivo de la mitomanía del canal de representar la vida de los famosos con actores de primera fila. La vida de Peter Sellers, marcada por esa dicotomía constante entre comedia y tragedia se desgrana, de un amanera un tanto alambicada en este biopic… Review by Jeremy Heilman ★★ This biopic predictably deals with Sellers’ acting genius by suggesting that he was unable to function in real life. Portrayed here by Geoffrey Rush and a slew of prosthetics as an impulsive egomaniac, this Sellers has been conceived as a man without any personality at his core. Given nothing substantial to play, Rush performs series of hollow physical impersonations.

It’s a film that traffics in the shallowest form of celebrity gossip, emphasizing bad behavior to no particular end (yet still convincing itself it’s vaguely prestigious). As such, a tremendous amount of time is spent emphasizing Sellers’ marital dysfunction, but little insight into why he was loved in the first place emerges. Sellers is a void, yet he’s not productively used… A shocking and sad movie to Peter Sellers' fans. Lucas Martins Super Reviewer ½ It was always going to be difficult to make a film about the life of Peter Sellers. The man was an immensely complicated personality who claimed to have no underlying self. His life was a Molotov cocktail of drug abuse, women and heart attacks, interspersed with some of the finest character acting ever to grace the silver screen. The Life and Death of Peter Sellers is an admirable attempt to portray or depict Sellers, recreating key scenes from his film career alongside problems in his personal life. But despite the best efforts of director Stephen Hopkins and a fine performance by Geoffrey Rush, it never quite satisfies either emotionally or biographically. Whether due to the physical limits of the production or the inherent complexity of Sellers the enigma, in the end it does little more than scratch the surface.

On the plus side, Peter Sellers (as it shall hence be called) does a very good job of replicating the various period settings. There are all the usual batch of camera tricks, such as using green-screen to recreate streets, and the colours of the film have been manipulated to give the appearance of degraded stock. But on top of the usual whistles and bells, the film captures a number of moments in Sellers' life with such accuracy that it could pass off as a documentary. This is particularly true of the opening section where The Goon Show is recreated on stage, with all the riotousness and anarchy of the original broadcasts. The film simply wouldn't work if we didn't believe in the performance of the lead actor, and in this respect Geoffrey Rush is ideal. Although he has the aid of an army of wigs and vast quantities of make-up, he never lets the artifice dominate his characterisation of Sellers or the various roles therein. Rush goes through the same physical transformations of Sellers, moving over the course of the film from podgy to fighting fit and finally ghostly and frail. Most of all, he mimics Sellers' vocal performances very accurately, going beyond impersonation in almost every instance.

But rather than just have Sellers playing the various characters from his films, Hopkins and Rush contrive to have Sellers playing most of the people around him as well. At key moments, the camera will go 'back stage' and we watch the same characters as played by Sellers. This self-reflexive tactic is unnervingly effective, because it reaches the very core of Sellers' character: he was only happy or honest when he was being other people. Seeing Sellers as Stanley Kubrick in the taxi, we get a more open insight to Sellers than we would ever get from the horses' mouth, and seeing him re-dub the scene of his wife leaving him conveys his desperate need to be loved at any cost. The other performances manage to match Rush in terms of quality, even if they don't all get the screen time they deserve. Emily Watson is very good as Sellers' first wife Anne Hayes, who struggles with his cruel streak and his distance from their children. Watson resists the urge to overegg the emotional torment, so that we are convinced that she still loves him even when his behaviour is at its most outrageous.

John Lithgow is having a ball as Blake Edwards; even if he is occasionally larger-than-life, he taps into Sellers' ability to produce hatred and admiration often simultaneously. And Miriam Margolyes is a good choice for Sellers' mother, who dominates his early life and instigates his early attempts to get into film. On top of this, the film has a number of fantasy moments which are particularly touching. The best of these is the dream sequence in Sellers' head as he is being revived from his near-fatal heart attack. We see the various characters from his film career up to that point - Clare Quilty, Dr. Strangelove, Fred Kite etc. - gathering round his hospital bed, before Sellers rises up on a huge bomb and hits a button on his heart blowing them all up. It's a moment of brief assertion from Sellers, showing his determination to be taken seriously and not be defined or controlled by the other versions of himself on screen. Unfortunately, the problems with Peter Sellers eventually outweigh all the aspects of it which are successful. First off, despite its solid production values and fantastical ambitions, it remains very televisual.

Doubtless the involvement of HBO, both financially and creatively, came with the very best intentions, and had the film not been released theatrically than this would not have been a problem. But on the big screen, Peter Sellers feels too compact and limited to cut the mustard, and the backstage sequences only reinforce the feeling that the world we are seeing on screen doesn't extend very far beyond it. Tied up with this televisual nature is the problem of content versus length. Even with two hours to play with, there is far too much in Sellers' eventful life to fit around the constraints of a feature film. But rather than opt to tell the story in small segments, as a TV miniseries or whole season of shows, Hopkins and his team are forced to cherry-pick what they deem to be the most well-known or important bits. While the film therefore serves as a good introduction to both Sellers and his body of work, those more familiar with either will get frustrated by just how much has been omitted, and by how quickly the film gallops through his life.

Sellers claimed that his time on The Goon Show was the happiest time of his life, and yet we only get about five or ten minutes of it, including Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe turning up briefly in later scenes. The film never touches on his relationship with The Beatles, or much of his film work in between Dr. Strangelove and the later Pink Panthers. Most annoyingly, there is nothing in it about his last two marriages, or the precise attitude he had towards his children. Because the film moves at such a pace, we find it hard to connect with Sellers as a person. This could, of course, be argued as the intention of the film - that Sellers shifted between characters so quickly that you could never see the real him. But in order for the film to work even as an introduction, we have to have some means of connection beyond his display of talent - and there are only fleeting opportunities in which this is possible. As with Mr. Nice, Bernard Rose's biopic of Howard Marks, there is a sense of information being intentionally withheld to such an extent that our ability to empathise begins to wane.

Had the film been reconfigured for a TV series, we would have got a far greater insight into both Sellers and the various characters which filtered in and out of his life. When we are introduced to Maurice Woodruff, the fraudulent fortune teller played by Stephen Fry, we expect him to get a lot of screen time because of the level of influence he quickly comes to hold. Instead he only gets three scenes and dies off-screen without a second's acknowledgement, so that we never get a proper sense of how greatly Sellers depended on him. The Life and Death of Peter Sellers is a film whose failure may not be entirely the fault of its creators. Certainly compared to Hopkins' previous offerings - Predator 2, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 - it is an undeniable work of genius. The problem may be the real Peter Sellers was simply too complex a man to be convincingly summarised in two short hours. In which case, the film is proof of its own failure, functioning as a workable introduction but being found wanting everywhere else.

Daniel Mumby Super Reviewer fairly solid, entertaining biopic, felt like the HBO product it was, perhaps slightly constrained budget-wise - nice performance by Geoff Rush Bob Stinson The Life and Death of Peter Sellers | Variety Print May 21, 2004 | 04:58PM PT It's close but no cigar for "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers," an adventurously conceived biopic of the late comic actor that, in the end, just doesn't convince. Geoffrey Rush gives it the old college try in the title role, but combination of an unsympathetic central figure and patchy recreation of events makes for a life story that doesn't cut it. It’s close but no cigar for “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers,” an adventurously conceived biopic of the late comic actor that, in the end, just doesn’t convince. Geoffrey Rush gives it the old college try in the title role, a man portrayed as a brilliant mimic and chameleon but a first-class s.o.b. who brought little but grief to his intimates.

Latest HBO/BBC film collaboration sustains interest most of the way, but combination of an unsympathetic central figure and patchy recreation of events involving numerous famous people makes for an ambitiously told life story that finally doesn’t cut it. Theatrical B.O. prospects in most markets would seem iffy for a production that might look somewhat better on the small screen. Inspired by Roger Lewis’ Sellers biography, which goes uncredited onscreen, script by first-timers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely takes an unconventional approach, focusing on the subject’s bad behavior toward his colleagues and supposed loved ones and having Sellers periodically take on other people’s personalities so he can comment on his own actions. Strategy is intriguing and film cannot be accused of lacking a strong view of the man it examines. But after clearly laying out its thesis early on–that Sellers was far more comfortable in the disguise offered by his many fictional characters than he was in his own skin, and that in personal relations he could always be counted upon to be selfish, abusive and unreliable–remainder of the story consists largely of repeated confirmations of these dominant traits.

Furthermore, director Stephen Hopkins, possibly misapplying habits he picked up on the TV show “24,” keeps the camera bobbing about in jittery fashion most of the time, to annoying effect that feels too contemporary, as well as inappropriate to the period and fashion of filmmaking with which Sellers is associated. When Hopkins is finally forced to nail his camera down to recreate scenes from “Dr. Strangelove,” the sense of stability comes as a huge relief, but it doesn’t last long. Sense that something is off begins with the opening credits. It was a fine idea to illustrate them with fanciful animation in “Pink Panther”/”Casino Royale” fashion with Tom Jones singing “What’s New Pussycat?” on the soundtrack. But the pop/psychedelic results aren’t very stylish or fun. It’s the same story all the way through; one feels the filmmakers are on the right track, but the execution just isn’t sharp enough. Partly, the problem is endemic to this sort of project, a life story filled with people whose screen images are fixed in the public mind.

It’s also an issue, however, of not completely realizing the project’s potential, of not pushing relentlessly until the all-important details are gotten entirely right. Bio starts in 1957, when Sellers was just achieving fame on BBC radio’s wildly popular “The Goon Show.” Screen roles and stardom soon followed for this ordinary looking man in his mid-30s who had a pushy, hovering mum (a fine Miriam Margolyes), retiring dad (Peter Vaughan), supportive wife Anne (Emily Watson) and two kids. As presented here, things begin to change when Sellers, in the early ’60s, stars in a picture opposite Sophia Loren (the amply statuesque Sonia Aquino). The Italian bombshell turns him inside out, all the moreso for not sleeping with him despite his desperate efforts. All the same, Sellers callously tells his wife and young children that he loves Sophia more than he does them, then promptly screws Sophia’s stand-in, all of which prompts the crack-up of his marriage.

Whatever the real-life truth of this episode may be, the “affair” is presented as a figment of Sellers’ imagination that assumed greater importance than the feelings of his family, something the actor comments when he assumes the physical guise of Anne, with Rush made up to look like her, as he subsequently is to resemble others in his life. Some of Sellers’ well known quirks–his obsessive home movie shooting, fancy cars, interest in fortune telling and avoidance of “bad luck” colors–are layered in, and the action, along with his life, picks up when he reluctantly replaces Peter Ustinov in “The Pink Panther,” his first big American movie. Good comic mileage is gotten out of Sellers’ trying out his Inspector Clouseau accent on the flight to film the picture in Rome, and Rush’s reenactment of one classic scene is on target. Recreation of a key scene from “Dr.

Strangelove” reveals what that film would have looked like in color, and while buffs will pick up on the import of a scene in which Sellers, insisting that three roles are enough, complains that he can’t figure out how to perform the fourth (the bomb-riding cowboy eventually played by Slim Pickens), Stanley Tucci doesn’t do much with his turn as Kubrick, not even trying to replicate the director’s pronounced Bronx accent. Pic hits its stride depicting the actor’s relationship with his second wife, blond knockout Britt Ekland (vivaciously played by Charlize Theron). Behaving like an eager schoolboy around her and practically doing cartwheels in an antic effort to keep her amused, Sellers manages to win Ekland’s affections and mentions more than once how “phenomenal” she is in bed. But apparently she was a little too phenomenal, as Sellers suffers a heart attack that leaves him technically dead for more than a minute before he’s revived. A very funny scene has Ekland telling her husband she’s pregnant while he’s taking a dump in the bathroom.

But it all goes downhill fast after the baby’s born and the couple work together on a picture; Sellers turns on her with utterly unmoti-vated verbal and physical abuse. Ekland section excels not only because of the intensity of the drama involved but because it presents the entire arc of a relationship, something absent elsewhere. For Sellers and the film, it’s mostly downhill from here, as thesp agrees to resurrect Clouseau for the money while awaiting the chance to do his dream project, “Being There,” about a man with no personality. Ignoring Sellers’ third and fourth marriages entirely and showing him aging very quickly, last stretch does provide a vivid picture of the actor’s increasingly unpleasant love-hate relationship with director Blake Edwards, who’s given an energetic, slightly vulgar reading by John Lithgow, a man far taller and bulkier than the genuine article. Not long after finally realizing “Being There” with a career-crowning performance, Sellers died, in 1980, at only 54. Ultimately, it’s a sad story, with final credits pro-viding such off-putting information that he left his children only $2000 apiece. Naturally, the picture rests to a great extent on Rush’s shoulders.

Made up to resemble the subject pretty closely, thesp very adeptly recapitulates some of Sellers’ most famous characterizations and copes ably with the daunting task of fleshing out a man the project argues had the personality of an immature, albeit very horny boy, with little to recommend him out-side his talent. Hints of a nasal Aussie twang leak out of Rush’s mouth from time to time. Production also suffers from a soft visual style that marks it as television venture rather than a full-blown theatrical feature; production and costume design help put the period over in modest strokes, but lensing lacks richness and color. Lively music soundtrack reps a plus. The Life and Death of Peter Sellers Competing / U.S.-U.K. Production An HBO Films production in association with BBC Films of a De Mann Entertainment/Company production. Produced by Simon Bosanquet. Executive producers, Freddy DeMann, George Faber, Charles Pattinson, David M.Thompson. Directed by Stephen Hopkins. Crew Screenplay, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely.

Camera (color), Peter Levy; editor, John Smith; music, Richard Hartley; music supervisor, Karen Elliott; production designer, Norman Garwood; supervising art director, Chris Lowe; art directors, Lucy Richardson, John Ralph; set decorator, Maggie Gray; costume designer, Jill Taylor; sound (Dolby Digital), Simon Kaye;Geoffrey Rush prosthetics designer, Wesley Wofford; special makeup effects consultant, Greg Cannom; makeup effects, Keith Vanderlaan’s Captive Audience; associate producers, Pilar Demann, Juanita Diana Feeney; assistant director, Cliff Lanning; second unit director/camera, Mike Brewster; casting, Nina Gold. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (competing), May 20, 2004. Running time: 122 MIN. With Peter Sellers - Geoffrey Rush Britt Ekland - Charlize Theron Anne Sellers - Emily Watson Blake Edwards -John Lithgow Peg Sellers -Miriam Margolyes Bill Sellers - Peter Vaughan Sophia Loren - Sonia Aquino Stanley Kubrick - Stanley Tucci Maurice Woodruff - Stephen Fry Dennis Selinger -Henry Goodman Casting Agent - Alison Steadman Ted Levy - Peter Gevisser Dr.

Lyle Wexler - David Robb Spike Milligan - Edward Tudor Pole Harry Secombe - Steve Pemberton David Niven - Nigel Havers Car Salesman - Mackenzie Crook Michael Sellers (3 yrs.) - George Cicco Michael Sellers (7-10 yrs.) - James Bentley Sarah Sellers - Eliza Darby Singer/Ray Ellington - Lance Ellington Lead Stewardess - Lucy Punch Ursula Andress - Heidi Klum The Life and Death of Peter Sellers Review | Movie - Empire The Life and Death of Peter Sellers Review William Thomas Last updated: 14 Oct 2015 05:57 Release date The Life and Death of Peter Sellers Picking up from the celebrated Brit comic actor's spotlight-snatching on The Goon Show, this biopic takes us through Sellers' (Rush) cinematic triumphs in the likes of Dr. Strangelove and The Pink Panther, his excesses, family troubles, twilight plunge into 'C' list and, finally, his demise by heart attack at the age of 55. ★★★★★ A single question burns throughout this biopic of the man best-loved as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau: who the hell was Peter Sellers?

It's one, though, that remains unanswered come the fatal conclusion, primarily because it's unsure that even Peter Sellers knew who Peter Sellers was. Thankfully, though, Stephen Hopkins avoids subjecting us to any mask-stripping psychological detective work (he'd only end up pratfalling like Clouseau if he did); he's more concerned with exploring the question itself and how it affected those close to Sellers. In so doing, we're treated to an engaging and consistently well-performed whistle-stop tour of Sellers' career - although, like most biopics, its episodic selectiveness often proves frustrating. For example, there's little which reveals the man's vaudeville childhood, nothing about his experiences during World War II, and we only get to meet two of his four wives (Emily Watson as knowing first spouse Anne, Charlize Theron as Swedish trophy Britt Ekland). Perhaps the script would have done better to deal with a smaller timeframe in more detail, focusing, say, on Sellers' quest to make Being There. Even so, Hopkins - an unlikely helmer for the project given his CV (Predator 2? Lost In Space?) - can claim success, mainly due to his casting of Geoffrey Rush in the title role.

Despite the fact that, at 53, Rush is pretty much as old as Sellers ever got, he's utterly convincing, even while playing the actor during his younger years. The spoiled-brat tantrums, the tender fumblings and the marvellous flashes of genius are all captured by Rush like perfectly framed snapshots. His depiction of Clouseau's conception and unleashing on a bewildered air hostess is one of the highpoints; his tense interplay with Stanley Tucci's Kubrick is another. For his part, Hopkins keeps the visuals snappy, whipping up a smoky, CG-assisted post-Blitz London, and cutting loose with his cosmic interpretation of Sellers' near-death experience. Yet he doesn't lose any emotional impact. Come the end, we may not know Sellers much better, but the fact that everyone he loves is reduced to an echoing voice on the phone leaves you with a sympathetic pang for a very flawed man. Rush deserves deafening applause for his portrayal of Sellers. But don't expect much deep insight into the psyche of the enigmatic entertainer.

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) | Rinema The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) aka The Life and Death of Peter Sellers Signin to view reviews from people you are following. From Everybody: Story Contributor Plot: The film shows Peter Sellers as a complex and tormented genius, whose success as a film star concealed his difficult and relatively unhappy private life. This "troubled life" is the primary focus of this biopic, which personalizes "one of the greatest comic actors in the history of the British cinema," and shows the many masks he wore and characters he played as an actor.The film makes clear that much of his success and identity were dependent initially on his domineering and doting mother. But eventually this success, first in radio and eventually in film, led to his succumbing to destructive mood swings and insecurity, and contributed to the deterioration of his marriages. Discovering his gift for comedy, his ego began to undermine his personal relationships with friends and co-workers. His personality became more turbulent.

His own personality often merged with that of his film characters, and his self-learned skill as a "method actor" was used to mask his real self.The role of Sellers was acted by Geoffrey Rush, "who approached the role with the enthusiasm of a hungry child in a candy store," notes a reviewer. Rush impersonates most of the important characters that Sellers played in his film career. Director Blake Edwards is played by John Lithgow, and the film exposes some of the behind-the-scenes personality conflicts between Sellers and Edwards, which contributed to their unhappy and tumultuous working relationship, despite the success of their films. In the interview for the film, included on the DVD, Edwards credited Rush with portraying Sellers' characters with uncanny similarity to the real Peter Sellers, and claimed, in 2004, that it was the best acting he'd ever seen Rush perform.Some reviewers have stressed that in order to appreciate and understand much of the Sellers story and his iconic status, they should have seen some of his leading works, including his Pink Panther roles directed by Blake Edwards, and his roles in both Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove and Hal Ashby's Being There.

The latter film is considered by critics to be the "crowning triumph of Peter Sellers's remarkable career," and in a BBC interview in 1971, Sellers himself said that more than anything else, he wanted to play the role of Chance.Being There (which earned him an Oscar nomination) is shown to be the one film about which Sellers was truly passionate since it gave him an opportunity to display his skills as an actor, not just as a comedian (it is also suggested that he identified strongly with the main character).Sellers is also shown aspiring to be a leading man in the James Bond satire Casino Royale which prompts ridicule from the film's crew. Release Dates:

Question: Who played the title role in the 2004 film "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers"?
Answer: Geoffrey Rush