Peter Sellers (1925 - 1980) - Find A Grave Memorial Westminster Greater London, England British Actor. He is best remembered for his role of inept French police Inspector 'Jacques Clouseau' in the "Pink Panther" series of films (1964 to 1982). The last of that series, "Trail of the Pink Panther" (1982) was made after his death, using film clips and unseen footage from his earlier "Pink Panther" movies. Born Richard Henry Sellers in Southsea, Hampshire, England, his parents worked in an acting company run by his grandmother. During World War II, he enlisted in the British Army, where he met future actors Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, and Michael Bentine. Following the war, he set up a review in London, which was a combination of music and impressions (he played the drums), which led to his doing impressions on BBC television's "The Goon Show." Moving rapidly into a series of British comedy films during the mid-1950s, he quickly caught widespread audience appeal, and each successful role led to more and better films.

Following British comic tradition of doing multiple roles in the same play, he was adept at performing multiple roles in his movies, including his hilarious "The Mouse that Roared" (1959) (playing three different parts), the black comedy, "Dr. Strangelove" (1964), (playing an pragmatic RAF officer, a wimpy United States President and a weird German scientist), and "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1979) (playing the roles of Rudolf IV, Rudolf V, and Syd Frewin). In 1959, he won the British equivalent of an Oscar for his role of 'Fred Kite', a labor leader in "I'm All Right, Now," (1959), and in 1979 he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role of 'Chance Gardiner' in his film, "Being There" (1979).

He was married four times, to Ann Howe (1951 to 1961), to actress Britt Ekland (1964 to 1968), to Miranda Quarry (1970 to 1974) and to actress Lynn Frederick (1977 to his death in 1980). (bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson) 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) Peter Sellers' Mask of Comedy Hid a Flawed, Spiteful Man, His Sorrowful Children Claim Peter Sellers' Mask of Comedy Hid a Flawed, Spiteful Man, His Sorrowful Children Claim Email The English countryside was pillowed in darkness, but actor Peter Sellers was pacing about his manor house, too excited to consider sleep. Once again he was in the grip of a burning passion, the latest of the frantic romances that flared and flickered throughout his troubled life. This time the mercurial actor had deluded himself into thinking that his current co-star, Sophia Loren, was in love with him and about to ditch her producer husband, Carlo Ponti. At 3 a.m. Sellers shook his 7-year-old son, Michael, awake. As the boy rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, his father asked him an extraordinary question: “Do you think I should divorce your mummy?” The suggestion left the boy bewildered, frightened and sobbing, and, as Michael Sellers, now a 27-year-old London carpenter, recalls, the incident was nothing unusual. In his new book P.S.

I Love You, written with his sister, Sarah, and half sister, Victoria, Michael maintains that being there with Peter Sellers was no comedy. The book—to be published here by E.P. Dutton ($12.95) in March—depicts the comic genius as a private monster, an insanely jealous, wife-beating husband and a hopeless father. “He was a child who never grew up,” Michael recalls. “I used to be scared stiff of him.” Peter Sellers’ volatility was never a secret. The infatuation with Loren fizzled, but he fell wildly in love time after time. Before his death of a heart attack in 1980 at age 54, Sellers logged four unsuccessful marriages, a broken engagement to Liza Minnelli and scores of other unhappy endings. He rattled from one religion to the next, dabbling in both Roman Catholicism and Eastern mysticism, changed houses with dizzying frequency and bought and discarded more than 200 automobiles. As Michael tells it, secretaries and household pets suffered peremptory dismissal and banishment as soon as they fell from grace. One terrified nanny leaped from her bedroom window as the enraged Sellers embedded a carving knife in the door.

Preoccupied with the search for a happiness that always eluded him, Sellers inflicted his manic whims and moods on the children, switching them unpredictably from one school to another. Michael, who attended nine different schools, was once diagnosed by a psychologist as “an insecure child lacking the attention of his father.” For all their revelations, the Sellers children are more sympathetic toward their father than vengeful. Near the end of his life his father was suicidal and terribly lonely, Michael recalls. “I saw the desperation that imprisoned him,” he says. The children save much of their vituperation for Lynne Frederick, the 27-year-old actress who was their father’s last wife—and the main beneficiary of his multimillion-dollar estate. Sellers had disinherited his children some time earlier, thinking them unworthy and ungrateful. Michael claims that Lynne and Sellers had come close to divorce, and adds that only six months after his death she married her old flame, David Frost. “I think it’s obvious she’s a good actress,” snaps Sarah, now 24 and part owner of Being There, a London antique-dress shop. “I’ve never seen anything like her performance when Dad died.

She was hysterical, screaming and crying her eyes out.” Yet Frederick was not so distraught, according to the book, that she could not spend part of the afternoon after her husband died on the phone in her hotel suite discussing the purchase of a new Porsche. “Most of the references to me in the book are inaccurate,” Frederick maintains. “It was I who persuaded Peter in the last year of his life to see Michael.” Victoria, 17, daughter of Sellers’ second wife, Britt Ekland, is planning an acting career. She lives with her mother in Los Angeles, and has refused to comment on the book. Sarah and Michael, the offspring of his first marriage, to actress Anne Howe, are voluble. “My mum tells me I turned out well, considering,” says Michael, flashing the toothy Sellers grin. “She was surprised.” His father wanted him to be a film director and scorned his work as a carpenter. “But,” says Michael, “I find it very satisfying-working with my hands, building things.” After an unstable childhood and flirtations with drugs and petty theft, Michael showed signs of settling down in 1979, when he married Carolyn Athay.

His father’s wedding present was a $5,000 leather sofa set. His wife left him after six weeks, but Michael still has the furniture, which dominates the four-room apartment he now shares with his 27-year-old American girlfriend, Alison Park. In spite of the disinheritance, Michael may soon recover some of the affluence he knew as a child; the book has already earned $170,000 through serialization in Britain. Michael’s share, presumably, will help him sustain the Sellers passion for extravagant cars. He is surely the only carpenter in London who carries his lumber on the roof of a 17-foot Lincoln Continental. Sarah has used her share of the book money to buy a one-bedroom apartment not far from Michael’s. She likes to cook and entertain at home, and seems utterly without nostalgia for her father’s more opulent life-style. “When I was little, I liked being Peter Sellers’ daughter and I was a terrible show-off,” she admits. “When I was about 11 I realized it wasn’t a good idea. It wasn’t getting me anywhere.” Sellers’ mood shifts were capricious and frequent, and Sarah struggled vainly to find a stable relationship with him.

“I couldn’t always understand why he behaved as he did,” she says simply. “I wanted to know him better.” Today the Sellers children are sustained by the few precious memories that even the most reckless of fathers bequeath. Obviously Michael and Sarah loved Peter Sellers, but they learned early on not to depend on him for understanding and emotional sustenance. They emerged from childhood with few illusions intact, and their familial legacy is an understandable wariness. Would either of them like to have children? Sarah is noncommittal. “It’s so difficult to bring them up,” she observes, “and so difficult to know how they’ll turn out.” Adds Michael dispassionately: “That’s an 18-to-20-year commitment. Anyway, who wants to bring more people into this kind of world?” Show Full Article Peter Sellers 'changed his will on the day he died', legal papers show - Telegraph Celebrity news Peter Sellers 'changed his will on the day he died', legal papers show Peter Sellers tried to change his will just hours before he died to prevent his entire fortune passing to his estranged fourth wife, a newly-discovered legal document suggests.

Peter Sellers in Dr Strangelove By Murray Wardrop 7:30AM BST 16 Jul 2010 The comedian’s three children were left with paltry sums after Lynne Frederick received the bulk of his £5 million fortune following his death in 1980. However, new evidence indicates that Sellers attempted to alter his will on his deathbed to reduce her share of the estate. The document, to be auctioned this weekend, reveals that Sellers wanted his youngest daughter, Victoria Sellers, to inherit £20,000 upon turning 21. But the papers, signed on the day he died of a heart attack aged 54, were never filed and were therefore not made official. Although Sellers is said to have been trying to cut Frederick out of his will, all but a tiny fraction of his estate was handed to her as their bitter divorce was never finalised. Related Articles Peter Sellers `tried to cut fourth wife out of £4.5m will’ 05 Nov 2009 It meant that Victoria, the star’s daughter by his second wife Brit Eckland, was left with just £800, as were her siblings Michael and Sarah.

The fortune is now in the hands of Frederick’s daughter Cassie Unger, a student in America, who was born four years after the actor's death. The trust agreement document is now being sold having been in the hands of a private collector for many years. It is dated July 22, 1980 – the same day Sellers suffered his fatal heart attack in his room at London's Dorchester Hotel. Andrew Aldridge, of auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son of Devizes, said: "This is a unique piece of Peter Sellers' memorabilia. "This document is exceptional on two fronts. “One is that it is one of, if not, the very last item ever to be signed by Peter and two because his daughter Victoria was left just £800 in his final will. "If this trust fund had been known about then she would have been left a very large amount on her 21st birthday." Twenty thousand pounds in 1980 would be worth about £75,000 today, while the £800 Victoria received is roughly the equivalent of £3,000. The document was signed by Sellers, the granter, and trustees Elwood Rickles and Michael Wolf.

It reads in part: "The Trustees shall hold, manage, invest, reinvest the trust property for the benefit of Victoria Sellers, daughter of the Granter, born January 20,1965 upon the following terms. " It goes into great detail and lists several provisions about the disposition of the funds, a spendthrift provision, the trustee powers and various other terms and conditions. It adds: "When Victoria Sellers attains the age of 21 years, this trust shall terminate, and the entire trust estate consisting of the principal but not the income of the trust, shall be paid and distributed to her, free and discharged of all trusts." Sellers reportedly had a strained relationship with his three children Michael, Sarah and Victoria. After he married Frederick, an English actress, in 1977, he changed his will so that she would inherit most of his estate. The couple parted three years later and it was said that Sellers had been trying to reconcile with his children before his death. Victoria, who was aged 15 at the time, went on to lead a troubled life. She became addicted to drugs and even posed nude for Playboy magazine in 1986. She is now a jewellery designer in California.

Michael Sellers died of heart failure in 2006 aged 52. Sarah runs an antique teddy bear shop in London. Sellers shot to fame in the Goon Show and was famed for his comedy roles including the bumbling Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther. The trust agreement is expected to fetch £1,500 at the auction which takes place on Saturday – nearly 30 years to the day of Sellers' death. Also for sale is Sellers's sole Golden Globe award, which he won for his role in the 1979 comedy Being There. It has an estimated value of £6,000. A legal document unearthed last year, indicated that Frederick should have received only £327,000 plus the couple’s Los Angeles home from their impending divorce. A clause stated that both parties "waive any and all right to inherit the estate of the other at his or her death''. However, the document was not binding because their decree absolute had not been granted, so they were still married when Sellers died. Frederick, who subsequently married and then divorced Sir David Frost, the broadcaster, died in 1994 after fighting an alcohol problem.

The estate, passed to Miss Unger, included properties around the world and rights to Sellers’s films.

Richard Henry Sellers, OBE (1925 - 1980) - Genealogy Richard Henry Sellers, OBE Husband of <private> Howe and Lynne Maria Frederick Ex-husband of Britt Ekland and <private> Macmillan (Quarry) Father of Michael Sellers ; <private> Sellers; <private> Sellers and victoria Sellers Occupation: Actor, Comedian, Comedian and Actor Managed by: Sep 8 1925 - Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England Death: July 24 1980 - London, Middlesex, England Parents: Bill Sellers, Agnes Doreen Sellers (born Marks) Spouses: Lynne Frederrck, Anne Hayes Sellers (born Howe) Children: Victoria Sellers, Sarah Sellers, Micheal Peter Anthony Sellers Brother: Sep 8 1925 - Southsea, Hampshire, England Death: July 24 1980 - London, England Parents: Sep 8 1925 - i Southsea i Hampshire Death: William (Bill) Sellers, Agnes Sellers (född Marks) Brother: Sep 8 1925 - Southsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England Death: July 24

 1980 - London, Middlesex, England Parents: William "bill" Sellers, Agnes Doreen ("peg" Stage Name) Sellers (born Marks) Brother: Sep 8 1925 - 20 Southsea Terrace, Portsmouth Death: William Sellers, Agnes Doreen Sellers (born Marks) Partner: Sep 8 1925 - Southsea, Portsmouth, England Death: William Sellers, Agnes Doreen Sellers (o.s.

Marks) Sibling: Sep 8 1925 - 20 Southsea Terrace, Portsmouth Death: July 24 1980 - Middlesex Hospital, London. bur.Golders Green Crem. Parents: William Sellers, Agnes Doreen Sellers (born Marks) Brother: Miranda Elizabeth Louise Sellers (born Quarry) Wife: Peter Sellers - Wikipedia Bio (PETER SELLERS) Richard Henry Sellers, OBE (8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) British Actor, better known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor best known for his roles in Dr. Strangelove, as Clare Quilty in the original 1962 screen version of Lolita, and as the man-child, Chance the gardener, in his penultimate film, Being There. He is best remembered for his role of inept French police Inspector 'Jacques Clouseau' in the "Pink Panther" series of films (1964 to 1982).

In 1959, he won the British equivalent of an Oscar for his role of 'Fred Kite', a labor leader in "I'm All Right, Now," (1959), and in 1979 he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role of 'Chance Gardiner' in his film, "Being There" (1979). Born Richard Henry Sellers in Southsea, Hampshire, England, his parents worked in an acting company run by his grandmother. His father, Yorkshire-born Bill Sellers (1900–1962), was Protestant and his mother, Agnes Doreen 'Peg' née Marks (1892–1967), was Jewish. He was the great-great-grandson of the boxer Daniel Mendoza, his maternal roots in the Sephardic Jewish community that settled in London. [According to GENI Peter Sellers is Daniel 'Abraham' Mendoza's first cousin four times removed. "] During World War II, he enlisted in the British Army, where he met future actors Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, and Michael Bentine.

Following the war, he set up a review in London, which was a combination of music and impressions (he played the drums), which led to his doing impressions on BBC television's "The Goon Show." Moving rapidly into a series of British comedy films during the mid-1950s, he quickly caught widespread audience appeal, and each successful role led to more and better films. Following British comic tradition of doing multiple roles in the same play, he was adept at performing multiple roles in his movies, including his hilarious "The Mouse that Roared" (1959) (playing three different parts). The black comedy, "Dr. Strangelove" (1964), (playing an pragmatic RAF officer, a wimpy United States President and a weird German scientist), and "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1979) (playing the roles of Rudolf IV, Rudolf V, and Syd Frewin). The last of that series, "Trail of the Pink Panther" (1982) was made after his death, using film clips and unseen footage from his earlier "Pink Panther" movies.

He was married four times, to Ann Howe (1951 to 1961) Britt Ekland (1964 to 1968) actress Miranda Quarry (1970 to 1974) Lynn Frederick (1977 to his death in 1980) actress (bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson) Sellers was a Freemason and a member of Chelsea Lodge No. 3098. Cause of death: Heart attack Burial: Golders Green Greater London, England Plot: His ashes are buried under a rosebush, plot #39802. The rosebed is located at the far end of the crematorium complex, next to the Chapel of Memory columbarium. Richard Henry Sellers, OBE (8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980), better known as Peter Sellers, was a British[1] comedian and actor best known for his roles in Dr.

Strangelove, as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, as Clare Quilty in the original 1962 screen version of Lolita, and as the man-child, Chance the gardener, in his penultimate film, Being There. Sellers rose to fame on the BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show. His ability to speak in different accents (e.g., French, Indian, American, German, as well as British regional accents), along with his talent to portray a range of characters to comic effect, contributed to his success as a radio personality and screen actor and earned him national and international nominations and awards. Many of his characters became ingrained in public perception of his work. Sellers's private life was characterized by turmoil and crises, and included emotional problems and substance abuse. Sellers was married four times, with three children from two of the marriages.

An enigmatic figure, he often claimed to have no identity outside the roles that he played but he left his own portrait since, "he obsessively filmed his homes, his family, people he knew, anything that took his fancy right to the end of his life—intimate film that remained undiscovered until long after his death in 1980."[2] The director Peter Hall has said: "Peter had the ability to identify completely with another person, and think his way physically, mentally and emotionally into their skin. Where does that come from? I have no idea. Is it a curse? Often. I think it's not enough though in this business to have talent. You have to have talent to handle the talent. And that I think Peter did not have."[3] Early life Peter Sellers's birthplace on the corner of Castle Road and Southsea terrace, in Southsea. The blue plaques read "Peter Sellers, Actor and Comedian was born here" Sellers was born in Southsea, Portsmouth, to a family of entertainers.

Though christened Richard Henry, his parents always called him Peter, after his elder stillborn brother,[4] and, according to Bryan Forbes, "was, during his formative years, totally smothered in maternal affection". He attended the North London Roman Catholic school, St. Aloysius College, although his father, Yorkshire-born Bill Sellers (1900–1962), was Protestant and his mother, Agnes Doreen 'Peg' née Marks (1892–1967), was Jewish. He was the great-great-grandson of the boxer Daniel Mendoza, his maternal roots in the Sephardic Jewish community that settled in London.[5] According to Sellers' biographer Roger Lewis, Sellers was intrigued by Catholicism, but soon after entering boarding school, he "discovered he was a Jew—he was someone on the outside of the mysteries of faith." Sellers says that teachers referred to him as "The Jew", which led to his subsequent sensitivity to antisemitic innuendos.

Later in his life, Sellers is quoted as saying "My father was solid Church of England but my mother was Jewish—Portuguese Jewish—and Jews take the faith of their mother."[6] Accompanying his family on the variety show circuit,[4] Sellers learned stagecraft, which proved valuable later. He performed at age five at the burlesque Windmill Theatre in the drama Splash Me!, which featured his mother.[7] However, he grew up with conflicting influences from his parents and developed ambivalent feelings about show business. His father lacked confidence in Peter's abilities to ever become much in the entertainment field, even suggesting that his son's talents were only enough to become a road sweeper, while Sellers' mother encouraged him continually.[4]:18 Sellers got his first job at a theater in Ilfracombe, when he was 15, starting as a janitor. He was steadily promoted, becoming a box office clerk, usher, assistant stage manager, and lighting operator. He was also offered some small acting parts.[4] Working backstage gave him a chance to see serious actors at work, such as Paul Scofield.

He also became close friends with Derek Altman, and together they launched Sellers' first stage act under the name "Altman and Sellers," where they played ukuleles, sang, and told jokes. They also both enjoyed reading detective stories by Dashiell Hammett, and were inspired to start their own detective agency. "Their enterprise ended abruptly when a potential client ripped Sellers' fake mustache off."[4] At his regular job backstage at the theater, Sellers began practising on a set of drums that belonged to the band "Joe Daniels and His Hot Shots." Joe Daniels began noticing his efforts and gave him some practical instructions. Sellers' biographer Ed Sikov writes that "drumming suited him.

Banging in time Pete could envelope himself in a world of near-total abstraction, all in the context of a great deal of noise."[4]:20 [edit] World War II period As war broke out in Europe, Sellers continued to develop his drumming skills, which strongly impressed even his father and landed Sellers his first drumming job with a band in Blackpool.[4]:22 He later enlisted, and during World War II Sellers was an airman in the Royal Air Force, rising to corporal, though he had been restricted to ground staff due to poor eyesight. His tour included India and Burma, although the duration of his stay in Asia is unknown and its length may have been exaggerated by Sellers himself.[4] He also served in Germany and France after the war.[4] As a distraction from the life of a non-commissioned officer, Sellers joined the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), which his father had earlier also signed up with, allowing him to hone his drumming and comedy.

By the end of the war in 1945, more than four out of five British entertainers had worked for ENSA, whose focus was on boosting morale of soldiers and factory workers.[4] He occasionally impersonated his superiors,[4] and his portrayal of RAF officer Lionel Mandrake in the film Dr. Strangelove may have been modelled on them. He bluffed his way into the Officers' Mess using mimicry and the occasional false moustache, although as he told Michael Parkinson in the 1972 interview, occasionally older officers would suspect him. The voice of Goon Show character Major Dennis Bloodnok came from this period. Early career The Goon Show Main article: The Goon Show After his discharge and return to England in 1948, Sellers supported himself with stand-up routines in variety theatres whose impresarios needed to legitimise their business.[4] Sellers telephoned BBC radio producer Roy Speer, pretending to be Kenneth Horne, star of the radio show Much Binding in the Marsh, to get Speer to speak to him. As a result, Sellers was given an audition, which led to his work on Ray's a Laugh with comedian Ted Ray.

His principal radio work was on The Goon Show with Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and (originally) Michael Bentine. Sellers followed this with television work. [edit] Records In the late 1950s, Sellers released two comedy records produced by George Martin: The Best of Sellers and Songs for Swinging Sellers. The Best of Sellers album cover (first released in 10" format in 1958 and his debut LP) pictured him polishing a Rolls Royce motor car. The most popular tracks on this album were "Balham, Gateway to the South" (a parody travelogue) and "Suddenly It's Folksong" where a group of people end up smashing up a pub after a row over someone playing a bum note. The Songs for Swinging Sellers album, released in 1959, contained material written by Frank Muir and Dennis Norden and featured Sellers performing "Puttin on the Style" (a parody of the skiffle movement's performer Lonnie Donegan). He also appeared with guest Irene Handl on the track "Shadows on the Grass" where he plays the part of a Frenchman befriending a lady in the park.

Musical direction was by Ron Goodwin. In 1979 he released a third gatefold album entitled Sellers' Market (the cover shows him standing next to a trader reading the Wall Street Times whereas Sellers is standing similarly reading the Finchley Press) which included comic singing and a feature called the "All England George Formby Finals" where he parodies the late George Formby and his ukelele playing. Also featured was the Complete Guide to Accents of the British Isles. The album was not as popular as his first two in 1958 and 1959 although is still sought after by collectors.[8] All three albums exploited Sellers's ability to use his flexible voice to enormous comedic effect. Film career Sellers's film success arrived with British comedies, including The Ladykillers, I'm All Right Jack and The Mouse That Roared. He began receiving international attention for his portrayal of an Indian doctor in The Millionairess with Sophia Loren. The film inspired the George Martin-produced novelty hit single Goodness Gracious Me and its follow-up Bangers and Mash, both featuring Sellers and Loren.

Lolita In 1962, Stanley Kubrick asked Sellers to play the role of Clare Quilty in Lolita opposite James Mason and Shelly Winters. Kubrick had seen Sellers in his earlier films and was intrigued by his range, also demonstrated during The Goon Show period when Sellers had done impressions of famous people, such as Winston Churchill, the Queen, and Lew Grade. However, Sellers felt the part of a flamboyant American television playwright was beyond his ability (mainly because he was in his words "a fantastic nightmare, part homosexual, part drug addict, part sadist...") and he became nervous about taking on the role, and many people came up to him and told him they felt the role believable.[9] Kubrick eventually succeeded in persuading Sellers to play the part, however. Kubrick had American jazz musician Norman Granz record Sellers' portions of the script for Sellers to listen to, so he could study the voice and develop confidence.[10] Unlike most of his earlier well-rehearsed movie roles, Sellers was encouraged by Kubrick to improvise throughout the filming in order to exhaust all the possibilities of his character.

Moreover, in order to capture Sellers at his most creative heights, Kubrick often used as many as three cameras. Sellers and Kubrick created the multiple disguises used by Sellers, such as a state trooper and a German psychologist. As filming progressed, the other actors and the crew would notice Sellers' greatly enjoying his acting and, according to Kubrick, reaching "...what can only be described as a state of comic ecstasy".[10] The movie's cinematographer, Oswald Morris further commented that, "the most interesting scenes were the ones with Peter Sellers, which were total improvisations."[10] Sellers plays three main characters in Dr. Strangelove Because of this experience, Sellers found that his relationship with Kubrick became one of the most rewarding of his career.[10] Dr. Strangelove In Kubrick's next film, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb he asked Sellers to be in the leading role. Sellers played three extremely different characters: U.S. President Merkin Muffley, Dr. Strangelove, a heavily German-accented nuclear scientist, and Group Captain Lionel Mandrake of the RAF.

Sellers was initially hesitant about taking on the task, but Kubrick convinced him that there was no better actor that could play these parts.[10] Muffley and Dr. Strangelove appeared in the same room throughout the film, with the help of Kubrick's special effects. Sellers was originally cast to play a fourth role, as Major T. J. "King" Kong, but couldn't achieve the strong Texas accent required. He also fell and broke his leg, forcing Kubrick to replace the part with Slim Pickens. For his performance in all three roles, Sellers was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Kubrick again gave Sellers a free rein to improvise throughout the filming. Sellers once said, "If you ask me to play myself, I will not know what to do. I do not know who or what I am."[11] [edit] Pink Panther Peter Sellers as Chief Inspector Clouseau in the The Pink Panther Sellers was cast as the bumbling Chief Inspector Clouseau in the The Pink Panther movies. This character gave Sellers a worldwide audience, beginning with The Pink Panther and its sequel, A Shot in the Dark, in which he featured more prominently.

He returned to the character for three more sequels from 1975 to 1978. The Trail of the Pink Panther, containing unused footage of Sellers, was released in 1982, after his death. His widow, Lynne Frederick, successfully sued the film's producers for unauthorized use. Sellers had prepared to star as Chief Inspector Clouseau in another Pink Panther film; he died before the start of this project, Romance of the Pink Panther. Being There In 1979, Sellers played the role of Chance, a simple gardener addicted to watching TV, in the black comedy, Being There, considered by some critics to be the "crowning triumph of Peter Sellers's remarkable career,"[12] as well as a great achievement for novelist Jerzy Kosinski.

During a BBC interview in 1971, Sellers said that more than anything else, he wanted to play the role of Chance.[12] Kosinski, the book's author, felt that the novel was never meant to be made into a film, but Sellers succeeded to change Kosinski's mind and allowed Sellers and director Hal Ashby to make the film, provided he could write the script.[12] According to film critic Danny Smith, Sellers was "naturally intrigued with the idea of Chance, a character who reflected whatever was beamed at him".[13] Sellers's performance was praised by some critics as achieving "the pinpoint-sharp exactitude of nothingness. It is a performance of extraordinary dexterity",[4]:361 and "...[making] the film's fantastic premise credible".[14] Cover story, March 3, 1980 Sellers's experience of working on the film was both humbling and powerful for him.[13] During the filming, in order not to break his character, he refused most interview requests, and even kept his distance from other actors.

He tried to remain in character even after he returned home.[13] Sellers considered Chance's walking and voice the character's most important attributes, and in preparing for the role, Sellers worked alone with a tape recorder, or with his wife, and then with Ashby, to perfect the clear enunciation and flat delivery needed to reveal "the childlike mind behind the words."[13] Critic Frank Rich noted the acting skill required for this sort of role, with a "schismatic personality that Peter had to convey with strenuous vocal and gestural technique. . . . A lesser actor would have made the character's mental dysfunction flamboyant and drastic. . . . [His] intelligence was always deeper, his onscreen confidence greater, his technique much more finely honed."[14] Being There earned Sellers his best reviews since the 1960s, a second Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe award. A few months after the film was released, Time magazine wrote a cover-story article about Sellers, entitled, "Who is This Man?" The cover showed many of the characters Sellers had portrayed, including Chance, Quilty, Strangelove, Clouseau, and the Grand Duchess Glorianna XII.

Sellers was pleased by the article, written by critic Richard Schickel, and wrote an appreciative letter to the magazine's editor."[4]:373 [edit] Other roles Director Billy Wilder hired Sellers to co-star with Dean Martin for the ribald 1964 comedy Kiss Me, Stupid, but six weeks into filming, Sellers suffered a heart attack. Wilder replaced him with Ray Walston. Sellers was a versatile actor, switching from broad comedy, as in The Party, in which he portrayed a bumbling Indian actor Hrundi Bakshi, to more intense performances as in Lolita. Sellers appeared in an episode of the American television series It Takes a Thief in 1969. By the early 1970s Sellers faced a downturn, however, and was dubbed "box office poison".[15] Sellers never won an Oscar but won the BAFTA for I'm All Right Jack. Sellers appeared on The Muppet Show television series in 1977. He chose not to appear as himself, instead appearing in a variety of costumes and accents.

When Kermit the Frog told Sellers he could relax and be "himself," Sellers (while wearing a Viking helmet, a girdle and one boxing glove, claiming to have attempted to dress as Queen Victoria), replied, "There is no me. I do not exist. There used to be a me, but I had it surgically removed." Personal life Sellers had a difficult personal life. He often clashed with actors and directors, including a strained relationship with friend and director Blake Edwards, with whom he worked on the Pink Panther series and The Party. The two sometimes stopped speaking to each other during filming.[4] Sellers's personality was described by others as difficult and demanding. Sellers assaulted Britt Ekland,[4] prompted by jealousy. Sellers sometimes blamed himself for his failed marriages. In a 1974 Parkinson interview, he admitted that "I'm not easy to live with". His work with Orson Welles on Casino Royale deteriorated as Sellers became jealous of Welles's casual relationship with Princess Margaret. The relationship between the two actors created problems during filming, as Sellers refused to share the set with Welles, who himself was no stranger to strident behaviour.

Sellers could be cruel and disrespectful, as demonstrated by his treatment of actress Jo Van Fleet on the set of I Love You, Alice B. Toklas. On one occasion, Van Fleet had declined an invitation to his house, soon followed by a misunderstanding between the two actors during filming. This prompted Sellers to launch a tirade against Van Fleet in front of actors and crew.[4] Sellers was reticent about discussing his private life. He was invited to appear on Michael Parkinson's eponymous chat show in 1974, but agreed under the condition that he could appear in character. Sellers appeared dressed as a member of the Gestapo, impersonating the Kenneth Mars character in The Producers. After a few lines in keeping with his assumed character, he stepped out of the role and settled down for what is considered one of Parkinson's most memorable interviews.[16] It has been suggested that Sellers suffered depression spurred by deep-seated anxieties of artistic and personal failure. Some behaviour may have been exacerbated by substance abuse, for Sellers regularly smoked cannabis, drank large amounts of alcohol, and used other recreational drugs.

It is believed that his drug use, especially amyl nitrites, contributed to heart attacks in 1964 (see below). Sellers became aware that his frail psyche affected his career and life, but rather than seek professional counselling he opted for periodic consultations with astrologer Maurice Woodruff, who seemed to have held considerable sway over his later career.[4] Relationships with other celebrities Sellers had casual friendships with two Beatles, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.[4] Harrison told occasional Sellers stories in interviews, and Starr appeared with him in the anarchic movie The Magic Christian, which was based on Terry Southern's novel and whose theme song was Badfinger's "Come and Get It", written by Paul McCartney. Starr's two-week hiatus from the Beatles during the White Album recordings was spent aboard Sellers's yacht, where he wrote "Octopus's Garden". Starr also gave Sellers a rough mix of songs from the Beatles' White Album; the tape was auctioned and bootlegged after his death. Sellers recorded a cover version of "A Hard Day's Night", in the style of Laurence Olivier's interpretation of Richard III, as well as various versions of "She Loves You", including as Dr.

Strangelove, a cockney, and an Irish dentist. Sellers was the first male to appear on the cover of Playboy magazine.[citation needed] Sellers's friends included actor and director Roman Polanski, who shared his passion for fast cars. Sellers was a friend of Princess Margaret and had a close relationship with Sophia Loren, which may or may not have been consummated.[4] Sellers was the first[citation needed] man on the cover of Playboy—he appeared on the April 1964 cover with Karen Lynn. He was a Freemason and belonged to Chelsea Lodge No 3098, a lodge whose membership is made up of celebrities and performers, through which means he socialised with a number of other actors and comedians.[17] Relationships with the Royal Family In her autobiography True Britt, Britt Ekland described Sellers' close relationship with the Royal Family. "I was completely unaware of his (Sellers) connection with the British monarchy. One afternoon before we married he had disappeared saying that he had to do something 'important'.

I was to learn he had spent afternoon tea with the Queen Mother at Clarence House."[18] According to Ekland, Sellers acted as a rather subservient figure to the Royals, who admired his work but regarded him as somewhat of a court jester. Obsession with automobiles Sellers had a lifelong obsession with cars, briefly parodied in a fleeting cameo in the short film Simon Simon, directed by friend Graham Stark. His love for cars was also referenced in The Goon Show episode "The Space Age," where Harry Secombe introduces Sellers by saying, "Good heavens, it's Peter Sellers, who has just broken his own record of keeping a car for more than a month." In "The Last Goon Show of All", announcer Andrew Timothy cued him with "Mr. Sellers will now sell a gross of his cars and take up a dramatic voice." Marriages Sellers and Britt Ekland 1964. Sellers was married four times: * Anne Howe (1951–1961). They had two children, Michael and Sarah. * Swedish actress Britt Ekland (1964–1968). They had a daughter, Victoria Sellers.

The couple appeared in three films together: Carol For Another Christmas (1964), After the Fox (1966) and The Bobo (1967). * Australian model Miranda Quarry (now the Countess of Stockton) (1970–1974). * English actress Lynne Frederick (1977–1980), who was briefly married to Sir David Frost shortly after Sellers's death. Again, Spike Milligan wrote this into his scripts, referring in one 1972 radio show to "The Peter Sellers Discarded Wives Memorial". At the time, Sellers was married to Quarry. [edit] Death In 1964, at age 38, Sellers suffered a series of heart attacks (13 in a few days), which permanently damaged his heart. Sellers chose to consult with psychic healers rather than seek Western medical treatment, and his heart condition continued to deteriorate over the next 16 years.

In 1977, he suffered a second major heart attack, resulting in him being fitted with a pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat.[19] Once again, Sellers refused to slow down nor did he follow doctor's orders and consider open heart surgery, which could have considerably extended his life.[4] A reunion dinner was scheduled in London with his Goon Show partners, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe, for 25 July 1980. But on 22 July, 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 24 July 1980, aged 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 heart surgery in Los Angeles on 30 July.[4] Although Sellers was reportedly in the process of excluding Frederick from his will a week before he died, she inherited almost his entire estate worth an estimated £4.5 million while his children received £800 each.[4] When Frederick died in 1994 (aged 39), her mother Iris inherited everything, including all of the income and royalties from Sellers's work. When Iris dies the whole estate will go to Cassie, the daughter Lynne had with her third husband, Barry Unger. Sellers's only son, Michael, died of a heart attack at 52 during surgery on 24 July 2006 (26 years to the day after his father's death).[20] Michael was survived by his second wife, Alison, whom he married in 1986, and their two children. In his will, Sellers requested that the Glenn Miller song "In the Mood" be played at his funeral.

The request is considered his last touch of humour, as he hated the piece.[21] His body was cremated and he was interred at Golders Green Crematorium in London. After her death in 1994, the ashes of his widow Lynne were co-interred with his.[22] Legacy and influence The film Trail of the Pink Panther, made by Blake Edwards using unused footage of Sellers from The Pink Panther Strikes Again, is dedicated to Sellers's memory. The title reads "To Peter ... The one and only Inspector Clouseau." In a 2005 poll to find "The Comedian's Comedian", Sellers was voted 14 in the list of the top 20 greatest comedians by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.[23] British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen frequently referred to Peter Sellers "as the most seminal force in shaping his early ideas on comedy".

Cohen was considered for the role of the biopic, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (the role went to Australian actor Geoffrey Rush).[24] Filmography 1950 The Black Rose Alfonso Bedoya Voice (uncredited) 1951 Penny Points to Paradise The Major/Arnold Fringe Let's Go Crazy Groucho/Giuseppe/Cedric 1952 Down Among the Z Men Major Bloodnok 1953 Our Girl Friday Parrot Voice (uncredited) 1954 Orders are Orders Private Griffin 1955 John and Julie Police Constable Diamond The Ladykillers Mr. Robinson 1956 The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn Narrator/Supt. Quilt /Asst. Commissioner Sir Jervis Fruit/Henry Crun The Man Who Never Was Winston Churchill Voice only 1957 Insomnia Is Good for You Hector Dimwiddle Short film The Smallest Show on Earth Leslie Quill The Naked Truth Sonny McGregor 1958 Up the Creek CPO Doherty tom thumb Antony 1959 Carlton-Browne of the F.O.

Prime Minister Amphibulos The Mouse That Roared Grand Duchess Gloriana XII / Prime Minister Count Rupert Mountjoy / Tully Bascombe Three roles. I'm All Right Jack Fred Kite BAFTA Award for Best British Actor The Battle of the Sexes Mr. Martin 1960 The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film Photographer Short San Francisco International Film Festival Award for Best Fiction Short Nominated — Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film Never Let Go Lionel Meadows The Millionairess Dr. Ahmed el Kabir Two Way Stretch Dodger Lane 1961 Mr. Topaze Auguste Topaze 1962 Only Two Can Play John Lewis Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best British Actor Waltz of the Toreadors General Leo Fitzjohn San Sebastián International Film Festival Award for Best Actor The Road to Hong Kong Indian Neurologist uncredited Lolita Clare Quilty Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Trial and Error Wilfred Morgenhall 1963 The Wrong Arm of the Law Pearly Gates Heavens Above!

The Reverend John Smallwood The Pink Panther Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau First in the Pink Panther series Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best British Actor Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy 1964 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Group Captain Lionel Mandrake / President Merkin Muffley / Dr. Strangelove Three roles Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best British Actor The World of Henry Orient Henry Orient A Shot in the Dark Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau Sequel to the Pink Panther 1965 Birds, Bees and Storks Narrator Voice What's New Pussycat Doctor Fritz Fassbender 1966 The Wrong Box Doctor Pratt After the Fox Aldo Vanucci 1967 Casino Royale Evelyn Tremble Woman Times Seven Jean 1968 The Party Hrundi V. Bakshi I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!

Harold 1969 The Magic Christian Sir Guy Grand KG, KC, CBE 1970 A Day at the Beach Salesman Hoffman Benjamin Hoffman Simon, Simon Man with two cars There's a Girl in My Soup Robert Danvers 1972 Where Does It Hurt? Dr. Albert T. Hopfnagel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland The March Hare 1973 Ghost in the Noonday Sun Dick Scratcher The Blockhouse Rouquet 1974 Soft Beds, Hard Battles Général Latour / Major Robinson / Herr Schroeder / Adolf Hitler / The President / Prince Kyoto Played six roles.

The Great McGonagall Queen Victoria 1975 The Return of the Pink Panther Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau Third film by Sellers in the Pink Panther series Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy 1976 Murder by Death Sidney Wang The Pink Panther Strikes Again Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau Fourth film by Sellers in the Pink Panther series Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy 1978 The Muppet Show Various characters, including an Inspector Clouseau-like character, a gypsy, Queen Victoria, a masseur, and a preacher. Episode 43 originally aired February 27, 1978 in New York, and February 24, 1978 in Los Angeles Kingdom of Gifts Larcenous Mayor Voice only Revenge of the Pink Panther Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau Fifth film by Sellers in the Pink Panther series 1979 The Prisoner of Zenda Rudolf IV / Rudolf V / Syd Frewin Played three roles.

Being There Chance Fotogramas de Plata for Best Foreign Performance Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy London Film Critics Circle Special Award National Board of Review Award for Best Actor Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best British Actor 1980 The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu Dennis Nayland Smith / Dr. Fu 'Fred' Manchu Last film. Played two roles. 1982 Trail of the Pink Panther Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau Footage of Sellers used. [edit] Comedy singles Sellers released several comedy singles, many of them produced by George Martin and released on the Parlophone record label. These include the following hits: * "Any Old Iron" (1957) UK # 17 * "Goodness Gracious Me" (1960) with Sophia Loren UK # 4 * "Bangers and Mash" (1961), a follow-up also featuring Sophia Loren UK # 22 * "A Hard Day's Night" (1965) UK # 14. This consisted of him speaking the lyrics using the stereotypical voice of an actor playing Shakespeare's Richard III.

He also performed the song in costume on television. The recording was re-issued in 1993 and reached Number 52 in the UK Top 75 Singles chart. He covered several other Beatles hits, including "Help!" and "She Loves You". Sellers also recorded a parody version of "Unchained Melody", which long went unreleased. When asked in 1960 what he thought the music business would be like in ten years time, Sellers retorted - “ Ten years older ! ” Peter Sellers `tried to cut fourth wife Lynne Frederick out of £4.5m will’ - Telegraph Celebrity news Peter Sellers `tried to cut fourth wife Lynne Frederick out of £4.5m will’ Peter Sellers tried to cut his estranged fourth wife Lynne Frederick out of his multi-million-pound will, a newly discovered legal document suggests.

May 1980: British actor and comedian Peter Sellers and his wife, British actor Lynne Frederick Photo: HULTON ARCHIVE By Richard Savill 7:00AM GMT 05 Nov 2009 The actor left a £4.5 million fortune to Miss Frederick, to whom he was married at the time of his sudden death from a heart attack in 1980, aged 54. By contrast he left his three children from two earlier marriages £750 each. Miss Frederick, who subsequently remarried and then divorced the broadcaster Sir David Frost, died in 1994 after fighting a drugs problem. She left the Sellers estate to her daughter Cassie, now a 25-year-old American student, who is its principal benefactor. She was born four years after the actor’s death and is not related to his family. During his three year marriage to Miss Frederick, Sellars changed his will so that she stood to inherit his fortune. However, he was reportedly in the process of excluding her before he died. The contentious issue has now been raised again by the impending auction of what is described as the couple’s marital settlement agreement.

According to the document, dated June 15, 1979, Miss Frederick should only have received £327,000 plus their home in Los Angeles from their forthcoming divorce. A clause stated both parties "waive any and all right to inherit the estate of the other at his or her death." Both parties signed the agreement after they split up but as the decree absolute was never completed, they were legally still married when Sellers died. Miss Frederick inherited the £4.5 million which included various properties around the world, his art collection, family heirlooms and rights to his films. His children, Michael and Sarah, from his first wife Anne Howe, and Victoria, by the Swedish actress Britt Ekland, could not legally challenge their father's final will as they had received token amounts and were not left out by mistake. The document states that Miss Frederick had agreed to "waive any further right of support from husband". It adds that both parties were happy the agreement was to be a "full and final accord and satisfaction of all claims which each may have against the other".

Andrew Aldridge, of Henry Aldridge and Son Auctioneers, of Devizes, Wilts, said: "This is a fascinating document that sheds light on what was going on behind closed doors in their marriage. "Peter Sellers' friends said he had been trying to cut Lynne Frederick out of his will and these papers substantiate those claims after nearly 30 years. "It proves that it wasn't his intention for her to inherit his estate at the time he died and she had in effect agreed to this. "He would have had to amend his will after their divorce came through and obviously we don't know who would have been the new beneficiaries, maybe he might have left a lot more to his three children.” Mr Aldridge said the document had been owned by a private collector in America for many years. But it was purchased recently by a British dealer who is now selling it. Sellers’ son Michael died of heart failure in 2006 aged 52. One of his daughters, Victoria, is reported to be a former drug addict living as a jewellery designer in California, while the other, Sarah runs an antique teddy bear shop in London.

Earlier this year, a newspaper photographed Miss Frederick’s daughter, Cassie, wearing scruffy jeans, flip-flops and a baggy T-shirt, as she returned to her £1.2 million apartment from her college campus in California. Sellers starred as the bumbling detective Inspector Clouseau in the 1963 film The Pink Panther. The auction takes place on Nov 14 and the document has an estimate of between £2,000 and 3,000.

Question: Which actress was married to comedy actor Peter Sellers at the time of his death in 1980?
Answer: LYNN FREDERICK