In a World Starved For Great Comedy, Why Not Revisit Some Stellar Sellers?

Earlier this month the British actor/comedian Peter Sellers, best known to the world as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau in the “Pink Panther” series, would have turned 84. Wouldn’t life be brighter if this comic genius hadn’t left us so soon? As it was, we lost him close to thirty years ago, due to a weak heart further compromised by the stress of work, celebrity, and various personal upheavals.

 I confess I’ve never seen Geoffrey Rush’s portrayal of him in “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers” (2004), but gather this biopic affirms much of what I’d already read about the man: that he was indulged by a doting mother; that he grew up knowing that he preferred pretending to be other characters than to explore and develop who he really was, and that this  led both to a stunning career as funny-man, character actor, and star, but also a personal life beset by demons of restlessness, loneliness, and yes -- insecurity.

 From the outset of his career his compulsion was to work, work, work. After earning initial notoriety in the early fifties as a prominent member of “The Goons," Spike Milligan’s groundbreaking comedy troupe, Sellers made a successful transition to films, unlike Milligan himself. By the early sixties, he was burning on all cylinders, completing over ten films between 1962-1964, before his first serious heart attack literally forced him to take a break. But he always came back as soon as possible to that place he felt most comfortable: playing expertly in someone else’s skin, in front of a camera.

 As to his signature Clouseau pictures, I consider the earliest two entries: “The Pink Panther” (1963) and “A Shot In The Dark” (1964) his finest portrayals of the French detective. When Sellers and director Blake Edwards shrewdly decided to reprise the series in the seventies, the movies were much broader, reflected in Sellers’ more pronounced French accent (“Who is this on the phuuuunne?” and “Does your duug baaate?”). Of these later entries, I think the best is “The Pink Panther Strikes Again” (1978).

 Still, to accurately reflect the breadth of this actor’s film legacy means going well beyond the much beloved Inspector. So with that in mind, here’s some more stellar Sellers.

 The Ladykillers (1955) -- Criminal mastermind Professor Marcus ( Alec Guinness) and his motley crew of thieves are planning a daring robbery of a London bank. To provide suitable cover as they prepare, they masquerade as a musical group and take lodgings at the home of kindly old Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson), who lives nearby. The Professor assumes the aged landlady will remain unobtrusive and clueless to their machinations, but alas, he misjudges her. Alexander Mackendrick's peerless black comedy benefits from William Rose's ingenious story and the finest ensemble playing a comedy could hope for: Guinness's Marcus is the essence of smarmy charm, and Johnson projects a steely will cloaked in Victorian gentility. The gang are an inspired bunch of misfits, including a stuttering Cecil Parker, a portly, dim Sellers, and a menacing Herbert Lom (the latter two actors would reunite years later for the “Panther” series, with Lom providing the ideal foil for Sellers as the emotionally disintegrating Chief Inspector Dreyfus). Don’t confuse this British gem with the inferior Tom Hanks re-make.

 I’m All Right, Jack (1959) -- John Boulton’s deft labor relations satire is at once subtle, multi-layered and consistently amusing. Notably, “Jack” also sheds piercing light on the perpetual struggle between management and labor in England, and by extension, the yawning gulf inherent in Britain’s class structure. This inspired yarn centers around one Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael), a naïve patrician who fails at every white collar job he tries. His Uncle Bertram (Dennis Price), owner of a missile company, soon devises an inspired plan: get Stanley to start at the bottom rung of his firm, and manipulate his unwitting, out-of-place nephew to cause labor unrest and ultimately, a strike. Then a lucrative arms deal will go to chummy competitor Sidney deVere Cox (Richard Attenborough), who will raise the deal price. The premium would then get split among all interested parties. Sellers unforgettably plays Fred Kite, the head of the company’s labor committee, a well-meaning, precise working man who falls for management’s ploy. What no one counts on is how Stanley himself will respond to the strike, supported by his wealthy, adoring Aunt Dolly (Margaret Rutherford). Assorted machinations and developments lead to divine comic complications for all involved, except of course, Stanley, the presumed pawn in the scheme. Terry-Thomas is also memorable as the company’s slick personnel director, but through it all, it’s Sellers’s Kite that flies highest.

 Lolita (1962) -- After renting a room from lonely American widow Charlotte Haze (Shelley Winters), middle-aged professor Humbert Humbert (James Mason) becomes obsessed with her nubile 15-year-old daughter, Lolita (Sue Lyon). So smitten is the worldly, intellectual Humbert that he agrees to marry brash Charlotte in order to maintain contact with the coquettish virgin. A dark turn of events brings Humbert even closer to Lolita, with humiliating and tragic results. A brilliant adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel penned by the author himself, Kubrick's "Lolita" satirizes the vulgar desires and warped intellect of Humbert, magnificently played by Mason. Upgrading Lolita's age to make the film palatable to audiences in 1962, Kubrick emphasized the farcical aspects of the source material, drawing an extraordinary performance from Sellers, who plays Humbert's lecherous (and oft-disguised) writer friend Clare Quilty. Winters is by turns perky and melancholic as the unwitting Charlotte. You'll fall hard for the daring "Lolita."

 Doctor Strangelove, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb (1964) -- In this satirical doomsday thriller, a U.S. bomber receives a signal to release its nuclear payload on Russia. When the unfortunate Captain Mandrake (Sellers) seeks out Gen. Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) to learn why he ordered the drop, and why he's placed his Air Force base on lockdown, it's quickly evident the general has lost his marbles. Meanwhile, President Muffley (Sellers again) meets with senior advisers, including  hawkish General “Buck” Turgidson (George C. Scott) and the oddly sinister nuclear scientist Dr. Strangelove (Sellers), to review their limited options to save the planet.  Perhaps the most inspired Cold War farce ever and certainly one of the screen's supreme black comedies, Kubrick's "Strangelove" confronted jittery audiences in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and not long after the advent of the H bomb. With Kubrick's twisted genius as director and screenwriter in full bloom, and peerless performances by Sellers in three roles, not to mention the buffoonish Scott and unhinged Hayden, the film is unbearably funny, but somewhat disturbing as well, which helps account for its enduring cult status.

 The World of Henry Orient (1964) -- Two New York City private school girls befriend each other, then develop a mutual crush on the title character, second-rate orchestra conductor and third-rate ladies' man, Henry Orient (Sellers). They then decide to stalk the poor fellow, foiling all his meticulously planned assignations. When Orient finally identifies who they are and calls on one of their parents, the plot takes a darker, more dramatic turn. Sellers is in rare form as the perpetually randy, eternally mediocre fraud (don’t miss his delivery of the movie’s last line!). The two girls who pursue him (Merrie Spaeth and Tippy Walker) give refreshingly natural performances for the time. Then there’s Paula Prentiss, screamingly funny as one of Orient's nervous paramours, and the incomparable Angela Lansbury, who injects a cold note of evil as one girl's mother. George Roy Hill’s too-often overlooked film also features beautiful on-location scenery of Manhattan's Upper East Side. More than ever, this is one “World” worth entering.

 The Party (1967) -- A fat-cat Hollywood producer decides to throw a splashy dinner party ("Anyone who's anyone will be there!"), and as bad luck would have it, Indian-born actor Hrundi Bakshi (Sellers) mistakenly makes it onto the guest list. Though Bakshi knows few of his fellow guests, they’ll certainly get to know him before the night is over. Here Sellers inhabits yet another accident-prone character in his continuing partnership with Blake Edwards. Bakshi is a gentle person, but his innocent curiosity about his surroundings (or is it bewilderment?) manages to wreak havoc most everywhere he goes. Though the breathless comic momentum flags a bit by picture's end, Sellers's brilliant characterization and some sublime set-pieces make this worthy viewing. In particular, that dinner scene remains one of the funniest sequences on film. French actress Claudine Longet is adorable as the party's prettiest guest, who befriends the sweet but clumsy Bakshi. Don’t miss this wild and woolly sixties bash!

 Being There (1979) -- Sellers's second-to-last film proved to himself and the world that when called upon, he could be a superb serious actor. This ingenious tale, originally penned by Jerzy Kosinski, concerns Chance, a middle-aged (though strangely child-like) gardener in Washington, D.C., whose only education has come through television. Through a twist of fate after his old employer dies, Chance (re-dubbed Chauncey Gardner) lands in the home of powerful wheeler-dealer Benjamin Rand (Melvyn Douglas) and his younger wife Eve (Shirley MacLaine). Rand discerns genius in Chauncey's simple pronouncements, and soon the humble gardener has the ear of some even more powerful people. Adapted by Kosinski himself, and helmed by top 70's director Hal Ashby, the movie’s a triumph, due to Sellers' bravura lead turn and top-notch performances from acting veteran Douglas (who netted an Oscar), MacLaine, and a gravelly Jack Warden as the President. Witty, sharp, and thought-provoking, this feature's enduring poignancy comes from the fact that Sellers had only a year to live when he made it. If you love the work of Peter Sellers, you'll love "Being There".

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Comments

[Aramingo]

There was one widely panned movie of his that I liked anyway: After the Fox. The thing that struck me was that Victor Mature could be hilarious lampooning his own image.

[Tallulah Morehead - Huffpost Blogger]

I think AFTER THE FOX has a lot of good stuff in it, Victor Mature's self-parodying performance being high among them, but taken as a whole, it's something of a mess. Gorgeous location.

[Javani]

I too think "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" is the best, certainly the funniest. But to appreciate the humor best, I recommend viewing the previous "The Return of the Pink Panther" first.

The insane Dreyfus in "Strikes Again" is funny alone, but his megalomaniac threats to destroy the world are rendered perfectly reasonable after viewing what Clouseau put him through in "Return." I am fortunate to watched the movies in order of production.

"Strikes Again" also has Omar Sharif in a small role, playing his suave self as a suave Egyptian spy, a nice touch reminescent of the suave early James Bonds.

[John Farr - Huffpost Blogger]

you're right...return is a fitting lead-in.

[sexyrexy]

loved.. THERE'S A GIRL IN MY SOUP..

[John Farr - Huffpost Blogger]

not available on dvd...wonder if the movie holds up...what a title.

[Isis N]

Dr. Strangelove is still one of the funniest movies I've seen.

[John Farr - Huffpost Blogger]

I think it's sterling hayden that steals it.

[Tallulah Morehead - Huffpost Blogger]

Well, George C. Scott & Slim Pickens steal fair amounts of it also, and Keenan Wynn's one scene is quite memorable also.

BTW, it's James Earl Jones's screen debut.

[LMPE]

I have seen "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers". What the movie shows is that Peter Sellers as a person was a total jerk.

Other Peter Sellers movies that I recommend are:

"The Mouse that Roared": again Sellers plays multiple roles, this time as people from a tiny country that plans to wage a war against the US, lose, and collect loans. But they've got a surprise waiting. The movie contains a particularly hot scene of Jean Seberg (must have been extremely risque at the time).

"Casino Royale": satire on the James Bond franchise. I can't understand why nobody else likes this movie. The 2006 version was nothing but a series of gimmicks.

"The Magic Christian": a mockery of England's class system. Sellers plays an aristocrat who adopts homeless Ringo Starr as a son, and they get people to perform self-degrading acts for money.

PS: "The World of Henry Orient" co-stars Tom Bosley, who later played Howard Cunningham on "Happy Days", and Al Lewis, who played Grandpa on "The Munsters".

PPS: Sellers's final wife Lynne Frederick was apparently a gold digger. After his death, she was married to David Frost for a year (again only for his money), and later died of a drug overdose.

[John Farr - Huffpost Blogger]

I love the casino royale score by bacharach...how many bonds were there in thatr movie? Four?

[Tallulah Morehead - Huffpost Blogger]

"'Casino Royale': satire on the James Bond franchise. I can't understand why nobody else likes this movie."

Because it may just be the worst movie ever made. You can not be serious. Like Mr. Farr, I love the score - and that's IT!

It's a wretched mishmash. Four directors all shooting at once, none knowing what the others were doing. No finished script.

Sellers sabotaged that one by walking out midway through shooting it and NEVER COMING BACK, so they had to scramble around trying to find a way to explain why he suddenly disappears from the film, and find a way to finish it.

Sellers refused to work with Orson Welles (perhaps afraid genius Welles would see him for the lunatic he was) so they were never on the set nor in the studio at the same time, and their seperately-shot scenes were cobbled together.

Val Guest was handed all the footage shot by different directors with different casts and different styles, and told to write and shoot new stuff to patch it together into something releasable. It is a total, unwatchable mess. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is a better movie.

The recent CASINO ROYALE is NOT "nothing but a series of gimmicks." It's a coherent, sensible movie that actually follows some of Fleming's novel. (and has one hell of a sexy James Bond.

I admit to liking THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN, but it'sl a mess, and is inferior to the book on which it is based.

[John Farr - Huffpost Blogger]

agree with all you said except loving daniel craig's "bond"
he's humorless- and though hunky, he wears his clothes too tight and looks like a gay underwear model. I have nothing against them (literally), but they're not James Bond. give me connery in "from russia with love."

[sexyrexy]

so that's what happened to Lynne Federick.. missed that one.. wondered what happened to her.,.


Sellers left no inheritance to his kids.. left it all to Frederick. and she didn't live long enough to enjoy it.

too many casualties of OD-ies during that time.. another was Talitha Getty.

[John Farr - Huffpost Blogger]

could not have been easy being married to volatile celebs.

[Steamboater]

Audiences weren't ready for "Lolitia" though at the time and it destroyed Sue Lyon's career. The teen sexpot and Lyon's reallife romantic involvement with a black man was something she didn't have a chance with when that film was made.

[Tallulah Morehead - Huffpost Blogger]

But it began Sue Lyon's career. Wasn't it her debut? And she at least went on to do NIGHT OF THE IGUANA, which is a pretty damn good film.

However, you're right that it was still too early to make it. I don't think it was the audiences that weren't ready, so much as the censors.

Yet for all the compromises and changes that had to be made to get it on film and released, it is a memorable and wonderful movie. Yet the remake, done when supposedly audiences WERE ready, has anyone ever watched it a second time? Whereas the Kubrick version has become a classic.

[John Farr - Huffpost Blogger]

most modern remakes are poison.

[Steamboater]

Henry Orient wasn't that great a film and the broadway musical version was worse ("Henry, Sweet Henry"). Favrorite Seller's film thoug is "Lolitia". Geeat sory and terrific perfomances all around not only by Sellers by James Mason and Shelly Winters. As for "Being There", wasn't that a film bio of George Bush?

[Tallulah Morehead - Huffpost Blogger]

Chauncey Gardener had idiot-savant wisdom. George Bush has idiot-savant idiocy. And Bush can't walk on water. He can barely walk on land.

But they can both clear brush like nobody's business.

[John Farr - Huffpost Blogger]

haha, and melvyn douglas is based on dick cheney?

[dunedin]

Not a movie, but if you can track down "The Last Goon Show of All" on VHS or DVD you will see an amazing Sellers performance. He physically becomes all of his characters, which he did every week despite The Goons being a radio show.

[John Farr - Huffpost Blogger]

I will try- for sure. thanks.

[goesto11]

Being There -- the most insightful and prescient commentary on modern media.

[John Farr - Huffpost Blogger]

certainly one of them-also network springs to mind.

[Balloonman]

Isn't it wonderful how you can simply read a review of plot and characters/actors in a list of especially fine comedy films like this in which PETER SELLERS was featured or starred--in the case of BEING THERE, poignant--and chuckle, laugh out loud for that matter, remembering scenes that stick with you forever. A little nudge and the movie reanimates, comes alive in your head. Lifts you up. A boost. It's wonderful. The power of unforgettable moving pictures when the entire teamwork, everything and everybody is right, when it all comes together.

[John Farr - Huffpost Blogger]

you're so right- and it's why these movies are so worth revisiting!

[Tallulah Morehead - Huffpost Blogger]

(Pt 2)

Your description of LOLITA is a bit weird. I love this movie, and have seen it many times. Humbert and Quilty are NEVER "friends." They are rivals for Lolita, whom Quilty lusts for as much as Humbert, and Humbert doesn't even know Quilty exists until after Lolita has left him, which allows Quilty to assume persona after persona to torment and foil Humbert. It's a great movie, and contains some of Sellers's best work.

Shelley Winters "is by turns perky and melancholic"? Hello? She is, by turns, shrill, monstrous, lecherous, egotistical, and finally pathetic. Winters in brilliant in the role, but her Charlotte Haze is an hilarious monster who is only pitiable in her final scene.

Stanley Kubrick said of Sellers in STRANGELOVE "I got three actors for the price of four." Strangelove is one of my all-time favorite films. Sellers was originally going to play the Slim Pickens role also, but a leg injury kept him from playing the part, and resulted in Strangelove being in a wheelchair. A masterpiece on all levels.

In a way, it's a blessing Sellers is dead. We can enjoy his genius in his great early films, without dealing with the monster he became.

Other good Sellers films to catch: The Wrong Box, The Battle of the Sexes, tom thumb, The Mouse That Roared, and The Naked Truth.

[John Farr - Huffpost Blogger]

points well taken...
wish "wrong box" was on dvd.

[Tallulah Morehead - Huffpost Blogger]

TCM ran THE WRONG BOX a month or so back. When they run it again, switch on the DVR, or that old, wood-burning VHS recorder.

WRONG BOX was co-written by the late Larry Gelbart, and it holds up quite well.

[sexyrexy]

gosh.. James Mason was so damn sexy in this film.. sinister became him..

[John Farr - Huffpost Blogger]

yeah- he made a great lech.

[Tallulah Morehead - Huffpost Blogger]

In LOLITA, I see Mason not as sinister, and not even that lustful, but a devastating portrait of a man humiliating himself to the marrow of his soul for a forbidden love. He gets no pleasure from his obsession with Lolita, only degradation, humiliation, and finally utter detruction. It's possibly his best performance, and that is saying something, given how many great acting performances James Mason gave.

And of course, I could listen to that voice of his forever.

And yes, sexy too, although in this film it was a curdled, creepy sexiness.

[Tallulah Morehead - Huffpost Blogger]

Had Sellers somehow survived, we would not have a collection of classics. With the sole exception of BEING THERE, which was an exceptional project in every way, every movie Sellers was in from 1966 on was terrible, and always due to Sellers himself. Not his onscreen work, but his offscreen insanity. He sabotaged movie after movie, just as he sabotaged relationship after relationship. he was impossible to work with, and toxic to know personally.

Read THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS, Roger Lewis's excellent book that the TV movie was based on. Sellers wasn't just neurotic, he was absolutely nuts, utterly self-destructive, and at times just plain evil.

It is a tragedy that the GREAT talent of Peter Sellers was trapped inside Peter Sellers.

[John Farr - Huffpost Blogger]

he was a pretty toxic character in real life and it is a shame.

[Tallulah Morehead - Huffpost Blogger]

Beyond a shame; it was a tragedy, for him, for us, and for everyone with the misfortune to have known him.