Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence with his performances on the BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show. Sellers was featured on a number of hit comic songs and became internationally acclaimed for his film roles, most notably as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther series.
Sellers made his stage debut at the Kings Theatre, Southsea, as an infant, and began accompanying his parents in a touring variety act. He worked as a drummer and toured around England as a member of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). He developed his mimicry and improvisational skills during a spell in Ralph Reader's wartime Gang Show entertainment troupe. After the war, Sellers made his radio debut in ShowTime, and eventually became a regular performer on various BBC Radio shows. In 1951, Sellers, along with Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, and Michael Bentine, began starring in the successful radio series The Goon Show, which ended in 1960.
Sellers began his film career during the 1950s. Although the bulk of his work was comedic, often parodying characters of authority such as military officers or policemen, he also performed in other film genres. Films demonstrating his artistic range include The Ladykillers (1955), The Mouse That Roared (1959), I'm All Right Jack (1959), The Millionairess (1960), Lolita (1962), five films of the Pink Panther series (1963–1978), Dr. Strangelove (1964), What's New Pussycat? (1965), Casino Royale (1967), The Party (1968), I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968), The Magic Christian (1969), Being There (1979), and The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980). Sellers's versatility enabled him to portray a wide range of comic characters using different accents and guises, and he would often assume multiple roles within the same film, frequently with contrasting temperaments and styles. Satire and black humour were major features of many of his films, as they had been in his radio and record performances. These performances had a strong influence on a number of later comedians.
Sellers was nominated three times for an Academy Award, twice for Best Actor, for his performances in Dr. Strangelove and Being There, and once for the Best Live Action Short Film for The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959). He won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his role in I'm All Right Jack and was nominated an additional three times for the satire Only Two Can Play, for Dr. Strangelove and The Pink Panther, and for Being There. In 1980 he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his role in Being There, having previously been nominated three times in the same category. Turner Classic Movies calls Sellers "one of the most accomplished comic actors of the late 20th century".
In his personal life, Sellers struggled with depression and insecurities. An enigmatic figure, he often claimed to have no identity outside the roles that he played. His behaviour was often erratic and compulsive, and he frequently clashed with his directors and co-stars, especially in the mid-1970s, when his physical and mental health, together with his alcohol and drug problems, were at their worst. Sellers was married four times and had three children from his first two marriages. He died from a heart attack, aged 54, in 1980. English filmmakers the Boulting brothers described Sellers as "the greatest comic genius this country has produced since Charles Chaplin".
1925–1939: Early life and career beginnings
Sellers was born on 8 September 1925 in Southsea, a suburb of Portsmouth. His parents were Yorkshire-born William "Bill" Sellers and Agnes Doreen "Peg" (née Marks). Both were variety entertainers; Peg was in the Ray Sisters troupe. Although he was christened Richard Henry, his parents called him Peter, after his elder brother, who was stillborn. Sellers had no other siblings. Peg Sellers was related to the pugilist Daniel Mendoza, whom Sellers greatly revered and whose engraving later hung in his office. At one time Sellers planned to use Mendoza's image for his production company's logo.
Sellers was two weeks old when he was carried on stage by Dick Henderson, the headline act at the Kings Theatre in Southsea: the crowd sang "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow", which caused the infant to cry. The family constantly toured, causing much upheaval and unhappiness in the young Sellers's life.
Sellers maintained a very close relationship with his mother, which his friend Spike Milligan later considered unhealthy for a grown man. Sellers's agent, Dennis Selinger, recalled his first meeting with Peg and Peter Sellers, noting that "Sellers was an immensely shy young man, inclined to be dominated by his mother, but without resentment or objection". As an only child, he spent much time alone.
In 1935 the Sellers family moved to North London and settled in Muswell Hill. Although Bill Sellers was Protestant and Peg was Jewish, Sellers attended the nearby Roman Catholic school St Aloysius' College in Highgate, run by the Brothers of Our Lady of Mercy. The family was not rich, but Peg insisted on an expensive private schooling for her son. According to biographer Peter Evans, Sellers was fascinated, puzzled, and worried by religion from a young age, particularly Catholicism; Roger Lewis believed that soon after entering Catholic school, Sellers "discovered he was a Jew—he was someone on the outside of the mysteries of faith". Later in his life, Sellers observed that while his father's faith was according to the Church of England, his mother was Jewish, "and Jews take the faith of their mother."
According to Milligan, Sellers felt a sense of guilt about being Jewish and recalls that Sellers was once reduced to tears when he presented him with a candlestick from a synagogue for Christmas, believing the gesture to be an anti-Jewish slur. Sellers became a top student at the school, excelling in drawing in particular. He was prone to laziness, but his natural talents shielded him from criticism by his teachers. Sellers recalled that a teacher scolded the other boys for not studying, saying: "The Jewish boy knows his catechism better than the rest of you!"
Accompanying his family on the variety show circuit, Sellers learned stagecraft but received conflicting encouragement from his parents and developed mixed feelings about show business. His father doubted Sellers's abilities in the entertainment field, even suggesting that his son's talents were only enough to become a road sweeper, while Sellers's mother encouraged him continuously. While at St Aloysius' College, Sellers began to develop his improvisational skills. He and his closest friend at the time, Bryan Connon, both enjoyed listening to early radio comedy shows. Connon remembers that "Peter got endless pleasure imitating the people in Monday Night at Eight. He had a gift for improvising dialogue. Sketches, too. I'd be the 'straight man', the 'feed', ... I'd cue Peter and he'd do all the radio personalities and chuck in a few voices of his own invention as well."
With the outbreak of the Second World War, St Aloysius' College was evacuated to Cambridgeshire. Because his mother did not allow Sellers to go, his formal education ended at fourteen. Early in 1940, the family moved to the north Devon town of Ilfracombe, where Sellers's maternal uncle managed the Victoria Palace Theatre; Sellers got his first job at the theatre, aged fifteen, starting as a caretaker. He was steadily promoted, becoming a box office clerk, usher, assistant stage manager, and lighting operator. He was also offered some small acting parts. Working backstage gave him a chance to study actors such as Paul Scofield. He became close friends with Derek Altman, and together they launched Sellers's first stage act under the name "Altman and Sellers", consisting of playing ukuleles, singing, and telling jokes.
During his backstage theatre job, Sellers began practising on a set of drums that belonged to the band Joe Daniels and his Hot Shots. Daniels noticed his efforts and gave him practical instructions. The instrument greatly suited Sellers's temperament and artistic skills. Spike Milligan later noted that Sellers was very proficient on the drums and might have remained a jazz drummer had he lacked his skills in mimicry and improvisation. As the war progressed, Sellers continued to develop his drumming skills and played with a series of touring bands, including those of Oscar Rabin, Henry Hall, and Waldini, as well as his father's quartet, before he left and joined a band from Blackpool. Sellers became a member of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), which provided entertainment for British forces and factory workers during the war. Sellers also performed comedy routines at these concerts, including impersonations of George Formby, with Sellers accompanying his own singing on ukulele.