Peter Sellers

Peg Sellers was related to the pugilist Daniel Mendoza (1764–1836), whom Sellers greatly revered and whose engraving later hung in his office.

At one time Sellers planned to use Mendoza's image for his production company's logo.

Sellers was two weeks old when he was carried on stage by Dick Henderson, the headline act at the Kings Theatre in Southsea: the crowd sang "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow", which caused the infant to cry.

The family constantly toured, causing much upheaval and unhappiness in the young Sellers' life.

Sellers maintained a very close relationship with his mother, which his friend Spike Milligan later considered unhealthy for a grown man.

Sellers' agent, Dennis Selinger, recalled his first meeting with Peg and Peter Sellers, noting that "Sellers was an immensely shy young man, inclined to be dominated by his mother, but without resentment or objection".

As an only child though, he spent much time alone.

Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian.

He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show.

Sellers featured on a number of hit comic songs, and became known to a worldwide audience through his many film roles, among them Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther series.

Born in Southsea, Sellers made his stage debut at the Kings Theatre, Southsea, when he was two weeks old.

He began accompanying his parents in a variety act that toured the provincial theatres.

He first 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, which toured Britain and the Far East.

After the war, Sellers made his radio debut in ShowTime, and eventually became a regular performer on various BBC radio shows.

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.

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".

During the early 1950s, Sellers, along with Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine, took part 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 and roles.

Films demonstrating his artistic range include I'm All Right Jack (1959), Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962) and Dr. Strangelove (1964), What's New Pussycat? (1965), Casino Royale (1967), The Party (1968), Being There (1979) and five films of the Pink Panther series (1963–1978).

Sellers' 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, and they had a strong influence on a number of later comedians.

Sellers was nominated three times for an Academy Award, twice for the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his performances in Dr. Strangelove and Being There, and once for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959).

He won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role twice, for I'm All Right Jack and for the original Pink Panther film, The Pink Panther (1963), and was nominated as Best Actor three times.

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.

In 1980 he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – 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.

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".