The Films of Peter Sellers
Great – loved Being There & Dr. Strangelove
Anyone know where I can find “The World of Peter Sellers” ? It was a great doco I saw on TV. Beautifully done.
“Lolita (1962) – Sellers has a small role here, playing a quirky character who assumes several ‘disguises’. This film obviously landed him the big role in Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove.”
It may be small in screen time but I actually think this performance tops Strangelove.
@Mike: I agree.
Also, The World of Henry Orient is one of the earliest films I remember seeing, and I love it.
Mouse That Roared has to be one of the unfunny comedies ever made.
Top 5:
Dr. Strangelove
Murder by Death
Being There
The Party
Ladykillers
top 5
Being There
Lolita
I Love you Alice B Tolkas
Dr Stangelove
Casino Royale
Dr. Strangelove is probably my favorite of his films. It’s iconic.
I liked his movies, although the Pink panther was not one of my favorites, he was hilarious nontheless. I liked the Mouse that Roared,, and his British officer in Strangelove was my favorite. Being there was just brilliant, I saw him in a movie where he came out as a blue matador and I mean a blue matador. I forgot the name of it,anyone remember it.
Pjjrfan – Would that be Waltz of the Toreadors?
Ah, the many faces of Peter Sellers!
Birdy nums nums, anybody?
I wish there were more roles like Lolita that Sellers did. I love him in everything I’ve seen him in, but Lolita showed that there was something else he was capable of, something incredibly powerful, that I think nobody trusted him enough (or worse, was scared of him) to pull off like Kubrick did.
—PolarisDiB
Seller, my favorite comedic of all time. He’s right up there with Buster Keaton and Charles Chaplin.
He’s quite good too in more serious roles but I truly think he excelled in comedy.
I still need to check out the HBO film “The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers”.
Sellers was brilliant.
Yes tha’t the one JA and I paid to see that one as I did most of Seller’s movies. So you know I’m ahuge fan of his. I don’t remember if I cried with that movie, I was still in high school. just kidding but thanks for the info.
Joe Arthaus
Peter Sellers was a brilliant comic actor who could effortlessly do a wide variety of comic characters and accents. His early training on the British radio show The Goon Show gave him the timing he needed for his roles and honed his considerable skills for imitating accents to hilarious effect. Although he had a long career in radio and made some comic records of note – with the likes of the delightful and equally multi-talented Sophia Loren – I would like to concentrate on a few of his major film roles.
Ladykillers (1955) – He appeared here with that other great British chameleon actor, Alec Guinness. Sellers has a small role here and is no match for either Guinness as the demented leader of a hopeless gang or the old lady who foils them played by Katie Johnson. This film teamed him with an actor I think he resembles in terms of versatility in immersing himself into any type of character, accent, or nationality – Alec Guinness. In an interview once, I heard Guinness respond to the question as to how he could so effectively play so many roles, something to the effect, “Because I have no personality.” Perhaps, this applied to Sellers, too.
Mouse That Roared (1959) – Sellers reprising several roles, similar to Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets.
I’m Alright Jack (1959) – Sellers as a old, intractable union boss who thinks Stalin in A.OK. Shows his versatility and ability to assume ‘character’ roles. The film is a biting satire of British industry in this period.
Only Two Can Play (1962) – Sellers as a librarian who nearly has an adulterous affair to advance his career. He does a great interview scene when bucking for a promotion with the library board. He works in a Welsh community, and when asked by a board member how many Welsh books he would buy for the library, he responds something like, “None.” When asked why, he responds, “Because nobody reads them.”
Lolita (1962) – Sellers has a small role here, playing a quirky character who assumes several ‘disguises’. This film obviously landed him the big role in Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove.
Heaven’s Above (1963) – Sellers as a dim but kindly minister who gets victimized when just trying to live according to his faith.
Pink Panther (1963) – The start of Sellers’ hilarious Inspector Clouseau character, with whom he became identified in many sequels, which became increasingly bad as the series went along.
Dr. Strangelove (1964) – Sellers at his most brilliant playing several different roles, all to perfection.
World of Henry Orient (1964) – Sellers plays a womanizing pianist of little talent and less nerve, who gets his come-uppance from two teenage girls. This is a small gem of a movie. Features Angela Lansbury at her most petulant. Great scene of pianist Sellers trying to play a dismal avant-garde work.
A Shot in the Dark (1964) – Great sight comedy throughout and the epitome of the Clouseau films.
What’s New Pussycat? (1965) – Rather a great mess, even with the likes of Woody Allen and Peter O’Toole not able to redeem it. A curiosity piece.
The Wrong Box (1966) – Sellers in a small role as the world’s most untidy lawyer, beset by ‘moggies’. A comic jewel that few seem to have seen.
After the Fox (1966) – De Sica directed this satire, where Sellers impersonates a film-maker in an attempt to mask a gold heist. A great spoof of experimental films – and critics – near the end of all this, when the ‘film’ Sellers party has made is finally seen.
The Party (1968) – Sellers at his comic peak, portraying a bumbling, but loveable East-Indian actor who gets ‘invited’ to a swank Hollywood party by mistake. “Birdy nums nums.” My favourite Sellers role.
Being There (1979) – Sellers last great film and a fitting tribute for his comic invention in this tale of a man so devoid of character that everyone makes one up for him. Could Chance really be Sellers himself?
What do you think of Sellers’ film career?