Hello there, everybody! To begin, I would like to again give you an idea of what I will be doing these next couple of weeks on "I Drink Your Milkshake & Eat Your Birdie Num Num."
I have been tasked with completing a final "capstone" writing assignment for my English class. In choosing my topic, I immediately found myself contemplating film, a subject for which I am passionate. More specifically, because I love to perform, I have looked up to T.V. and film stars since I began to remember selectively in about 6th grade. I chose to focus on two specific film icons and personal role models of mine for this project: contemporary film star Daniel Day-Lewis, and the late-comic and film star Peter Sellers. I will be exploring each artist's career, providing character insights and film reviews for each. This week, I have chosen to begin with the original Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the "Pink Panther" films: Peter Sellers.
A Brief Insight into the Early-Sellers Days
In completing this portion of the post, I will be drawing upon two main sources & biographies: "Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers" by Ed Sikov, and "Peter Sellers: The Authorized Biography" by Alexander Walker. Any specific quotes drawn upon from either work will be marked as such: (Sikov, Page #) or (Walker, Page #), so as to give appropriate credit where it is due. The latter of the two aforementioned authors was Peter Sellers' official biographer throughout his life, and was often in private situations with the Peter Sellers many people did not have the pleasure to know. However, both are reputable works on the life of the world-renown comedian, and both provide largely-similar insights with a mere few dissenting.
Peter was born "Richard Henry Sellers" on September 8, 1925 in Portsmouth, England to Yorkshire-born parents. He became known as "Peter" by both parents after his stillborn brother, as both parents had a difficult time with the early and premature death. What did help to expedite this pain and discomfort for each parent was that each were variety entertainers, and throughout the 1930's, they often brought young Peter along on their tours of the United Kingdom. In fact, Peter's first time on stage was when he was a mere two weeks old, and the crowd of largely drunken, working-class British citizens began singing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." The long legs of touring were difficult and caused a great build-up of tension amongst the Sellers family, especially as the touring and constant moving pertained to young Peter and his social life. Because of his lack of interaction with those his own age, he often spent time alone, practicing voices, drawing, and imitating any other performers touring with his parents. He eventually excelled as a student, especially in "Drawing", at his Catholic grade school, which he attended despite being Jewish also. As he grew, he became interested in the family business of showbusiness, and began to seek advice from his parents on how to break into such a dynamic and competitive industry. According to Sikov, Peter was put down by his father, who doubted his ability to excel in the business. His mother, however, was much more domineering and encouraging, and this relationship largely remained until her death. She had much control over Peter's life, and remained the one person who Peter did not mind taking orders from not only in his adolescence, but throughout his adulthood as well.
His early performances from 1935-1943 were largely small bit parts, and it was during this time he became drawn to the ukele and drums. He would later employ this other artistic skills - including his pension for drawing, and playing the ukele and drums - later in his career. He began performing with various bands throughout England until 1943, when he enlisted in the Royal Air Force. This would become the turning point in Peter's life, as he was originally stationed in India. It was here that he felt a spiritual connection to the people (at the time, British subjects), and developed a near-infallible Indian accent. According to Walker, Peter's transcendent connection to the Indian people gave him comfort-ability in being away from home and his mother. It was also during this time that he met who would become his two best friends and partners in comedy during the post-war days - Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe - and practiced his impersonation skill. Oftentimes, according to Sikov, Peter would commandeer a Royal Air Force officer outfit, and storm the barracks, claiming to be doing "spontaneous spot checks" on each man's own personal provisions. These would oftentimes last from anywhere between a half-hour to a full hour-and-a-half, as he would bark out orders to the lower-ranked (but, in reality, equally-ranked to him) officers from different divisions and platoons. He was never caught, and this only added to his confidence in himself as a potential comedian.
After the war, in 1948, Peter wrote to the BBC Radio offices continually, but never received an invite to audition. According to Walker, he decided to take matters into his own hands, and called a BBC executive, posing as another well-known BBC executive. Peter talked on the phone for about fifteen minutes with the high-powered executive, plugging the "well-known comedian he knew named Peter Sellers, probably the funniest man (he) had ever seen!" At the end of the conversation, Peter revealed himself, and simply asked "What did you think?"The executive said that, despite his shock and should-be anger, he was impressed, and hired Peter on the spot.
Peter worked for years on the radio, and eventually formed his own comedy group called "The Goons" with his best friends and partners-in-comedy Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe. They would appear on BBC radio, and perform live in front of an audience. It was during this time that Peter developed many characterizations that he would later mold differently, but use the basic ideas he had surmised originally. The sketches performed were often-times written, but there did exist times when improvisation would end up dominating the written words of the sketch. And, often-times, it was due to Peter's knack for staying in character, and creating character dialogue on-the-spot, a skill he learned impersonating officers during his days in the Royal Air Force. His time with the Goons was described by Walker as "Peter's most care-free and fun years ... the times where no worries existed except for which props to use for sketches" (Walker, 52). He had tried vigorously to break into film, while transitioning with the Goons in the early 1950's from radio to television. His first large part came in 1955 when he was offered a supporting role in the famous British film "THE LADYKILLERS" (1955). The movie was a great success in Britain AND the United States, and this was the movie that jump-started his dream career: comedic film acting.
Now, where to go from here? Well, this provides a perfect opportunity to give you, the ever-so-attentive reader, my top three favorite Peter Seller's movies, and eventually the top three favorite characters. HERE THEY ARE!
Three Favorite Peter Sellers Films: (IN NO SPECIFIC ORDER OF FAVORITISM)
1.) "A SHOT IN THE DARK" (1964)
2.) "THE PARTY" (1968)
3.) "BEING THERE" (1979)
**HONORABLE MENTIONS: "THE MOUSE THAT ROARED" (1959), "THE RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER" (1975), "THE LADYKILLERS" (1955)
Three Favorite Peter Sellers Characters: (IN NO SPECIFIC ORDER OF FAVORITISM)
1.) Inspector Clouseau - "The Pink Panther" films
2.) Hrundi V. Bakshi - "THE PARTY" (1968)
3.) Chauncey Gardner - "BEING THERE" (1979)
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PREVIEW OF WHAT IS TO COME - "THE PARTY" (1968) REVIEW & CHAUNCEY GARDNER INSIGHTS
Now that I've listed these, I will be forced to choose one from each appropriate category to adhere to my own guidelines. The movie I'm looking forward to reviewing for you all is "THE PARTY" (1968), as it is a sort of amalgamation of the "Pink Panther" films, with a different character, but the same amount of physical, largely-unspoken comedic bits. Also, too, I'll be analyzing "Chauncey Gardner" and his role in "BEING THERE" (1979). This role provided Peter with his second Academy Award ® nomination for "Best Actor in a Leading Role," one that he eventually lost to Dustin Hoffman.
Again, thanks for reading, everybody, and I welcome comments and tweets! Dr. Fishman, HAVE A WONDERFUL REST OF YOUR DAY, AND I HAD A SPLENDID TIME WRITING THIS!
*Nota Bene: [[ @Chris_0Reilly; desperate times call for, yes, desperate measures! ]]
--CRO
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