Sellers, Peter (1925-1980)

Sellers, Peter

ACTOR (ENGLAND)

BORN 8 Sep 1925, Southsea, Hampshire: corner of Castle Road and Southsea terrace - DIED 24 Jul 1980, London
BIRTH NAME Sellers, Richard Henry
CAUSE OF DEATH heart attack
GRAVE LOCATION London: Golders Green, 62 Hoop Lane (Cremated (ashes buried in garden))

Peter Sellers came from a family of entertainers. He was educated on a Catholic school although he was of Jewish descent. When he was fifteen he got a job as a janitor at a theatre and after a while he had small acting parts. During the Second World War he was the drummer of a band in Blackpool before he joined the Royal Airforce, where he rose to the rank of corporal. At that time he already liked to impersonate some of his superiors.

After the war he worked as a comedian. He was on the radio in the "The Goon Show" and also worked for television. In 1951 he married Anne Hayes-Howe. They had two children, Michael and Sarah. During the 1950s he was in several comedies and his part in the movie "The Millionairess" with Sophia Loren attracted attention in 1960.

In 1961 he divorced Anne. In 1962 he was in Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" and in Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964) he played three completely different characters. After he saw a picture of Britt Ekland in a British paper he asked her for a date and soon proposed to her. They married in 1964 and had a daughter, Victoria. They appeared in several movies, but in 1968 she divorced her difficult husband who was now famous all over the world.

This was due to the part of Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther movies, directed by Blake Edwards. He was soon tired of the Pink Panther films and had suffered several heart attacks, but Clouseau was what the public wanted and in 1978 he made his sixth Pink Panther Movie, "Revenge of the Pink Panther". In 1979 he played the part of Chance in "Being There" and was nominated for an Academy Award. His last movie was "The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu" (1980), a commercial failure.

In 1970 he had married the model Miranda Quarry, but he divorced her in 1974. His last wife was Lynne Frederick. He was in the process of divorcing her when he died of another heart attack. His children inherited only GBP 80 each and his estate went to Lynne Frederick. In 2009 a document appeared from which it became clear that she had agreed to settle for a small part of his money, but the divorce wasn't finalised at the time of his death.

Family
• Wife: Frederick, Lynne (1977-1980)

Images
The ashes of Peter Sellers were buried here at Golders Green, London. Picture by Androom (17 Mar 2006)	The memorial plaque for Peter Sellers at Golders Green Crematorium, near the location where his ashes were buried. Picture by Androom (17 Mar 2006)