The Classic Comedy Collection - Audio CD
Brand New (Abridged) 3 CDs :
Yorkshire Pudding Stanley Holloway • Joe Ramsbottom At The Dentist Norman Evans And Company • Nina (from Argentina) Noel Coward with the Piccadilly Theatre Orchestra • Dipso Calypso Peter Sellers with Frank Cordell’s Orchestra • There’s Millions & Millions Of Women Gracie Fields with Orchestra conducted by Ray Noble • The New Sow The Two Leslies (Leslie Holmes & Leslie Sarony -Piano) • and more!
About Peter Sellers:
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE, commonly known as Peter Sellers (8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was a British comedian and actor best known for his roles in Dr. Strangelove, as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, as Clare Quilty in the original 1962 screen version of Lolita, in comedy films such as The Millionairess and The Party, and as the guileless man-child Chance in his penultimate film, Being There. Sellers rose to fame on the BBC Home Service radio series The Goon Show. His ability to speak in different accents (e.g., French, Indian, American, British, German), along with his talent to portray a range of characters to comedic effect, contributed to his success as a radio personality and screen actor and earned him national and international nominations and awards. Many of his characters became ingrained in public perception of his work. Sellers's private life was characterized by turmoil and crises, and included emotional problems and substance abuse. Sellers was married four times—his second wife was the Swedish actress Britt Ekland—with three children from two of his marriages.
After his discharge and return to England in 1948, Sellers supported himself with stand-up routines in variety theatres whose impresarios needed to legitimise their business. Sellers telephoned BBC radio producer Roy Speer, pretending to be Kenneth Horne, a member of the radio show, Much Binding in the Marsh, to get Speer to speak to him. As a result, Sellers was eventually cast on The Goon Show with Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine. Sellers followed this with television work. Sellers's film success arrived with British comedies, including The Ladykillers, I'm All Right Jack and The Mouse That Roared. He began receiving international attention for his portrayal of an Indian doctor in The Road to Hong Kong, the seventh and last in the "Road" series, starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour.
Sellers found further international acclaim with The Millionairess with Sophia Loren. The film inspired the George Martin-produced novelty hit single Goodness Gracious Me and its follow-up Bangers and Mash, both featuring Sellers and Loren. He starred in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita as Clare Quilty, opposite James Mason as Humbert Humbert. In portraying Quilty, Sellers proved a scene stealer.
A breakthrough came with Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb in which he portrayed three characters: U.S. President Merkin Muffley, Dr. Strangelove and Group Captain Lionel Mandrake of the RAF. Muffley and Strangelove appeared in the same room throughout the film. Sellers was also cast in the role of Major T. J. 'King' Kong. Initially, Sellers struggled with the character's Texas accent, but screen writer Terry Southern made a recording of his own Texan accent, which Sellers apparently mastered after repeated listenings. However, during a scene in a plane designed for the set, Sellers fell 15 feet and broke his leg, preventing additional cockpit scenes and forcing Kubrick to replace Sellers with Slim Pickens. For his performance in all three roles, Sellers was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, but lost to Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady.
Peter Sellers as Chief Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies, his most famous character. Sellers is perhaps most famous for his performance as the bumbling Chief Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies. This character gave Sellers a worldwide audience, beginning with The Pink Panther and its sequel, A Shot in the Dark, in which he featured more prominently. He returned to the character for three more sequels from 1975 to 1978. The Trail of the Pink Panther, containing unused footage of Sellers, was released in 1982, after his death. His widow, Lynne Frederick, successfully sued the film's producers for unauthorized use. Sellers had prepared to star as Chief Inspector Clouseau in another Pink Panther film; he died before the start of this project, Romance of the Pink Panther. Sellers was a versatile actor, switching from broad comedy, as in The Party, in which he portrayed a bumbling Indian actor Hrundi Bakshi (almost an Indian version of Inspector Clouseau), to more intense performances as in Lolita.
Sellers faced a downturn by the early 1970s and was dubbed "box office poison". But after the successful return of the Clouseau role in new Pink Panther movies, he produced and starred in a film, Being There (1979). Based on the Jerzy Kosinski novel he cherished, Being There earned Sellers his best reviews since the 1960s, a second Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe award. Sellers never won an Oscar but won the BAFTA for I'm All Right Jack. Sellers appeared on The Muppet Show television series in 1977. He chose not to appear as himself, instead appearing in a variety of costumes and accents. When Kermit the Frog told Sellers he could relax and be "himself," Sellers (while wearing a Viking helmet, a girdle and one boxing glove, claiming to have attempted to dress as Queen Victoria), replied, "There is no me. I do not exist. There used to be a me, but I had it surgically removed."
Sellers had a difficult personal life. He often clashed with actors and directors, including a strained relationship with friend and director Blake Edwards, with whom he worked on the Pink Panther series and The Party. The two sometimes stopped speaking to each other during filming. Sellers's personality was described by others as difficult and demanding. His behaviour caused physical and emotional hurt to others, notably his first three wives. As portrayed in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, he told his eight-year-old son that the boy's mother (Sellers's wife at the time) was having an affair. Sellers is known to have assaulted Britt Ekland, prompted by unsubstantiated jealousy. On occasion however, Sellers blamed himself for his failed marriages. In the famous 1974 Parkinson interview, he admitted that "I'm not easy to live with". He explained that the divorce from his first wife Anne Howe had been due to a romance with "someone I worked with", suggesting that it had been Sophia Loren, as indicated by Sellers playfully humming their mutual single hit Goodness Gracious Me, when asked by Parkinson about the purported affair. His work with Orson Welles on Casino Royale deteriorated as Sellers became jealous of Welles's casual relationship with Princess Margaret. The relationship between the two actors created problems during filming, as Sellers refused to share the set with Welles, who himself was no stranger to strident behaviour. Sellers could be cruel and disrespectful, as demonstrated by his treatment of actress Jo Van Fleet on the set of I Love You, Alice B. Toklas. On one occasion, Van Fleet had declined an invitation to his house, soon followed by a misunderstanding between the two actors during filming. This prompted Sellers to a tirade against Van Fleet in front of actors and crew.
Sellers was reticent about discussing his private life. On The Muppet Show (season 2) in a "backstage" chat with Kermit the Frog, Sellers declined to step out of character, explaining comedically that he had "no real me" because he had had it "surgically removed". He was invited to appear on Michael Parkinson's eponymous chat show in 1974, but agreed under the condition that he could appear in character. Sellers appeared dressed as a member of the Gestapo, impersonating the Kenneth Mars character in The Producers. After a few lines in keeping with his assumed character, he stepped out of the role and settled down for what is considered one of Parkinson's most memorable interviews. It has been suggested that Sellers suffered depression spurred by deep-seated anxieties of artistic and personal failure. Some behaviour may have been exacerbated by substance abuse, for Sellers regularly smoked cannabis, drank large amounts of alcohol, and used other recreational drugs. It is believed that his drug use, especially amyl nitrites, contributed to heart attacks in 1964 (see below). Sellers became aware that his frail psyche affected his career and life, but rather than seek professional counselling he opted for periodic consultations with astrologer Maurice Woodruff, who seemed to have held considerable sway over his later career.
In 1964, at age 38, Sellers suffered a series of heart attacks (13 in a few days), which permanently damaged his heart. Sellers' heart condition deteriorated when he deferred proper medical treatment, instead opting for "psychic healers." He also had a pacemaker implanted in the late 1970s, which caused him considerable problems. A reunion dinner was scheduled in London with his Goon Show partners, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe, for late July 1980. But on 22 July Sellers collapsed from a massive heart attack in his Dorchester Hotel room and fell into a coma. He died in a London hospital just after midnight on 24 July 1980, aged 54. He was survived by his fourth wife, Lynne Frederick, and three children: Michael, Sarah and Victoria. At the time of his death, he was scheduled to undergo heart surgery in Los Angeles within the month.
Although Sellers was reportedly in the process of excluding Frederick from his will a week before he died of a heart attack in 1980, she inherited almost his entire estate worth an estimated £4.5 million while his children received £800 each. When Frederick died in 1994 (aged 39), her mother Iris inherited everything, including all of the income and royalties from Sellers' work. When Iris dies the whole estate will go to Cassie, the daughter Lynne had with her third husband, Barry Unger. Sellers's only son, Michael, died of a heart attack at 52 during surgery on 24 July 2006 (26 years to the day after his father's death). Michael was survived by his second wife, Alison, whom he married in 1986, and their two children.In his will, Sellers requested that the Glenn Miller song "In the Mood" be played at his funeral. The request is considered his last touch of humour, as he hated the piece. This is verified in Michael Bentine's memoir The Door Marked Summer. His body was cremated and he was interred at Golders Green Crematorium in London. After her death in 1994, the ashes of his widow Lynne were co-interred with his. |
