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[booklover]

If Sellers had lived longer, can anybody think of any films Sellers could have appeared in, and in what roles?
We know there would have been at least one more Pink Panther film, because Sellers was planning to do another one before his untimely demise.
Would have loved to have seen him work with any of the Monty Python performers, or with director Tim Burton.

[snorrem]

I feel pretty sure there'd have been at least two or three more "Panthers," even though he really wasn't too fond of the character (he felt it drifted away focus from his other performances, much like Allan Guiness felt for his work in Star Wars). Although I don't know how well Blake Edwards could've sustained his originality for the series, I'd have preferred Sellers to have appeared as Closeau in a weak film A THOUSAND TIMES rather than the dreadful later Panthers in which he didn't appear (what were they thinking?? Money alone? Even though Closeau isn't the title character of the Pink Panther, making one without him really is like making a Laurel & Hardy without the boys. I guess the name "Pink Panther" was enough to draw an audience).

But apart from the Panthers...I'm sure we'd have had to stand him in more mediocre films again, as the focus on comedy became less and less both in Hollywood and UK in the 1980's. However, Tim Burton is a good one. He always provides his films with a really eccentric character or two.

I'll have to think a bit further.

[garv]

[booklover]

According to IMDB:
At the time of his death, Sellers was set to play Inspector Clouseau again in "Romance of the Pink Panther". The script had been written by Sellers and Jim Moloney and the film was to be directed by Clive Donner. Also in the pipeline were the leads in Lovesick (1983) and Unfaithfully Yours (1984). Both these roles were taken over by Dudley Moore.

Both "Lovesick" and "Unfaithfully Yours" were OK...hard to say if they would have been better movies if Sellers had appeared in them instead of Moore. You can only do so much with mediocre material.
I could have seen Sellers in the Michael Caine roles in "Educating Rita" and "Deathtrap", and in the Peter O'Toole's role in "Venus". Not that Caine and O'Toole weren't terrific in these parts, mind you.
And with so many famous actors now doing voice over work for animated features...I don't see why Sellers couldn't have done that as well.

[garv]

[booklover]

[booklover]

[quote="snorrem"] Although I don't know how well Blake Edwards could've sustained his originality for the series, I'd have preferred Sellers to have appeared as Closeau in a weak film A THOUSAND TIMES rather than the dreadful later Panthers in which he didn't appear (what were they thinking?? Money alone? Even though Closeau isn't the title character of the Pink Panther, making one without him really is like making a Laurel & Hardy without the boys. I guess the name "Pink Panther" was enough to draw an audience). quote]

I tend to agree with you. However, I thought Roger Moore did a fantastic job impersonating Sellers/Clouseau in "Trail of Pink Panther." He was hilarious. I think Blake should have gotten him from the very beginning, just pick up where the last Sellers/Panther film left off. Say that Closeau got into a horrible accident and had plastic surgery, or something simple to that affect. The resulting movies surely wouldn't have topped the previous Panther films, but they couldn't have been any worse than the ones that Edwards DID make.

[snorrem]

Moore only was in it briefly, towards the end of the film, wasn't he? It's been some years since I saw it, but I'll pay attention to his performance the next time I watch the film...if that ever happens.

[booklover]

[snorrem]

Agreed, it's ridiculous, but by that time it seems to me that Blake Edwards had lost any warmth for the series; with Sellers gone, he probably realized that there was no need to take it seriously any more. Closeau was possibly the biggest idiot that ever lived, but nevertheless he was a man of great justice.

[JLNeib]

The recent remake with Steve Martin (a funny guy) proves that Peter Sellers is the only one to play Clouseau. The version with Martin is awful. And I see they have a sequel coming out in a few weeks. Didn't know the first one made that kind of money (I don't know anyone who didn't hate it, except of course those who were smart enough to avoid it).

[booklover]

[snorrem]