Peter Sellers was born into show business. His parents, Bill and Peg, were a variety act, and he spent his childhood accompanying them around the country’s theatres. Famously, he made his stage debut at the age of two weeks.
Sellers developed a talent for mimicry and, during his wartime RAF service, he found himself in Ralph Reader’s gang show as it toured India and SE Asia. After the war, his talents quickly earned him parts on several BBC radio shows. When the Goons were formed, his was the best known name and the first pilot episode used his name in the title – Sellers Castle. The wide array of voices Peter was able to contribute were a huge part of the Goon Show, while he often described the Sundays when the shows were recorded as the happiest days of his life.
Off the radio, Sellers became, above all, a film star. At the height of his fame, he was one of the world’s most famous people. His list of movie credits is long. To name a varied few, The Ladykillers, The Millionairess, the Pink Panther series, The Mouse That Roared, I’m Alright Jack, Dr Strangelove, There’s a Girl in My Soup, Being There.
Sellers’ private life was much less successful. The Goons would, at times, send up his obsessive buying of cars and gadgets. He had a succession of marriages and is notorious for manipulative and controlling behaviour, particularly over his wives and children. For example, his second of his four marriages, to Britt Ekland, was ended on grounds of cruelty. The same sort of behaviour followed into his professional life, making him extremely difficult to work with.
Peter Sellers on Wikipedia
Peter Sellers on IMDB
The Goon Show Preservation Society 