by Mark J Cousins
So, what do you buy the star who is 100 years old and has everything? All you can do is help to breathe life into his memory and share it with those around you.
Peter Sellers is very hard to pigeonhole. He was a comedy performer, although not really a stand-up comedian. He appeared in radio, television, films, on record and on stage. Although he was mostly to be seen in comedy, he was more than capable of taking on ‘straight’ parts. In fact, Sir Laurence Olivier rated him and wanted him to appear on stage in a Shakespeare play.
He was a musician, proficient with the drums and ukulele as well as something of a NAAFI-style pianist. More importantly, he carved out a niche first as a radio voice-man, then as a mimic and finally, thanks largely to The Goon Show, someone who could create characters by breathing life into the scripts. He did so memorably for ten series, delighting audiences by the mere sound of the voices of Bluebottle, Bloodnok, Grytpype-Thynne and Henry Crun.
His versatility was astonishing. His talent only limited by his own mercurial nature and underlying insecurities, which often meant he would back out of projects at the last minute.
Memorable performances in Never Let Go, television’s Wiltons, The Handsomest Hall in Town and Mr. Topaz, showed another side to Sellers’ talent, giving a clue as to his untapped capabilities, but something perhaps that the public and critics were not really ready for. The many knockabout comedies Sellers made in the 50s and 60s showed his versatility as a comic character actor. However, he also proved himself capable of playing in virtually silent comedy in The Party.
Somehow, he managed to persuade audiences of the believability of the characters he inhabited, to the point where, as a spectator, you could almost forget that you were watching Peter Sellers.
The film Being There was an important project for Sellers and is definitely one which the people who like it do so with a passion, but many cannot see beyond the almost invisibility of the nonentity which Sellers played with complete perfection. In fact, it’s difficult to see who else could have played the role. The minimalist nature and stillness of his characterisation of Chance, the gardener, is breathtakingly remarkable.
Inevitably, the public at large remember Sellers for his countless performances as Inspector Clouseau. His characterisation, although coarser in later films, showed his versatility for both verbal and physical comedy which became a double-edged sword as scripts became increasingly dependent on slapstick. But the rewards from popular films allowed Sellers to take risks with other projects such as The Blockhouse.
People continue to debate which was his finest film. For some it was Being There. For others Dr. Strangelove or The Pink Panther. But this misses the point. So diverse were the roles he played it is almost impossible to compare one performance with another, making the search for ‘the best’ rather fruitless.
In the end, the idea of trying to contain Sellers’ talent with a single label is completely futile. He was simply Peter Sellers. A very flawed human being with a gigantic unique talent which, although he often struggled to manage, is unlikely to ever be surpassed.
Happy Birthday Peter. We miss you, but bathing in your tremendous legacy is something we will continue to do with fun, laugher and happiness.
Thank you.
Peter Sellers was born on 8th September 1925. The latest edition of our Newsletter, Goon Show News, included a full tribute.
The Goon Show Preservation Society 