Peter Richard Henry Sellers (1925-1980) was an English comedy genius of theater, radio, television, and movies.

Peter Sellers was born in Southsea, Hampshire, in southern England, where by chance his parents were performing in a local vaudeville show, on September 8, 1925. His father was William Sellers, a pianist and musical director, and his mother was Agnes Marks, a character actress. Sellers was ethnically half-Jewish from his mother's side, but was not religious. He was educated in a Catholic school (St. Aloysius College, Highgate, London) and his funeral service in 1980 was Anglican.

Sellers loved his mother and the show business family around him, which included his eight uncles (stage producers) and his maternal grandmother (renowned for bringing swimmers in a glass tank to the music hall stage, among other things). Peter made his stage debut at the age of five in his grandmother's review, Splash Me! His early life was...