Born in London to parents who were professional performers in the music halls, Peter Sellers became one of Britain's foremost comic actors of radio, film, and television in the 1950s and 1960s. Famous for his impeccable comic timing, his improvisation skills, and his ability to switch from one character to another, Sellers appeared in films as diverse as The Ladykillers (1958), Lolita (1962), and Dr. Strangelove (1964). But it was the Pink Panther series that both confirmed his versatility as an actor and raised him to an international superstar. Since his death in 1980, four biographies of Sellers have been published, and the actor has gained notoriety for his unpredictable behavior and the excesses of his life as a movie star.

Peter Sellers

Sellers spent the last couple of years of World War II in the Royal Air Force, where he infuriated high-ranking senior officers by impersonating their...