Peter Sellers

British-American actor, a comedy and bizarre character star best known for the "Pink Panther" series, along with "The Mouse that Roared."

From Jewish and Protestant parents, Sellers was the only child of variety-show troupers, and grew up in theatrical boarding houses. He was close to his overbearing mom, who died in 1967, and claimed to communicate with her after her death. He wanted to be a drummer, but there wasn't a lot of demand for the work. In World War II he was in a RAF musical troupe, entertaining airmen in India and the Middle East. After the war, he worked his way up through vaudeville, variety shows at London's Palladium, radio and into the movies.

He was first noticed on the "The Goon Show," which aired on British TV during the '50s. In 1951, he appeared in his first feature-length motion picture, "Penny Points to Paradise." By the mid-1960s, he was ranked as one of England's great comic actors. He made more than 50 films, and his credits include "Pink Panther," for which he had his greatest following, "The Mouse That Roared," 1959, "Being There" (for which he earned an Academy Award nomination), and "Dr. Strangelove," 1963.

He suffered his first heart attack in 1964 and had a pacemaker implant in 1977.

He was married four times; to Australian actress Anne Howe; Swedish actress Britt Ekland; London socialite Miranda de Quarry; and British actress Lynne Frederick.

He had four children, including one illegitimate daughter he never saw. In the industry, Sellers had a reputation for being a monster who was hard to work with, impossibly difficult and "basically not a nice man." Once during a marital fight, he tried to kill a puppy. He abused his friends, and even wrote his kids out of his will. Sellers was an odd man who became haunted by death and who took drugs to enhance sex.

He had a massive heart attack in 1964 and died following his third heart attack on 24 July 1980, London, England.