Music Monday - Peter Sellers

Between the Pink Panther movies that I watched with my Dad as I was a kid and the Muppet Show appearance burned into my memory thanks to the record, I was very familiar with Peter Sellers as a child, enough to be a bit sad when he died. I was only six. That sort of thing doesn't mean that much when you're six. Seven maybe.

Peter Sellers was a comedy genius. A comedian with an ear for voices and the ability to mimic them, he first hit big in the 1950s with fellow geniuses Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan as a member of the ever mobile Goon Show! Witty, fast, cartoons on the radio, there was also songs in the mix on occasion, including this bit of nonsense.





By the 1960s, Peter Sellers had become a movie star, racing Alec Guinness for who could play the most different characters in one film. Peter wasn't the only British export to make in big in that era and when these two things clashed, there was beautiful silliness to be had.





In the late 60s and early 70s, Peter's star waned a bit but reviving the Pink Panther movies also revived Peter's career. Clouseau got him a shot on that furry, free wheeling, fast, and frantic Muppet Show where he was able to be, well, whomever he wanted to be.





There may well have been two Peter Sellers. In 1964, Peter suffered a series of devastating heart attacks. He was not expected to recover but did. His heart was never strong after that and it would finally give out on him in 1980, at the young age of 54.

Did Peter Sellers, as he was known before the heart attacks, die in 1964, survived by a 'weaker' version. He was certainly funny after that but people that knew him indicate that there may be some truth in the joke he tells Kermit backstage on the Muppet Show...





Ah, let's end on a laugh.