Peter Sellers - Legacy

Legacy

New York Magazine stated that all of the films starring Sellers as Clouseau showcased his "comedic brilliance." Sellers's friend and Goon Show colleague Spike Milligan said that Sellers "had one of the most glittering comic talents of his age", while John and Roy Boulting noted that he was "the greatest comic genius this country has produced since Charles Chaplin". Irv Slifkin said that the most prominent albeit ever-changing face in comedies of the sixties was Sellers who "changed like a chameleon throughout the era, dazzling audiences". In a 2005 poll to find "The Comedian's Comedian", Sellers was voted 14 in the list of the top 20 greatest comedians by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. Sellers and The Goon Show were a strong influence on the Monty Python performers, as well as on Peter Cook, who described Sellers as "the best comic actor in the world". The British actor Stephen Mangan stated that Sellers was a large influence, as did comedians Alan Carr and Rob Brydon. Sacha Baron Cohen referred to Peter Sellers as "the most seminal force in shaping early ideas on comedy". Cohen was considered for the role of Sellers in the biographical film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. The three members of Spinal Tap—Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer—have also cited Sellers as being an influence on them, as has American talk-show host Conan O'Brien. David Schwimmer is another whose approach was influenced by Sellers: "he could do anything, from Dr Strangelove to Inspector Clouseau. He was just amazing." Eddie Izzard notes that the Goons "influenced a new generation of comedians who came to be known as 'alternative'"—including himself, while media historian Graham McCann states "the anarchic spirit of the Goon Show ... would inspire, directly or indirectly and to varying extents, ... The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Young Ones, Vic Reeves Big Night Out, The League of Gentlemen Brass Eye."

The stage play Being Sellers premiered in Australia in 1998, three years after release of the biography by Roger Lewis, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. The play premiered in New York in December 2010. In 2004, the book was turned into an HBO film with the same title, starring Geoffrey Rush. The Belfast Telegraph notes how the film captured Sellers's "life of drugs, drink, fast cars and lots and lots of beautiful women". Although the film was widely praised by critics, both Lord Snowdon and Britt Ekland were highly critical of the film and the enactment of Sellers; Ekland believed that the film left the audiences with the wrong impression, saying "the film leaves you with the impression that Peter Sellers was essentially a likeable man when in reality he was a monster. He may have been a brilliant actor, but as a human being he had no saving graces at all".