Peter Sellers: Films

• jms's Peter Sellers appreciation page
• Peter Sellers' films from The Goons YAQ (local copy)
• The booklet with A Celebration of Sellers (Mark Cousins & Brian Hogg).

1950 Black Rose

1951 London Entertains

1951 Let's Go Crazy

1951 Burlesque of Carmen

1951 Penny Points To Paradise

1952 Down Among the Z Men

Rather thin plot about a dotty professor and a rocket formula; a Goon Show spin-off.

Producer: E.J. Fancey

Associate Producer: Jimmy Grafton

Writers: Jimmy Grafton & Frank Charles

Director: Maclean Rogers

Col. Bloodnok: Peter Sellers

Private Eccles: Spike Milligan

Dotty professor: Michael Bentine

Grocery shop assistant: Harry Secombe

1953 Beat The Devil

Imitated Bogart to supply post-production dialogue

1953 The Super Secret Service

1954 Our Girl Friday

1954 Malaga

1954 Orders are Orders

1955 John & Julie

1955/6 The Ladykillers

PS, Alec Guinness, Katie Johnson, Cecil Parker

Directed by Alexander Mackendrick

Written by William Rose

Despite being a late addition to the script, PS's character of a teddy boy crook fits in perfectly to this comedy about bumbling crooks defeated by a sweet little old lady.

1956 The Man Who Never Was

1956 The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn

Another Goon Show spin-off

1957/8 The Naked Truth

PS, Cecil Parker, Terry-Thomas

PS plays a fake Scottish entertainer who's one of many blackmail victims of a scandal sheet, who then uses his "talent" at disguises to pursue the blackmailer (CP).

1957 The Smallest Show on Earth

1958 Tom Thumb

1958 Up The Creek

1958 I'm All Right Jack

PS memorably plays the shop steward Fred Kite in this biting satire of industrial relations. He also has a small role as an elderly Lord bemoaning the times.

1958 Carlton-Browne Of The F.O.

The Boulting Brothers' comedy about a inept Foreign Office official (only tolerated because his father was a distinguished ambassador) who has to sort out political problems in the tiny ex-colony of Gallardia.

Produced by John Boulting

Written & directed by Jeffrey Dell and Roy Boulting

Terry-Thomas: Cadogan de Vere Carlton-Browne

Ian Bannen: the young King

John Le Mesurier: Grand Duke Alexis

Peter Sellers: Senar Amphibulos, the scruffy, shady Prime Minister

1959 The Mouse That Roared

PS, David Kossoff, William Hartnell

Set in the small European country of the Dutchy of Grand Fenwick, with PS as the Grand Duchess and two other roles. A satire on Marshall Aid. Being bankrupt, they declare war on the USA and send a small "army" to New York (by boat). WH plays yet another sergeant (as in Carry On Sergeant). The USA concedes rather than be seen as a bully.

1959/60 The Running, Jumping And Standing Still Film

Directed by Dick Lester, who used various innovative techniques he was to use in A Hard Day's Night

1960 Two Way Stretch

PS, Wilfred Hyde White, Lionel Jeffries, Bernard Cribbins

PS is an imprisoned criminal mastermind, Dodger Lane. He comes up with a daring robbery plan, aided by WHW as Soapy Stevens, pretending to be a prison chaplain. His main opponent is LJ as the new chief prison officer.

1960 The Battle Of The Sexes

PS plays the chief clerk of a long-established tweed business in Edinburgh which is shaken up by the American wife of the new owner. He goes to great lengths to thwart her "efficiency" reforms.

1960 The Millionairess

1960 Never Let Go

PS, Richard Todd, Adam Faith, Nigel Stock, John Le Mesurier, Peter Jones, David Lodge.

Music: John Barry.

Written by John Guillermin & Peter de Sarigny.

Produced by Peter de Sarigny.

Directed by John Guillermin.

Independent Artists, Beaconsfield Studios, London.

PS is a stocky Northern 40-something garage owner (something like Fred Kite) with a sideline in organised car theft. He's slimy, vicious, manipulative and sadistic. He keeps a teenage girlfiend in his flat above the garage. RT is a failing makeup salesman who needs his new Ford Anglia car - only to have it stolen by biker Adam Faith for PS's character. The film follows the salesman's obsession to get the car back, even risking his marriage and neglecting his job, and PS's murderous attempts to protect his operation.

1962 The Road to Hong Kong (guest star)

1962 Only Two Can Play

1962 The Dock Brief/Trial And Error

1962 I Like Money/Mr. Topaz (also director)

1962 Lolita

1962 Waltz Of The Toreadors

1962 The Wrong Arm Of The Law

PS, John Le Mesurier, Bernard Cribbins, Bill Kerr

PS leads one of two rival gangs who have to combine forces to defeat a new mob in town, who specialize in impersonating police officers and relieving the other gangs of proceeds.

1963 Heavens Above!

PS plays a Liverpudlian sent to be the Vicar in a quiet rural parish, who tries to carry on his inner-city good works by inviting a large gypsy family to share the Vicarage, outraging the hypocritical villagers.

1964 Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb

1964 The Guest/The Caretaker (only funding)

1964 The Pink Panther

1964 A Shot In The Dark

1964 The World Of Henry Orient

1965 What's New, Pussycat?

1966 After The Fox (also song composer)

1966 The Wrong Box

1967 The Bobo

1967 Casino Royale

1967 Woman Times Seven

1968 I Love You, Alice B. Toklas

1968 The Party

1969 The Magic Christian (also screenwriter)

1970 Hoffman

1970 There's A Girl In My Soup

1972 Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

1972 Where Does It Hurt?

1973 The Blockhouse

1973 Ghost In The Noonday Sun

1973 The Optimists

1974 The Great McGonagall

1975 The Return Of The Pink Panther

1975 Soft Beds And Hard Battles

1976 Murder By Death

1976 The Pink Panther Strikes Again

1977 To See Such Fun

1978 Revenge Of The Pink Panther

1979 Being There

1979 The Prisoner Of Zenda

1980 The Fiendish Plot Of Dr. Fu Manchu

(1982 Trail Of The Pink Panther)