Comprehensive information and links about The Pink Panther

The Pink Panther This article is about the films and cartoons. For other uses, see The Pink Panther (disambiguation). refers to a series of films most of which feature Peter Sellers as the bumbling French policeman Jacques Clouseau. A series of animated cartoons by the same name also exist.

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Films

The films initially starred Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau and were directed by Blake Edwards. The popular theme music is by Henry Mancini.

The Pink Panther of the title is a diamond supposedly containing a flaw which forms the image of a pink panther. The plot of the first film centers around its theft. The diamond is not subsequently referred to in the series (except in ), but the name stuck because of the distinctive animated character of a pink panther seen in movie's opening credits and ending.

In the original Pink Panther movie, the main focus was on David Niven's role as Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. the infamous jewel thief "the Phantom", and his plot to steal the Pink Panther from its original owner. The Inspector Clouseau character played essentially a supporting role as Lytton's incompetent antagonist, and provided slapstick comic relief to a movie that was a subtle, lighthearted crime drama. The popularity of Clouseau caused him to become the main character in subsequent Pink Panther films, which were more standard slapstick comedy movies.

Mancini's theme, with variations in arrangement, is used at the start of all but a few of the Clouseau films.

Thus far, nine official films have been made, all but two having "Pink Panther" in the title. The films are as follows:

(1983) (in which Clouseau has conveniently gone missing and returns in the form of an uncredited Roger Moore)

All these films have been released by United Artists except for distribution outside the U.S. for 1975's UA, as UA sold the film rights to British production company ITC Entertainment (although UA does own the copyright as well as the theatrical distribution rights). Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers originally intended to produce a Clouseau television series in 1974, but backers ITC felt a movie would better suit the character. This resulted in , which successfully revived the Inspector Clouseau film franchise. The film is now in rights litigation, which explains why it was not included in a 2004 DVD box set containing five of the Sellers films.

Although official, the 1968 film is generally not considered part of the Pink Panther "canon" since it did not involve Sellers or Edwards. Some elements of Arkin's performance and costuming, however, were retained when Peter Sellers took back the role for , starring Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, directed by Shawn Levy, and produced by Robert Simonds, started filming in the Spring of 2004 and is set for release in February 2006. Although advance publicity suggests it will be a prequel to the 1963 film, it is set in the present day. Prior to Martin signing to the picture, which he also co-wrote the screenplay for, Mike Myers, Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker had all been announced as candidates to play the role of Clouseau. It remains to be seen whether fans of Clouseau will consider the film to be canonical since Blake Edwards is not involved in the writing or directing of the project.

A bumbling simpleton who believes himself to be a detective genius. Inexplicably speaks in English with a ludicrous French accent, while other characters in the films speak English in whatever accent is normal for the actor playing the part. (Clouseau's accent is far less pronounced in the early films; it was only starting in the 1970s that an exaggerated accent became part of the joke). It has been suggested that portraying the incompetent policeman as French is based on a British stereotype of the French police in general.

Sheer luck or clumsiness usually saves him. For example, in one film, assassins from all over the world are sent to kill him; Clouseau bends down to tie his shoelace, falls over, etc., at just the right moment to ensure that the killers' attempts eliminate one another.

Played by Peter Sellers, Alan Arkin, Roger Moore, and Steve Martin.

, who is eventually driven murderously insane by his exasperation with Clouseau's stupidity. One film () ends with him straitjacketed in a padded cell writing "Kill Clouseau" on the wall with his feet. In he attempts to take over the world for the sole purpose of guaranteeing the death of Clouseau by kidnapping a scientist and forcing him to build a disintegrator ray. Dreyfus appears to disintegrate u at the end of this film, but subsequently, without any explanation, returns to his Chief Inspector post in later films.

Played by Herbert Lom in the Blake Edwards films, and by Kevin Kline in the forthcoming remake.

Clouseau's manservant, and an expert in martial arts. It's unclear whether he believes Clouseau is a great detective or merely humors him. It is a running joke that he is required to attack Clouseau when he least expects it, to keep Clouseau's combat skills and vigilance sharp. One memorable scene has Clouseau stealthily search the entire apartment on returning from grocery shopping; upon not finding Cato, he opens the refrigerator for a snack. The location of Cato is left to the viewer's imagination. In later films, Cato helps Clouseau on some cases, including one in Hong Kong. Ever-faithful Cato wears glasses in order to be inconspicuous, but he ends up running into various objects because of his now-impaired vision. At first, Cato appears to conform to the Chinese racial stereotype of speaking in "broken English" and grinning; however, reveals that Cato is actually a cultured gentleman, fluent in English, who puts on the stereotype as an act for Clouseau. It is suggested that a love-hate relationship exists between the two men, sometimes bordering more on the hate side for Cato.

In the movie , Cato, believing his master to be dead, ran a covert brothel in his apartment. The code to get into the brothel was to claim to be Inspector Clouseau, which caused a humorous scene when the real Inspector Clouseau showed up. He later opened another brothel in , and converted Clouseau's apartment into a museum featuring all the disguises he had worn over the years.

Played by Burt Kwouk.

Dreyfus's assistant, who generally observes his boss's interactions with Clouseau (and subsequent emotional breakdowns) with placid bemusement.

Played by André Maranne.

animated shorts, originally directed by Friz Freleng, were first created for the opening of the Blake Edwards series of films, but they were soon spun off in their own series, sometimes with a little moustached man, resembling the animated version of Clouseau, as foil. The cartoon series was initially produced for theatrical release, and the 1964 animated short film won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film (Freleng's third Oscar). The series eventually moved to television, with several Saturday morning cartoon series (including one called ) producing a number of additional Pink Panther cartoons. It also added episodes starring other characters including The Ant and the Aardvark, the Tijuana Toads (a.k.a. the Texas Toads), and Mr. Jaws and Catfish (a.k.a. Misterjaw). ( was a shark who liked to leap out of the water and shout "Gotcha!" at unsuspecting folks, and had a meek yellow derby-wearing catfish as a sidekick.) There were also a series of animated shorts called "The Inspector", with the bumbling Clouseau inspired Inspector and his Spanish-speaking sidekick Sgt. Deux-Deux, whom the Inspector is forever correcting. ("Deux" is French for "two", meaning the little man's name is both a scatological pun and a play on words, "two" appearing two times in the name.) In 1984, the Pink Panther got two sons, Pinky and Panky, in the short-lived series "Roland and Rattfink" — A spy spoof set in the conflict between Hawkland and Doveland. Roland is usually the "good guy" and Rattfink is the fly in his ointment."Crazylegs Crane" — The original antagonist from the "Tijuana Toads" series and his son on the hunt for a "fire-breathing dragonfly.""The Blue Racer" — A hapless snake and his search for human acceptance. Another "Tijuana Toads" spinoff.

In the early series of Pink Panther cartoons, the Panther generally remained silent, speaking only in two theatrical shorts, "Sink Pink" and "Pink Ice". Rich Little provided the voice of . A series of cartoons in 1993 and 1994 had the Pink Panther speaking with the voice of Matt Frewer (of fame), a move that was initially controversial with fans who felt that the panther should never speak. (Unlike the classic animated features, not all episode titles contained the word "pink", instead many contained the word "panther".)

The cartoon character of the Pink Panther has been, since August 15, 1980, a mascot for Owens Corning fiberglass thermal insulation. The association comes from the pink coloration of the insulation. Since 2001, the Pink Panther has also been a mascot for Sweet'N Low artificial sweetener. As with Owens Corning, the association comes from the pink color of Sweet'N Low packets. In 2005, the 'Pink Panther' Sunday strip, also featuring the Inspector Clouseau character, has been syndicated by Tribune Media Services. The strip is written and drawn by Eric and Bill Teitelbaum.

Jacques Clouseau, Dreyfus and Cato seem to have inspired the popular animated series