Strangelove, stole the movie out from under Niven the way a thief might steal the Pink Panther diamond that gives the series its name.
But Sellers, a year away from his performance in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Non-fans may be surprised to learn that Sellers was not the lead character in the first film, which focused on the Phantom/Sir Charles Lytton, played by David Niven. Some Pink Panther BackgroundĪfter Sellers’ death, Edwards mounted an ambitious plan to continue the series - which had started with 1963’s The Pink Panther. Even if you’ve never seen a Pink Panther movie, you surely know Henry Mancini’s swanky theme song for the series, or may have seen the Saturday morning cartoon series The Pink Panther, featuring the lanky, unflappable cat often featured in credit sequences for the live action films.
