Discuss Peter Sellers
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Unbelievable Talent for Accents
posted by barrymostSTAFFMOD on October 13, 2019 at 2:54 PM
I have not seen a ton of Peter Sellers' work, but what I have seen impressed me very much. I believe I first saw him in The Ladykillers, with Alec Guinness, which I thought was a great movie, but Peter Sellers had a very small part.
Well, then there was The Pink Panther and I hated it. I know a lot of people love it, and I respect that, but I just don't really get it. But Peter Sellers wasn't bad, and neither was his French accent. But even the always-enjoyable David Niven wasn't enough to save the movie for me.
A couple months ago I then saw The Optimists, in which he was a lot older. Again, while I didn't hate it, it didn't really click with me.
And just recently, within the past week, I've seen two of his other films, The Smallest Show on Earth and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Both were great. But it was the latter that made the biggest impression on me, with Sellers in three leading roles! It was nearly unbelievable how he could just morph so effortlessly from a British accent, to an American, to a really insane German one! At first I wasn't even ready to believe that it was really him playing the American president! I wouldn't have, if it hadn't been for the fact that I'd read about the movie, and knew who he was playing.
I guess I really ought to check out more of his work, and if anyone has any recommendations, I'd love to hear them.
Reply by rudely_murray
on October 13, 2019 at 8:45 PM
I'm sure many will recommend Being There but for such a highly-regarded performance, I found it unimpressive.
As well as Dr. Strangelove, my favourite Sellers performance by far is his Clare Quilty in Lolita.
I do like The Smallest Show on Earth and while the Pink Panther films are not my cup of tea, A Shot in the Dark is a good showcase for his talents (and has a good role for the marvellous George Sanders, too).
Reply by barrymost
on October 14, 2019 at 2:47 PM
Thank you, rudely! I will be sure to check those out! I don't know if I'd be willing to give A Shot in the Dark a chance, but maybe, since I also like George Sanders.