Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Pen & Sword, and author Robert Sellers for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

Having grown up in the 1970s, my parents took me to see the Pink Panther films from that era in theaters. For the most part, they were family-friendly movies with a lot of laughs. I learned to appreciate the comedy magic of Peter Sellers. When I saw this book, I knew I had to read it. At first, I thought the author might be a relative of Sellers, but the names are a coincidence and Robert Sellers is not related to the man who portrayed Inspector Clouseau.

The Real Pink Panther provides the background on how the series of movies was made, as well as glimpses into what went on behind the scenes. Although both Director Blake Edwards and his star, Peter Sellers, were comedic geniuses, there was a lot of friction during the making of these movies. Both would swear time and again that they would never work together again, only to have the lure of money bring them back together.

I did not know that the first Pink Panther film, released in 1963, was not intended to feature Inspector Clouseau as the lead character. The idea was to focus on a notorious jewel thief known as “The Phantom” (portrayed by David Niven). The Phantom was plotting to steal a priceless diamond known as “The Pink Panther” and is having an affair with the wife of the detective assigned to investigate his string of jewel heists. Sellers’ acting as Inspector Clouseau took over the movie. Even Niven admitted that as they were filming, he could tell that Clouseau was going to be the star of the film.

There are details about how some of the funnier moments came to be in the films. Robert Sellers interviewed surviving cast members to learn about the experience of working with both Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers. Blake Edwards was a director with whom people seemed to either love or hate working. Edwards preferred to let the comedy happen on the set and let his actors improvise quite a bit. For actors who need direction and stability, this was hard to work with. His sets were a lot of fun, but apparently very undisciplined.

Peter Sellers, meanwhile, was a comedic genius who suffered from a mental illness. Back then, it wasn’t diagnosed, but it sounds like he was bipolar from the way people describe working with him. He was prone to depression, often thinking the work he did was horrible. More than once, after a movie was finished being filmed, he’d beg the studio to shelve it and not release it. At one point, he even promised to reimburse the studio for all of the costs associated with the film if they would just not release it.

These two personalities managed to create the greatest series of films based on physical comedy. I went back and watched the first film after reading this book, and I’d forgotten just how funny it is. Robert Sellers has done a great deal of research and talked to as many people as he could find who are still alive who worked on the films. He details how the animated sequence Edwards wanted for the title sequence of the first film spawned its own animated series, along with unexpected merchandising. Robert Sellers details the attempts to continue the series after the death of Peter Sellers, but the selection of Ted Wass as a substitute for Peter Sellers wasn’t a good fit with Blake’s style of directing. The later reboot with Steve Martin fared better, but only the first film in that series could actually be considered a hit.

The Real Pink Panther is not that long, nor is it a difficult read. I enjoyed this look into how Hollywood operates and the anecdotes surrounding the making of this film series. The author has talked with numerous people involved in the films, and the resulting book is very interesting and fun to read. If you grew up with these films, as I did, I think you’ll enjoy the book quite a bit.