He wasn't that old in 1957, what made him take this part? What made them choose him for the part?
shareI think it was simply Sellers's chameleon-like quality and love of playing a wide range of characters very different from himself. Check out I'm All Right Jack as well as Trial and Error/The Dock Brief for two other examples. The former I find to be a very good film and his portrayal of an older union rep quite convincing. The other film less so.
shareAs I said elsewhere, sellers played so many characters in his early movies I never knew what he really looked like. Only in The Ladykillers do you see him pretty much as he was. I think he felt comfortable in those disguises and he was good at it. Even Alec Guiness did it in the aforementioned film and famously in Kind Hearts and Coronets. I think it was something British comedians did at the timr.
shareYes he certainly did in fact he used to phone his friends and put on the voice of famous people to confuse them. A major talent and badly missed.
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