MovieChat Forums > Trail of the Pink Panther (1982) Discussion > Is it not surprising that Peter Sellers'...

Is it not surprising that Peter Sellers' widow sued the producers?

posted 18 years ago by laszlo-11
7 replies | jump to latest

The general consensus seems to be that this film was a shoddy attempt at continuing the PINK PANTHER series without its star. So maybe it was not unreasonable that Lynne Frederick, Peter Sellers' last wife, sued the producers & won $1 million because she thought the film was an insult to her husband's memory (I won't get into the controversy about her supposedly having just married Peter for his money & maybe this was an attempt to get even more)? With that in mind, why could she not have gone further & actually got an injunction of sorts to prevent the film from even being released?

Instead, we had CURSE OF THE PINK PANTHER & SON OF THE PINK PANTHER to follow, and they pretty much blew like the wind. Only time will tell how Steve Martin's version holds up, although despite good box office, critics seemed to agree that he has nothing on Peter. Furthermore, with David Niven also close to death at the time TRAIL was made, that should have been another sign that the franchise needed to stop because now you had two actors who had defined their characters who were gone & irreplacable.

[–] bluemoon001020 18 years ago

I felt that the Trail was a kind of a tribute to Sellers and his character, Inspector Clouseau. Sir Charles says that a man like Clouseau is indespensible and therefore indestructible. I felt that was the main message of the film: a character like Clouseau can never die, and the memory of Peter Sellers will live on through people's memories of his work.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] CanaDman 18 years ago

Exactly. All she cared about was his money, given her reputation and character (just read the books on this subject for yourself). My sympathies lie with the Sellers children over their ordeal with the estate, especially Michael.

[–] SealordJohn 10 years ago

I would love to learn the content of the claims Peter Seller's widow used in court to win a defamation of character lawsuit. I love the entire series of Pink Panther films starring Peter Sellers up through this film. I do not care for anything else that followed. As far as I'm concerned, when Peter Sellers died, so did the Pink Panther.

[–] lukejbarnett2002 8 years ago

and there you go, she was only with him for his money. there is nothing worse than a girl like this.

[–] lukejbarnett2002 8 years ago

is the girl you are talking about the amazingly, drop dead gorgeous, out of this world beauty woman who is shown in a picture with peter sellers on a revenge of the pink panthers dvd special feature? you know I think that that was shameful and wrong how he got with her. I mean, come on, the woman was not any older than 25 and he was at least 50 then. that's unfair and unnatural. but this is how it's always, always been in Hollywood.

just look at George Clooney, Brad Pitt(to a lesser extent because he's not as old as George), Jack Nicolson, Kevin Kline, Michael Douglas, and Robert De Niro, so most of the main cast of last vegas right there to find evidence of this.

the bottom line is all Hollywood actors who are 40 or older either never get married, or if they do they don't stay married so that way they can get with a hot, young, 25 or younger babe and the woman who they married is 25 or younger, so they never are not with a hot, young, 25 or younger girl. this is horrible and inexcusable.

by the way peter seller's widow is stupid for suing the company that made this movie. this movie is a tribute to him. so it's fine that it was made. and her suing is hypocritical considering she scored a lot of money when he died.

[–] TheFearmakers 7 years ago

Here's how incredibly cute his young wife was;

https://cinemastarlets.com/2014/12/07/lynne-frederick-phase-one/

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