What if Peter Sellers hadn't died in 1980?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

What sort of career would he have had post-Being There? More Oscar-nominated turns in prestigious comedy dramas? I reckon so, that does seem quite likely.

He would've been deluged with scripts from younger, hipper writers and directors. I can easily imagine him enjoying an autumnal Bill Murray phase of his career, appearing in low-key, arty, character-based films with occasional detours into broader comedy to keep himself amused. Scene-stealing cameos or prominent supporting roles in big '80s Hollywood comedies starring the likes of Murphy, Chase, Aykroyd, that sort of thing. Imagine Sellers in a Zucker brothers film. That makes sense.

He would've almost certainly made The Romance of the Pink Panther in the early '80s, either with or without Blake Edwards, and it would almost certainly have been shit. A box office success, but shit. But he would still have his other career as a respected comic, and occasionally dramatic, actor.

Or would he have become increasingly embarrassing? A genius past his prime, churning out dreadful, unwatchable comedies a la The Fiendish Plot of Dr Fu Manchu? A sad hasbeen.

Obviously, for this 'what if?' scenario to work, you have to ignore the fact that Sellers suffered from severe physical and mental health problems. So let's just pretend that he didn't have a dicky ticker and that, somehow, he successfully sought help for his multitudinous issues.

[Cerys]

Some cunt would have assassinated him.

[Jake Thingray]

Presumably, he'd have done Unfaithfully Yours, which he was originally announcd for, and starred Dudley Moore instead. The idea of him having a late life renaissance in character roles, rather than witless star vehicles, is a pleasing one. Rather hope there wouldn't have been more Goon Show reunions.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Really great thread idea. I have to say, I think he would have immediately pissed away the goodwill that 'Being There' brought him. That seemed like a once in a lifetime passion project, unlikely that he would have found another book or script that moved him as much. That massive biography of him seemed to imply that he was being somewhat manipulated by parasitic management too if I recall correctly so he would probably have been in a series of pretty dire high-paying low-quality projects. Can you imagine if Kubrick had called again and put an elderly Sellers in the Sydney Pollack role in Eyes Wide Shut or something? Very very unlikely but it's interesting to think about whether certain directors might have developed projects with Sellers in mind because he was around. We're pretty much talking about an alternate history of comedy cinema aren't we. But I have to say, realistically I think he would have burned out and his stock would have fallen and he'd be too egotistical to play second fiddle to younger stars. The New Hollywood was ending anyway, and projects like Being There would be fairly unpalatable for about a decade or so after that. I dunno, I'm thinking out loud here, would be very interested to hear what other people think

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Rather hope there wouldn't have been more Goon Show reunions.

Have to concur with this, that 1972 reunion was a major marker of Milligan's steep decline as a writer

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Yeah, I think, realistically, he would've pissed it all away. As was his wont. Someone like Herzog could've dealt with him - he survived working with Kinski after all - but Sellers' ego would've gone through the roof after his success in Being There.

Can you imagine someone like Hal Hartley having to deal with Sellers' madness? If we imagine Hal Hartley as the '80s equivalent of Wes Anderson - which he sort of was - he might be the sort of director who could've reinvented Sellers a la Anderson with Bill Murray during the '90s and beyond. Hal Ashby (Wes Anderson's spiritual grandpa) managed that with Being There, but as Monsieur Verdoux says, that was a Sellers passion project. He was on his best behaviour during the making of that film, as it meant so much to him.

But maybe we're doing Sellers a disservice. He could be awful, maddening, but he would commit to a film if he truly believed in it. He wasn't always unprofessional. He was, for all his faults, a genius actor.

And I don't think he would mind working with younger comics, I can easily imagine him getting a kick out of improvising with Aykroyd and Murphy. He loved working with funny people.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Can you imagine if Kubrick had called again and put an elderly Sellers in the Sydney Pollack role in Eyes Wide Shut or something?

Kubrick loved working with Sellers, didn't he? And I always got the impression that Sellers would've gladly worked with Kubrick again whenever the possibility arose. He would've been great in the Pollack role (I love Sydney Pollack, no offence to the great man).

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Some cunt would have assassinated him.

"Excuse me Mr Sellers, would you mind signing this comedy beurmb which definitely isn't real?"

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Freaking myself out by imagining Peter Sellers playing a version of himself in The Larry Sanders Show

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Presumably, he'd have done Unfaithfully Yours, which he was originally announcd for, and starred Dudley Moore instead. The idea of him having a late life renaissance in character roles, rather than witless star vehicles, is a pleasing one. Rather hope there wouldn't have been more Goon Show reunions.

Pete and Spike would definitely have worked together again, even if it was just an ITV 'Audience With' special. They'd also turn up on chat shows, doing all the old voices. Goonish nostalgia.

Actually, Sellers turning up on The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross. Not as himself, but in various characters. Imagine that!

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Freaking myself out by imagining Peter Sellers playing a version of himself in The Larry Sanders Show

"You see, Larry, I don't have a personality of my own..."

Hank declares this "horseshit".

[Monsieur Verdoux]

One of my favourite Sellers films is Only Two Can Play, and if he'd gone back to England and done more in the way of low key British films where he got to be quietly affecting, melancholic and subtle then that would have been quite rewarding. That might have been likely, his US career hits a slump so he goes back to the UK and starts giving a fuck again

[Cerys]

"Excuse me Mr Sellers, would you mind signing this comedy beurmb which definitely isn't real?"

BANG

Er ner, yer hev deaded me!

[Shaky]

Good thread and something I think about every time I see one of his films. I can easily imagine Sellers churning out Pink Panthers for another decade or more after 1980, with a 60 or 70-year-old Clouseau shuffling around like an embalmed corpse while stuntmen do most of the physical work. Glimpses of the old magic here and there, mind. The likes of Burt Kwouk and Herbert Lom aged really well in "our" timeline so they'd definitely have remained up for it.

Beyond that, as others have said it's hard to picture Sellers escaping bottom of the barrel comedies - and his own reputation - until perhaps a later renaissance somewhere in the 90's where he finds his dramatic chops again.

[daf]

For some reason I'm always surprised how many films he made . . .

I'm often watching some lovely old thing from the 50's or early 60s on Talking Pictures TV & he pops up in yet another one I'd never seen before  - all wonderful too!

Ah, what a great gift - to still be able to spread sweetness and light, years after you've fallen down the treacle well. Marvelous!

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

He'd be really old now!!!! 😁😂🤣😃😄😅😀😆😉😊☻

[poodlefaker]

Mid-80s US sitcom vehicle w/horrible knitwear; cancelled after one season.

[dissolute ocelot]

Increasing confusion with Peter Sellars would lead to him directing a lot of opera. Which he would be fine at.

[Brundle-Fly]

After a long campaign of those Barclays ads, I reckon Tim Burton would've made him part of his company of actors. He definitely star in Mars Attacks (1994).  He might have played a Francis Urqhart type of character in a BBC drama in later years and a cameo as a London gangster don in a Guy Ritchie film.

[Jake Thingray]

Given his admiration for and emulation of Alec Guinness, a sustained parody of George Smiley might have happened, hope he wouldn't have bothered with Star Wars. Roger Lewis, now an insane reactionary hack whose natural home is the Tory press, did note in his one good work, his Sellers biography, that he'd have made a perfect Baron Munchausen in Terry Gilliam's film.

[Mr_Simnock]

He would have appeared on the clive anderson chat show but walked off after 5 mins, that a punch to anderson's face

[chveik]

he probably would've died in 1981

[Jockice]

He'd have continued being overrated.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

he probably would've died in 1981

I've been waiting for this, cheers.

He'd have continued being overrated.

You're overrated.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

He would have appeared on the clive anderson chat show but walked off after 5 mins, that a punch to anderson's face

A Peter Cook-style special episode in which Sellers appeared as various characters sounds likely.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Given his admiration for and emulation of Alec Guinness, a sustained parody of George Smiley might have happened, hope he wouldn't have bothered with Star Wars. Roger Lewis, now an insane reactionary hack whose natural home is the Tory press, did note in his one good work, his Sellers biography, that he'd have made a perfect Baron Munchausen in Terry Gilliam's film.

I never managed to finish that thoroughly depressing book, it positively reeks of spite and malice. Lewis is as mad as Sellers. He's right, though, Sellers would've been great as Munchausen.

[PlanktonSideburns]

As long as he didn't get too fat in the face he would be shitting Oscars he woild

[Satchmo Distel]

Another film like "The Optimists of Nine Elms" (which is a gem) would have been nice

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Optimists_of_Nine_Elms

Maybe something through Channel 4 Films? But, yeah, loads of Clouseau and Fu Man Chu pissing on his legacy stuff, unless he and Blake Edwards fell out.

[dissolute ocelot]

It's possible that he'd find god, and become a second Harry Secombe. Realistically though, a lot would depend on his agent and even his wife(s). He could do almost anything from King Lear to voicing Jafar in Disney's Aladdin (1992). And possibly the genie as well.

[sick as a pike]

I never managed to finish that thoroughly depressing book, it positively reeks of spite and malice. Lewis is as mad as Sellers.

I'm not sure I did either.  There's a bit where he says something like "readers will notice that I have abandoned any chronological biography of Sellers" in favour of [Lewis'] increasingly baroque and claustrophobic psychological theories.