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The Pink Panther is the main and title character in the opening and closing credit sequences of every film in The Pink Panther series except for A Shot in the Dark and Inspector Clouseau. His popularity spawned a series of theatrical shorts, merchandise, a comic book, and television cartoons. He starred in 124 shorts (either theatrical or televised), 10 television shows and three prime time specials. He's also known as Nathu and Pangu in East and South Asia and Paulchen Panther (Little Paul the Panther) in Germany.

DePatie-Freleng/United Artists cartoons[link]

The animated Pink Panther character's initial appearance in the live action film's title sequence, directed by Friz Freleng, was such a success with audiences and United Artists that the studio signed Freleng and his DePatie-Freleng Enterprises studio to a multi-year contract for a series of Pink Panther theatrical cartoon shorts. The first entry in the series, 1964's The Pink Phink, (which was also his first appearance) featured the Panther harassing his foil, a little white moustached man who is actually a caricature of Friz Freleng (this character is officially known as "The Little White Guy" and/or "The Man" ^[1]), by constantly trying to paint the little man's blue house pink. The Pink Phink won the 1964 Academy Award for Animated Short Film, and subsequent shorts in the series, usually featuring the Pink Panther opposite the little man, were successful releases.

In an early series of Pink Panther animated cartoons, the Pink Panther generally remained silent, speaking only in two theatrical shorts, Sink Pink and Pink Ice. Rich Little provided the Panther's voice in the latter shorts, modelling it on that of David Niven (who had portrayed Clouseau's jewel-thief nemesis in the original live-action film). Years later Little would overdub Niven's voice for Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther. All of the animated Pink Panther shorts utilized the distinctive jazzy theme music composed by Henry Mancini for the 1963 feature film, with additional scores composed by Walter Greene or William Lava.^[2][3][4][5]

[edit] The Pink Panther Show

In the Fall of 1969, the Pink Panther cartoons made their way to NBC television shown Saturday mornings via The Pink Panther Show. NBC added a laugh track to the original cartoons, with Marvin Miller brought on as an off-camera narrator talking to the Pink Panther during bumper segments featuring the Pink Panther and The Inspector together.

Pink Panther shorts made after 1969 were produced for both broadcast and film release, typically appearing on television first, and released to theatres by United Artists. One version of the show was called The Think Pink Panther Show. A number of sister series joined The Pink Panther on movie screens and on the airwaves, among them The Ant and the Aardvark, The Tijuana Toads (a.k.a. The Texas Toads), Hoot Kloot, and Misterjaw (a.k.a. Mr. Jaws and Catfish). There were also a series of animated shorts called The Inspector, with the bumbling Clouseau inspired Inspector and his sidekick Sgt. Deux-Deux, whom the Inspector is forever correcting. ("Deux" is French for "two," meaning the little man's name is both a pun and a play on words, "two" appearing twice in the name.) Other DePatie-Freleng series included Roland and Rattfink, The Dogfather (a Godfather pastiche), with a canine Corleone family and two Tijuana Toads spinoffs, The Blue Racer and Crazylegs Crane.

In 1976, the half-hour series was revamped into a 90-minute format, as The Pink Panther Laugh and a Half Hour and a Half Show; this version included a live-action segment, where the show's host, comedian Lenny Schultz, would read letters and jokes from viewers. This version flopped, and would change back to the original half-hour version in 1977.

In 1978, after nine years on NBC, The Pink Panther moved to ABC and was rebranded The All New Pink Panther Show, where it lasted one season before leaving the network realm entirely. The ABC version of the series featured sixteen episodes with 32 new Pink Panther cartoons, and 16 of Crazylegs Crane. The 32 new Pink Panther cartoons were eventually released to theatres by United Artists.

Comic book[link]

In 1971, Gold Key Comics began publishing a Pink Panther comic book, with art by Warren Tufts. The Pink Panther and the Inspector lasted 87 issues, ending only when Gold Key ceased operations in 1984.^[6] The spinoff series The Inspector (also from Gold Key) lasted 19 issues, from 1974 to 1978.^[7]

Later television shows and specials[link]

During the final years of the Panther's theatrical run, DePatie-Freleng produced a series of three primetime Pink Panther television specials for ABC. The first was 1978's A Pink Christmas. It featured the cool cat in New York being cold and hungry looking for a juicy holiday dinner. The other two specials premiered on ABC after the shorts officially ended in theaters, 1980s Olym-Pinks and 1981's Pink at First Sight. In November of late 2007, the three specials were released on a single disc DVD collection, The Pink Panther: A Pink Christmas from MGM Home Entertainment/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

The studio was sold to Marvel Comics in 1981, and became Marvel Productions. In 1984, a new Saturday morning series was produced entitled Pink Panther and Sons. In this incarnation, the still-silent Pink Panther was a father of his two talking sons, Pinky and Panky. While popular, critics complained that there was not enough Pink Panther to maintain interest for a full 30 minutes.

A new series of cartoon were created in 1993, simply titled The Pink Panther, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation, premiered in syndication in 1993, and had the Pink Panther speaking with the voice of Matt Frewer (of Max Headroom fame). Unlike the original shorts, not all episode titles contained the word "pink," although many instead contained the word "panther." Voice impressionist John Byner returned to voice both the Ant and the Aardvark.

In July 2007, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and Jordan's Rubicon animation company began co-production of the animated series Pink Panther and Pals portraying a teenaged panther and his friends. The 26 episode TV series premiered worldwide in spring 2010 on Cartoon Network. In 2011, a new 22-minute holiday special entitled A Very Pink Christmas aired on ABC Family and later Boomerang in the U.S, YTV in Canada, and Boomerang in the UK, during the month of December.

After acquiring United Artists in the early 1980s, MGM continues to own the ancillary rights and trademarks to the Pink Panther franchise today.

The German television version which started airing in 1973 in ZDF, was presented in 30-minute episodes, composed of one Pink Panther cartoon, one episode of The Inspector and one episode of The Ant and the Aardvark. Most notably, the difference between the German and the English version of The Pink Panther is a rhymed narration in the German version (spoken by voice actor Gert Günther Hoffmann), commenting and describing the plot. For this show, custom intro and end sequences were cut together from existing pieces of animation.

Popular cultural[link]

The Pink Panther remains popular some 45+ years since his first appearance. In addition to the regular airing of the classic cartoon, the panther also appears in the following:

• The Pink Panther Show intro theme was used by Nike in a viral campaign of Pink Mercurial Vapor IV football boots using the French football star Franck Ribery mimicking the character of the Pink Panther.^[8]
• The Pink Panther is a segment guest in the episode "Karate is K" of Sesame Street.^[9]
• American television personality Regis Philbin can be seen in a commercial for Sweet'N Low talking to a taxi cab driver. After the camera changes the view, the audience realize that the driver is The Pink Panther.^[10]
• Owens Corning features him on their website and in advertising for their pink-colored residential building insulation.^[11][12]
• The German phone company Deutsche Telekom uses Pink Panther as an advertising mascot since 1995 in Germany.
• Japanese Pop/R&B singer Namie Amuro, who is a fan of the cartoon, uses him as the theme of her album cover art for her album Queen of Hip-Pop. A special character the "Namie Panther" based on Amuro herself was also created as a counterpart to the Pink Panther. Both characters were heavily featured in her music video for her promotional single "WoWa." Because of the Pink Panther deal, all of the material released for the album had been pink. First pressing packaging of the album included Pink Panther stickers and a Pink Panther styled newspaper containing lyrics for the album.
• In Spain, a Pantera Rosa cake is sold. It is coated in pink.^[13][14]
• In the Family Guy episode "Halloween on Spooner Street", after Brian is spray painted pink, the Pink Panther walks up and asks Brian if this is his first day pink. Upon Brian's reply, the Pink Panther says, "Welcome to Hell."

Charitable work[link]

The Pink Panther is associated with a number of cancer awareness and support organisations. The Pink Panther is the mascot of the New Zealand Child Cancer foundation^[15] and for a line of clothing to promote breast cancer awareness.^[16]

Critical notes[link]

As Pink Panther historian Jerry Beck notes, "Classic animation pretty much died in the '60s, everyone had kind of bailed out. But his creators didn't rest on their laurels. They didn't make the cartoons to look like Warner Bros. cartoons, or Disney cartoons, or the UPA look of Mister Magoo and Gerald McBoing-Boing. They came up with their own clever new style. The only other important cartoon of the '60s was Yellow Submarine."^[1]

The Pink Panther was therefore a notable contribution to the animation art form. Top animation directors such as Hawley Pratt, Gerry Chiniquy, Robert McKimson, and Sid Marcus contributed to a distinctive style, supported by master story writer John W. Dunn. Produced after theatrical cartooning's golden age of the 1940s and 50s, they were constrained to the limited animation techniques applied to Saturday morning cartoons of 1960s and after. Within these limitations, the Pink Panther made creative use of absurd and surreal themes and visual puns and an almost completely wordless pantomime style, set to the ubiquitous Pink Panther theme and its variations by Henry Mancini. The overall approach is reminiscent of the classic silent movies of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.^[17]

Cultural references were more muted and stylized, resulting in a cartoon with longer-term, more cross-cultural appeal not shared by contemporaries such as Yogi Bear and The Flintstones, with their greater reliance on contemporary American pop culture. The Pink Panther also remained constrained to the classic six-minute form of theatrical shorts, while contemporaries expanded into longer, sitcom-like storylines, up to a full 30 minutes of broadcast TV in the case of The Flintstones. Freleng's colleagues credit his sense of creative timing as a key element to the cartoon's artistic success. Freleng himself regarded the Pink Panther as his finest achievement and the character he most identified with, according to family and colleagues interviewed on the 2006 DVD release.

Co-stars and friends of the Pink Panther[link]

Theatrical[link]

• The Little Man
• The Inspector (1965–1969)
• Roland and Rattfink (1968–1971)
• The Ant and the Aardvark (1969–1971)
• Tijuana Toads (1969–1972)
• The Blue Racer (1972–1974)
• Hoot Kloot (1973–1974)
• The Dogfather (1974–1976)

Television[link]

• Misterjaw (1976)
• Texas Toads (1976) (rebranded version of Tijuana Toads, using Texan themes instead of Mexican)
• Crazylegs Crane (1978)
• Pinky (1984)
• Chatta (1984)
• Murfel (1984)
• Rocko (1984)
• Panky (1984)
• Annie (1984)
• Punkin (1984)
• Thelma (1993)
• Horse (2010)

Television appearances[link]

List of animated shows[link]

• The Pink Panther Show (1969–1980 and various spinoffs)
• Pink Panther and Sons (1984–1989)
• The Pink Panther (1993–1996)
• Pink Panther and Pals (2010)

List of animated specials[link]

• The Pink Panther in: A Pink Christmas (1978)
• The Pink Panther in: Olym-Pinks (1980)
• The Pink Panther in: Pink at First Sight (1981, Valentine's Day special)
• A Very Pink Christmas (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Pink Panther at TV.com
• Owens Corning website with The Pink Panther character

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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

The Pink Panther is a series of comedy films featuring a bumbling French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The series began in 1963 with the release of the film of the same name. The role was originated by, and is most closely associated with, Peter Sellers. Most of the films were directed and co-written by Blake Edwards, with theme music composed by Henry Mancini.

Despite its use in the titles of most of the films of the series, "Pink Panther" is not the Clouseau character, but a large and valuable pink diamond which is first shown in the first film in the series.^[1] The phrase reappears in the title of the fourth film, The Return of the Pink Panther, in which the theft of the diamond is again the center of the plot. That film also marked the return of Sellers to the role after a gap of ten years, which may have contributed to some confusion between the character and the diamond. The phrase was used for all the subsequent films in the series, even when the jewel did not figure in the plot (it only appeared in six of the eleven films).

The first film in the series had an animated opening sequence, created by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and set to the theme music by Henry Mancini, which featured the Pink Panther character. This character, designed by Hawley Pratt, was subsequently the subject of its own series of animated cartoons which gained its greatest fame when aired on Saturday mornings as The Pink Panther Show. The character would be featured in the opening of every film in the movie series except A Shot in the Dark and Inspector Clouseau.

Films and themes[link]

As of 2012^[update], eleven Pink Panther films have been made:

Although the two most recent Pink Panther films starred Steve Martin, most of the films in the series starred Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau and were directed and co-written by Blake Edwards. The popular jazz-based theme music was composed by Henry Mancini. In addition to the credits sequences, the theme often accompanies any suspenseful sequence in the first film and in subsequent films using the character.

Mancini's other themes for the first film include an Italian-language set-piece called "Meglio Stasera" whose purpose seems primarily to introduce young actress Fran Jeffries. Portions of an instrumental version also appear in the film's musical score several times. Other segments include "Shades of Sennett", a "honky tonk" piano number introducing the film's climactic chase scene through the streets of Rome. Most of the remaining tracks on the soundtrack album are early 1960s orchestral jazz pieces, matching the style of the era. Although variations of the main theme would be reprised for many of the Pink Panther series entries, as well as the cartoon series, Mancini composed a different theme for A Shot in the Dark that was later adopted by the animated spin-off series, The Inspector.

The Pink Panther of the title is a diamond supposedly containing a flaw which forms the image of a "leaping panther", which can be seen if held up to light in a certain way. This is explained in the beginning of the first film, and the camera zooms in on the diamond to reveal the blurry flaw, which focuses into the Panther (albeit not actually leaping) to start the opening credits sequence (this is also done in Return). The plot of the first film is based on the theft of this diamond. The diamond reappears in several later films in the series (The Return of the Pink Panther, Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther. It also comes in the 2006 reintroduction of Inspector Clouseau also called The Pink Panther and its sequel The Pink Panther 2). The name "the Pink Panther" became attached to Inspector Clouseau, in much the same way that Frankenstein has been used in film titles to refer to Dr. Frankenstein's creation or The Thin Man was used in a series of detective films.

A Shot in the Dark, a film which was not originally intended to feature Inspector Clouseau, is the first of two films in the series (the other being Inspector Closeau) that features neither the diamond nor the distinctive animated Pink Panther in the opening credits and ending. Many critics, including Leonard Maltin, regard this film as the best in the series.

In the original Pink Panther movie, the main focus was on David Niven's role as Sir Charles Litton, the infamous jewel thief nicknamed "the Phantom", and his plan to steal the Pink Panther. The Inspector Clouseau character plays only a supporting role as Litton's incompetent antagonist, and provided slapstick comic relief to a movie that was otherwise a subtle, lighthearted crime drama, a somewhat jarring contrast of styles which is typical of Edwards's films. The popularity of Clouseau caused him to become the main character in subsequent Pink Panther films, which were more straightforward slapstick comedies.

Mancini's theme, with variations in arrangement, is used at the start of all but the first two of the subsequent films.

The first five Peter Sellers–Blake Edwards films were released by United Artists. Trail, Curse and Son were released by MGM/United Artists. DVD rights to The Return of the Pink Panther are now controlled by Universal Pictures' Focus Features division, in partnership with British production company ITC Entertainment and successor-in-interest ITV Global Entertainment Ltd. Focus Features issued this film on DVD for Region 1.

ITC originally intended to make an Inspector Clouseau television series, but Blake Edwards convinced the production company to back a feature film first, and later a series if the film should prove successful. The film exceeded expectations by becoming the most profitable film of 1975. United Artists quickly bought out ITC's investment and work immediately started on the next feature film.

Although official, the 1968 film Inspector Clouseau is generally not considered by fans to be part of the Pink Panther canon since it did not involve Sellers or Edwards. Some elements of Arkin's performance and costuming, however, were retained when Peter Sellers took back the role for Return in 1975. Despite speculation, Alan Arkin does not appear in Trail of the Pink Panther.

The film that launched the second Pink Panther series, The Pink Panther, starring Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, directed by Shawn Levy, and produced by Robert Simonds, was released in February 2006. This is the first Panther film to be released by Columbia Pictures, which co-produced the film with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is set in the present day and introduces different main characters, therefore belonging to a different continuity. Martin also stars in the sequel, The Pink Panther 2, released in 2009.

Characters[link]

Inspector Jacques Clouseau[link]

• First appearance: The Pink Panther (1963)
• Appearances: All Panther films except Son of the Pink Panther

Jacques Clouseau is a clumsy, incompetent, but zealous policeman and detective, who speaks in English with a ludicrous French accent while other characters speak English, often with their own accents. Clouseau's accent is not emphasized in the first film; but from A Shot in the Dark onwards the exaggerated accent became part of the joke. It has been suggested that portraying the incompetent policeman as French is based on a British stereotype of the French police, or even the French population as a whole.

Peter Sellers, the actor portraying Clouseau, remarked that, in his opinion, Clouseau knew he was a buffoon; but had an incredible knack for survival. Sheer luck or clumsiness usually saves him, as in the first film wherein a farcical car chase around a fountain results in the collision of all the vehicles and the capture of the thieves. This approach accelerates, with Clouseau falling down stairs; falling into pools and fountains; causing fires and disasters; and even bombed repeatedly, an idea worked into Steve Martin's portrayal of the character. In The Pink Panther Strikes Again, assassins from all over the world are sent to kill Clouseau, whereupon he moves from their target at just the right moment to ensure that the killers eliminate one another. In Trail of the Pink Panther, we see that during World War II, Clouseau fought in the French Resistance; but the flashbacks only serve to reiterate the fact that Clouseau can survive anything despite or, perhaps, due to his incompetence.

Inspector Clouseau is a patriotic Frenchman, whose country is professedly his highest priority; has been prone to infatuation (often reciprocated) after cuckolded by Sir Charles Litton; and is repeatedly perplexed by transvestites, to the extent that he addresses them as "Sir or Madame".

The role was originated and developed by Peter Sellers over the years, but has also been played by Alan Arkin (in Inspector Clouseau); Daniel Peacock and Lucca Mezzofonti as younger versions in flashbacks in Trail of the Pink Panther; Roger Moore (in a cameo appearance at the conclusion of Curse of the Pink Panther); and Steve Martin (in the 2006 Pink Panther film and its 2009 sequel).

Chief Inspector Charles LaRousse Dreyfus[link]

• First Appearance: A Shot in the Dark (1964)
• Appearances: All Panther films except the 1963 film and Inspector Clouseau.

Clouseau's superior, Charles Dreyfus, was introduced in A Shot in the Dark, wherein he held the rank of Commissioner. He is constantly driven to distraction by Clouseau's bungling, and is eventually driven insane. In The Return of the Pink Panther, Dreyfus holds the rank of Chief Inspector; but again becomes insane until the end of the film, which shows Dreyfus straitjacketed in a padded cell writing "Kill Clouseau" on the wall. As in A Shot in the Dark, Dreyfus initially suffers a variety of personal injuries (involving his gun and a cigarette lighter of a similar shape and accidentally cutting off his thumb with a cigar-cutter) before accidentally strangling his therapist while fantasizing Clouseau's death and then trying to assassinate Clouseau with a sniper's rifle. In The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Dreyfus is about to be released from an asylum after a complete recovery; but within five minutes of Clouseau's arrival to speak to the board on Dreyfus's behalf, he suffers a variety of injuries and relapses. Thence Dreyfus escapes the asylum and kidnaps a scientist, forcing him to build a disintegrator ray later used to intimidate the rest of the world into attempting to assassinate Clouseau. Dreyfus appears to disintegrate at the end of Strikes Again; but subsequently, and without any explanation, re-appears in Revenge of the Pink Panther, and is re-instated Chief Inspector when Clouseau is mistakenly declared dead. Herbert Lom famously gave his character a pronounced tic which occurred under particular stress, and an accompanying child-like giggle when plotting Clouseau's murder.

In Son of the Pink Panther, Dreyfus (a Commissioner once again) deals with Clouseau's equally buffoonish son Jacques Gambrelli, but he is more tolerant of Gambrelli. At the end of the film, Dreyfus weds Clouseau's former lover, Maria Gambrelli (Jacques Gambrelli's mother), but is shocked to learn that Clouseau and Maria conceived twins: Jacques (Roberto Benigni) and Jacqueline Gambrelli (Nicoletta Braschi).

In the 2006 reboot of The Pink Panther, Dreyfus (again as Chief Inspector) uses Clouseau as a decoy while he himself attempts to solve the crimes. Dreyfus merely views Clouseau as an idiot, and never attempts to have him killed; whereas Clouseau attacks his employer at one point, mistaking his identity. Later in the film, Dreyfus is dragged accidentally behind Clouseau's Smart Car and appears in the hospital, where Clouseau's bumbling causes him to fall out of a window. In the 2009 sequel, Dreyfus plays a much smaller role than in the previous film, and is less hostile towards Clouseau.

Dreyfus was played by Herbert Lom in the Blake Edwards films, and by Kevin Kline in the 2006 film. He was played by John Cleese in the 2009 sequel.

Cato Fong[link]

• First Appearance: A Shot in the Dark (1964)
• Appearances: All Panther films except the 1968 film, Inspector Clouseau, and the 2006-2009 films.

Cato (spelled "Kato" in A Shot in the Dark) is Clouseau's manservant, and an expert in martial arts. It is unclear whether he believes Clouseau to be a great detective or whether he merely humors him. It is a running joke that he is instructed to attack Clouseau unexpectedly, to keep Clouseau's combat skills and vigilance sharp. Cato often takes these instructions to the point of ambushing Clouseau in his own house. If they are interrupted during such an attack (as by a telephone call), Cato ceases to project the image of assailant and becomes a well-disciplined valet.

In later films, Cato helps Clouseau on some cases, as in Hong Kong, when Clouseau takes advantage of his own assumed death to determine the identity of his would-be killer. Here, Cato wears spectacles as a disguise but collides with various objects when the spectacles impair his vision.

In Revenge, Cato, believing his master to be dead, runs a covert brothel in Clouseau's apartment: the entrance password was "Inspector Clouseau", which caused a humorous scene when the true Inspector Clouseau appeared. Cato opened another brothel in Curse of the Pink Panther, and converted Clouseau's apartment into a museum featuring all the disguises the inspector had worn over the years.

In the earlier series, Cato was played by Burt Kwouk. In the re-launch, the role of Cato was offered to Jackie Chan, but the character was later scrapped for fear that the Chinese stereotype was politically incorrect, and Cato was replaced by a new character, Gendarme Gilbert Ponton (Jean Reno), assigned by Chief Inspector Dreyfus to watch over Clouseau. In a reversal of the Cato-Clouseau relationship, Clouseau often attacked Ponton unexpectedly, only to be stopped by a single blow.

François[link]

François, Dreyfus's assistant, generally observes his boss's interactions with Clouseau (and subsequent emotional breakdowns) with placid bemusement. André Maranne, a French actor, played François in six Panther films. In Son of the Pink Panther, he was replaced by Dermot Crowley (as Maranne had died in 1992). In A Shot in the Dark, Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther he is referred to as Sergeant François Duval whereas in the three sequels of the 1970s he is Sergeant François Chevalier. In the 2006 reboot, Philip Goodwin plays a similar character named Renard. Goodwin returned as Renard in the 2009 sequel.

Sir Charles Litton/The Phantom[link]

"The Phantom" is a jewel thief, Clouseau's arch enemy (after Dreyfus) in several of the films and known to the public as Sir Charles Litton. He serves as the primary villain of the first film, at the end of which, and with help from Clouseau's wife and an exiled princess, he frames Clouseau for his past robberies and has him temporarily sent to prison. This ignites Clouseau's thirst for revenge in the third Sellers/Edwards film, in which the Pink Panther is stolen from a museum

In the first film he was played by David Niven, and in Return by Christopher Plummer. In later films, an aging and frail Niven made cameo appearances in the role with his voice dubbed by impressionist Rich Little. In these later films, Litton is supposed to have been married to Clouseau's ex-wife after the events of the first Pink Panther, even though in Return his wife had been a different character, unacquainted with Clouseau before that film's events. In The Pink Panther 2, the diamond is stolen by a similar master thief, the Tornado, played by Johnny Hallyday.

Professor Auguste Balls[link]

Professor Auguste Balls is an eccentric shop owner who supplies Clouseau with his numerous disguises. He was portrayed by Graham Stark in Revenge of the Pink Panther and Son of the Pink Panther, while Harvey Korman played him in Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther. Although Korman was the first actor to portray Balls his scenes in The Pink Panther Strikes Again were cut and were not used until Trail of the Pink Panther six years later.

Professor Balls has a wife, Martha (Liz Smith), and an assistant, Cunny (Danny Schiller), who make brief appearances.

Homages and references to the films[link]

• In The Life and Death of Peter Sellers great homage is paid to the character of Clouseau in scenes played by Geoffrey Rush, and also the story covers Sellers's relationship with Blake Edwards, notably where Sellers describes his relationship with Edwards via Clouseau dressed as the Swedish sailor from Revenge of the Pink Panther
• In the Taiwanese series Hi My Sweetheart, the Pink Panther is an essential point in the series ambient, and appearing a lot of times in the form of plushes or several other items. Also the male protagonist takes the name of "Da lung" in reference to the Pink Panther song.

• In an episode of the anime series Lupin the Third, entitled "Black Panther" (American-dub title "My Birthday Pursuit"), master criminal and title character Lupin attempts to steal the Black Panther diamond as a birthday gift for his girlfriend/rival Fujiko. Normally, Lupin has to deal with the interfering Inspector Zenigata, but in this episode, Zenigata is aided by a clearly Clouseau-inspired character, Inspector Conaiseau. Conaiseau is even assisted by a Cato-inspired character, Hageito. Also within the episode, Lupin and Conaiseau both infiltrate a nudist colony, much like Clouseau does in A Shot in the Dark. Also, as a note of interest, the Black Panther diamond, when light shines on it at a certain angle, shows within it a black version of the Pink Panther cartoon character. This "toon" seems to give the diamond a life of its own, as whenever it is unexpectedly dropped, the diamond appears to run off like a loose panther, with the "toon" visible to the audience as it does so.

• In an episode of the animated series Jackie Chan Adventures, entitled "Enter… the Viper", Jackie Chan and his niece Jade must protect the "Pink Puma" diamond from a female jewel thief called Viper.

• In The Simpsons episode "This Little Wiggy", an announcer on Chief Wiggum's television is heard saying "We now return to The Return of the Pink Panther Returns, starring Ken Wahl as Inspector Clouseau".

• In The Simpsons season five episode "Homer the Vigilante" the Springfield Cat Burglar character is based on the Phantom. When he burgles the Simpsons' house, the background music resembles the Pink Panther music, and he leaves a calling card at the scene of the crime. He steals the world's largest cubic zirconia from a museum, much like the Phantom stealing the Pink Panther diamond. When he is captured he turns out to be a suave, David Niven-like character.

• In an ad for Apple's iPhone, Inspector Clouseau is seen briefly answering his telephone.
• Cato appears in the movie Inspector Gadget during the Minions Anonymous meeting.

• In Family Guy episode Breaking Out is Hard to Do there is a chase scene through Asiantown which is a parody of the original chase scene near the end of Revenge of the Pink Panther, using the same music.

• The Team Rocket theme from the Pokémon anime is similar in style and structure to the Pink Panther theme, possibly because of the mischievous nature of Team Rocket's behavior.^{[citation needed]}

Film series statistics[link]

The Pink Panther character and animated cartoons[link]

The opening title sequence of the original 1963 The Pink Panther film was such a success with the United Artists executives that they decided to adapt the title sequence into a series of theatrical animated shorts. DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, run by former Warner Bros. Cartoons creators David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng produced the opening sequences, with Freleng as director. United Artists commissioned a long series of The Pink Panther shorts, the first of which, 1964's The Pink Phink, won the 1964 Academy Award for Animated Short Film. By fall 1969, the shorts were being broadcast Saturday mornings on The Pink Panther Show; after 1969, new shorts were produced for both television broadcast and theatrical release. The animated Pink Panther character has also appeared in computer and console video games, as well as advertising campaigns for several companies.

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• The Pink Panther Page - A Shrine to the pink panther
• Official Page of Peter Sellers
• Pink Panther at the Internet Movie Database
• 'Therapeutic Pink' - Discussion forum devoted to the Pink Panther
• 'Pink Panther' trailer ties in to hit cartoons