part 2 pink panther

Characters

First appearance: The Pink Panther (1963)

Appearances: All Panther films except "Inspector Clouseau", "Curse of the Pink Panther" and Son of the Pink Panther

Jacques Clouseau is a clumsy, incompetent, but policeman and detective, who speaks in English with a French languange accent while other characters speak English, often with their own accents. Clouseau's accent is not emphasized in the first film, 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 Lytton; 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

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 asylum after a complete recovery; but within five minutes of Clouseau's arrival to speak to the board on Dreyfus' 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 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 replacing Kline.

Cato Fong

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 unexpectedly attack Clouseau, 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.

here we go! 

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 latter impair his vision.

In Revenge, Cato, believing his master to be dead, ran a covert brothel in Clouseau's apartment, whereof the entrant 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 completely, 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 stopped by a single blow.

Sir Charles Lytton/The Phantom

"The Phantom" is a jewel thief; Clouseau's archenemy (after Dreyfus) in several of the films; and known to the public as Sir Charles Lytton He serves as the primary villain of the first film; but at the end thereof, Lytton, with help from Clouseau's wife and an exiled princess, frames Clouseau for his past robberies and has him temporarily sent to prison, igniting 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, Lytton 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 prior to 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 

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. Korman was the first actor to portray Balls; however, his scenes in The Pink Panther Strikes Again were cut from the final film, only to be reused in 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.