50 Fun Facts About The Pink Panther

In the 1963 film The Pink Panther, the title refers to which priceless gem owned by Princess Dala?

A diamond with a flaw at its centre said to resemble a leaping panther gives the film its name. The cartoon cat was created only to personify the gem in the opening credits.

Which composer of Moon River wrote the prowling jazz theme that opens the 1963 film The Pink Panther?

Henry Mancini gave the animators a tempo to work to, so the cartoon cat in the title sequence moves in time with the tune. The single went on to win three Grammy Awards.

Which comedian played Inspector Clouseau in the 2006 reboot of The Pink Panther, a film he also co-wrote?

Steve Martin wrote the script with Len Blum and took the role after Mike Myers and Chris Tucker were considered. Reviews were mostly negative, but the film still earned $164 million worldwide.

Which pop superstar played Xania, the murdered coach's girlfriend, in the 2006 film The Pink Panther?

Beyoncé also recorded Check on It for the film, and the single became a number-one hit. Her character turns out to have the missing gem sewn into the lining of her purse.

Which manservant has standing orders to ambush Inspector Clouseau at home in the Pink Panther films?

Cato attacks without warning to keep his employer's fighting skills sharp, and the brawls usually wreck the apartment. The running gag began in the second film of the series.

The end credits of The Pink Panther Strikes Again show a giant panther lurking under the water, spoofing which film?

Jaws had come out the year before, and the cartoon detective surfaces in the river unaware of the huge pink predator beneath him. The film's opening titles spoof Dracula and Singin' in the Rain too.

Which instrument carries the slinky main melody in the original 1963 recording of The Pink Panther Theme?

The saxophone solo was played on a tenor by Plas Johnson, whom the composer had in mind before writing the tune. He said he nearly always chose his players first and wrote around them.

In the 2006 Pink Panther reboot, Inspector Clouseau is arrested at an airport after failing to pronounce which food?

Hamburger defeats his accent, and he had also tried to smuggle some onto the flight home. His boss had already swapped his bag for one full of weapons to make sure he was caught.

Which director, the husband of Julie Andrews, made most of the Pink Panther films starring Peter Sellers?

Blake Edwards is said to have bonded with Sellers over silent-era clowns such as Buster Keaton on a drive from the airport. That shared taste pushed a suave caper film towards slapstick.

The cartoon Pink Panther used karate to carve the letter K from a block of stone on which children's TV show?

Sesame Street borrowed him for a short lesson on the letter K, and the punchline is that his stone carving crumbles moments after he finishes it.

In the Pink Panther's Oscar-winning first cartoon short, a little man keeps trying to paint a house which colour?

Blue is the painter's choice, but the Panther keeps swapping in pink paint behind his back. By the end the house, the garden and even the sun have turned pink.

At the end of The Pink Panther Strikes Again, a bed snaps upright and hurls Inspector Clouseau into which river?

The Seine receives Clouseau, a Russian agent and his manservant when the reclining bed crashes through the apartment wall. A surprise attack by the manservant is what sets the bed off.

What is the first name of Inspector Clouseau, the bumbling French detective of the Pink Panther films?

Jacques Clouseau starts the series as an inspector and is later promoted to Chief Inspector, taking his own boss's job. Other countries rate him France's greatest detective until they meet him.

In The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Clouseau enters the villain's castle disguised as which professional?

A dentist was needed for the villain's toothache, so Clouseau arrived as one, dosed them both with laughing gas and pulled the wrong tooth. The scene was inspired by Bob Hope in The Paleface.

In Revenge of the Pink Panther, Inspector Clouseau turns up at his own funeral disguised as which figure?

A priest's robes let Clouseau attend his own burial after the press wrongly reports his death. When he quietly reveals himself, his former boss faints and falls into the open grave.

Which Monty Python co-founder took over as Inspector Clouseau's exasperated boss in The Pink Panther 2?

John Cleese replaced the actor who held the part in the first reboot film and played the Chief Inspector as less hostile. He joined a cast that included Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina and Lily Tomlin.

Revenge of the Pink Panther climaxes with a chase into a fireworks warehouse in which Asian port city?

Hong Kong is where Clouseau poses as a Mafia godfather to wreck a heroin deal. His old boss, following him into the warehouse, sets off the fireworks by accident.

The accident-prone American president in The Pink Panther Strikes Again was modelled on which real president of the day?

Gerald Ford's reputation for clumsiness was a national joke at the time, and actor Dick Crockett looked and sounded like him.

Which James Bond star made a cameo as a surgically altered Inspector Clouseau in Curse of the Pink Panther?

Roger Moore filmed his scenes during a break from making Octopussy and was billed under the joke name Turk Thrust II. The plot explains the new face as plastic surgery.

Which animal chases a red ant named Charlie in a cartoon series that shared The Pink Panther Show on television?

An aardvark is the hunter in The Ant and the Aardvark, though he often calls himself an anteater. Impressionist John Byner voiced both animals, basing the hunter on comedian Jackie Mason.

In The Pink Panther Strikes Again, a doomsday weapon makes which New York landmark vanish as a warning to the world?

UN headquarters is disintegrated a week after the villain's televised threat, and he then demands that the world's governments kill Clouseau. Engineers from Sony designed the prop machine.

The costume party and frantic car chase in the 1963 film The Pink Panther take place in which capital city?

Rome hosts the party at the princess's villa, where two would-be thieves find the safe already empty. The pile-up in the piazza was a nod to Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent.

The score of the 1963 film The Pink Panther lost the Academy Award for Best Original Score to which musical?

Mary Poppins and its songwriters, the Sherman Brothers, took the Oscar at the 37th Academy Awards. The losing score later ranked 20th on the American Film Institute's list of great film scores.

The cartoon Pink Panther became the advertising mascot of which American maker of pink fiberglass insulation?

Owens Corning had begun dyeing its insulation pink and licensed the character to match the colour. The partnership has lasted more than four decades.

Which top-billed English star played gentleman thief Sir Charles Lytton in the 1963 film The Pink Panther?

David Niven was meant to be the film's star, but Peter Sellers stole so many scenes that the sequels followed the detective instead.

Which star of Léon: The Professional played Gilbert Ponton, Clouseau's partner in the 2006 Pink Panther reboot?

Jean Reno's gendarme reverses an old gag: Clouseau keeps launching surprise attacks on him and is flattened each time by a single blow. He returned for the 2009 sequel.

Which boss of Inspector Clouseau goes insane and holds the world to ransom in The Pink Panther Strikes Again?

Dreyfus develops a twitch and a childlike giggle as Clouseau's blunders wear him down, a tic the actor devised for the part. He seems to be vaporised at the end, yet returns in the next film.

Sir Charles Lytton, the gentleman jewel thief of the 1963 film The Pink Panther, operates under which alias?

The Phantom's calling card is a white glove embroidered with a gold P. He ends the first film a free man, having framed Clouseau for his robberies.

In the 2006 film The Pink Panther, how is the French football coach killed moments after his team's win over China?

A poison dart is jabbed into the coach's neck during the celebrations, made to look as if it had been fired from a distance. The poison came from Chinese herbs, which sends the police after the wrong man.

Which Oscar winner for A Fish Called Wanda played Clouseau's scheming boss in the 2006 film The Pink Panther?

Kevin Kline had turned down the lead in Son of the Pink Panther years earlier, deciding after reading the script that it would not work. In 2006 his Chief Inspector uses Clouseau as a decoy.

Which future Oscar winner played Inspector Clouseau's bumbling secret son in the 1993 film Son of the Pink Panther?

Roberto Benigni got the part after Gérard Depardieu became unavailable and Rowan Atkinson had been approached. He went on to win the Best Actor Oscar for Life Is Beautiful.

Clouseau's manservant in the Pink Panther films was named in tribute to a sidekick from which masked-hero series?

The Green Hornet's martial-artist valet lent his name, and the 1964 film even copied the original spelling. Bruce Lee later played that sidekick on television.

Which American actor played the title role in the 1968 film Inspector Clouseau after Peter Sellers turned it down?

Alan Arkin was cast after his success in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, in a film made without the series' usual director or composer.

Which actor, raised in Shanghai, played Clouseau's karate-chopping manservant in the Pink Panther films?

Burt Kwouk was born in Warrington, England, while his Chinese parents were touring Europe on business. He was later made an OBE for services to drama.

Which 1964 Pink Panther sequel, reworked from a stage play, first made Inspector Clouseau the lead character?

A Shot in the Dark began as a Broadway farce with no Clouseau in it; the director agreed to take over only if he could write the detective in. Many critics rank it the best of the series.

Which Prague-born actor played Clouseau's twitching, long-suffering boss in the Peter Sellers Pink Panther films?

Herbert Lom had worked with Sellers on The Ladykillers before joining the series in its second film. He kept playing the role after Sellers died, bowing out in 1993.

The Pink Panther gem is the national treasure of which fictional country, the homeland of Princess Dala?

Lugash loses the gem from its national museum in The Return of the Pink Panther, and its Shah sends for Clouseau because he recovered it last time. In the 1993 film the country's princess is kidnapped.

Which Looney Tunes veteran co-created the cartoon Pink Panther and directed the character's Oscar-winning first short?

Friz Freleng won five Academy Awards in his career, yet colleagues said he regarded the pink cat as his finest achievement and the character he most identified with.

Which 1964 cartoon, spun off from the credits of a Peter Sellers comedy, won the Oscar for Best Animated Short?

The Pink Phink made its makers the first studio to win an Oscar with its very first cartoon. It is also the only Academy Award any part of the franchise has won.

Which Italian star played Princess Dala in the 1963 film The Pink Panther, with her lines dubbed by another actress?

Claudia Cardinale won the part after Audrey Hepburn and others were considered. Thirty years later she rejoined the series in a different role, as the mother of Clouseau's son.

Which Sound of Music star took over as gentleman thief Sir Charles Litton in The Return of the Pink Panther?

Christopher Plummer stepped in because the original actor was unavailable, and this time the thief is framed by his own wife. The comeback film earned $75 million on a $5 million budget.

William Peter Blatty, co-writer of the 1964 sequel to The Pink Panther, later wrote which landmark horror novel?

The Exorcist came out in 1971, seven years after its author helped write Clouseau's pratfalls. He also wrote the screenplay for the 1973 film version.

Which 1982 film was assembled from outtakes and deleted scenes of Peter Sellers, who had died two years earlier?

Trail of the Pink Panther was meant as a tribute, but the star's widow, Lynne Frederick, sued its makers for tarnishing his memory and won. Its new scenes follow a reporter hunting for the missing detective.

Which German actress played murder suspect Maria Gambrelli in Peter Sellers's second film as Clouseau?

Elke Sommer was a late replacement: Sophia Loren withdrew for throat surgery and Romy Schneider left for another film. She spent part of her salary buying her way out of a West German contract.

Which Spartacus star was originally cast as Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther but quit before filming began?

Peter Ustinov walked away when his intended co-star Ava Gardner dropped out, and the producers sued him for breach of contract. Sellers was hired only days before the cameras rolled.

Which Doctor Zhivago star appears uncredited as a hired assassin in The Pink Panther Strikes Again?

Omar Sharif's hitman is one of many agents sent after Clouseau by governments hoping to appease the villain. He shoots one of the villain's own henchmen, who is disguised as the detective.

Much of the 1963 film The Pink Panther is set at which ski resort, where Princess Dala is on holiday?

Cortina d'Ampezzo, an Italian Alpine resort, hosted the cast for location filming in January 1963. A fireside scene in a ski lodge there features the song Meglio stasera.

The usually silent cartoon Pink Panther talked throughout a 1993 TV series in the voice of which Max Headroom actor?

Matt Frewer made the Panther a chatterbox after decades of pantomime. Until then the character had spoken in only two theatrical shorts, in a voice modelled on a suave English film star.

Richard Williams, who animated the titles of two 1970s Pink Panther films, was later animation director of which film?

Who Framed Roger Rabbit won him two Academy Awards. He got the Panther title jobs because the character's usual studio was too busy turning out its cartoon shorts.

The Little Man in the Pink Panther cartoons caricatures his creator, who also inspired which Looney Tunes hothead?

Yosemite Sam got his short stature, moustache and quick temper from the same animator, who was said to bear more than a passing resemblance to the gunslinger. Studio staff called the Little Man Big Nose.